Motorbike trip through the clouds

This past weekend hit with some beautiful weather... which was a very refreshing change from the daily rain. Son and I decided to try out luck (yet again) and take a motorbike trip out into the countryside. This time, our gamble paid off and we enjoyed a 4 hour bike trip, with perfect weather, through the mountains. We made our way to Mai Chau (I have been a couple times before, and previously posted some pictures), which lies in a valley between dozens of mountains. This time Mai Chau was a lot more beautiful, as the rice growing season had just begun, and all the rice fields are now taking on that neon green tint of freshly planted rice seedlings. We left late in the afternoon (after a great meal of Bun Cha, Hanoi's traditional dish) and arrived just as it was getting dark, and left early in themorning since I had classes to teach... so the heart of the trip was concerned with the ride itself. The second half of the trip was spent navigating roads that curved around the sides of the mountains, dodging herds of water buffalo and whizzing around trucks that seemed theyweren't quite going to make it up the slope. When we left on a warm and sunny Sundaymorning, we could see from the valley that the mountains peaks were lost in the clouds. Even knowing this, Son and I were still a bit surprised when we drove into a wall of fog once we reached the top of a mountain, ready to start our descent. In addition to zero visibility (which became incredibly scary considering how close we were to the steep edge of a mountain cliff), we were hit with a dense, wet coldness. We took it really slow until we lost some altitude and the clouds cleared up, revealing the breathtaking view of the surrounding farms and villages.

I had taken a motorbike trip into the countryside 3 weeks back, and mentioned that the crop growing season was just starting to get into action; I was so amazed by how many people had transplanted all their rice in such a short amount of time. The fields went from beingabandoned mud holes to rice paddies with perfectly parallel rows of seedlings (note pictures below). Despite the long hours on the back of a motorbike and a very sore backside the following day, it was a great way to get out and experience the countryside at the start of the growing season.