Cao Bằng (day 13)

S brought us to a very unique cafe for coffee. A quaint garden and courtyard decorated for the upcoming new years festivities. A noticed they had fruit in the fridge, and ordered a plater to enjoy with our coffees, while S procured breakfast sandwiches at a nearby vendor.

Our destination was rough roughly 50km away near the Chinese boarder to view the spectacular Ban Gioc Waterfalls. We headed north and east following the main road. Eventually we left the main road, and crisscrossed the Quay Son river along country roads, passing through multiple little villages. Finally arriving at the falls, where the river drops 30m, and separates Vietnam and China. S was adventurous and decided pictures with a horse would be fun. We enjoyed almost 45 minutes leisurely waking.

Shortly after leaving the falls S veered off the main road through rural farmland trails. Our path eventually lead to a creek bed that we crisscrossed a few times till the path took us through fields and pastures. We realized we were doing a backtrack loop when we stopped for lunch in a town we’d passed through earlier. We continued heading south and west, passing the hotel we’d stayed at the night before, completing the roughly 100km loop to the falls.

We noticed a number of stalls along the road selling various types and styles of knives. Later we passed through a village with all types of smithy's that produced the knives. See the video!

The rest of the afternoon was spent mostly on side roads with the occasional rocky dirt path hugging a stream, including more water crossings; should have put the rain pants on today… One crossing was quiet difficult, up a sloped rocky area with water flowing, so we let S take our bikes over too. We've learned a lot in a short time, but no sense in trying it all too quickly. The boots are supposed to be waterproof, but didn’t feel like testing them out again!

Late afternoon found us at our accommodation in Cao Bang. A wasn't feeling 100%, likely from that breakfast sandwich, so he enjoyed resting before dinner.

A hunt for a local dinner place was "interesting." We veto'd the street BBQ (no refrigeration in 25C heat), and the second restaurant displaying pre-cooked dishes without food safe storage 🫣. The third place was cooking it on the front step! We opted for veggie fried noodles. The meat options were also just hanging out on a table 🙃...

After dinner was a short walk to enjoy the new years lights.

Today's ride
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