Not too much time left before I have to fly home again. It is the same every time. My longest trip was 365 days in a row when I had a Round the World Ticket. Good times in 1990/91. The longest I go for many years now on one trip is 5.5 months in winter. Starts out super with endless time, but a few days after you left home you realize you only have two weeks left. Where is the rest gone? So you better make the best out of it. Especially if you have a nice day and a bike. The forecast calls for a blue sky and a few clouds. Looks like another nice day for the road. Today I want to explore the roads near the Chinese border and see Ban Gioc Waterfall or is it Waterfalls?
It looks like it will be a nice day again.I love those mountainsThese water wheels are used to get the water from one level to another
I love those wheels. They are so simple but do work so efficiently. 24 hours and 365 days without electric power.
Corn and Karst
It is the beginning of the season so most fields are full of fresh green
Small graveyard on the right. Yesterday was a special day and everybody was at the graveyard. All the graves are decorated with flags.Geopark route
Ancient Continent
That is what we can see here! Let me explain. This one is in the Minh Long commune in the Ha Lang district. On top, you see sedimentary rocks consisting of slightly brown-colored conglomerates, sandstone, siltstone, and shale. They are about 400 million years old. The bottom layer is only 15 – 20 cm thick and made from rounded gravels and grits, and mostly quartz and sandstone. Below that boundary is the thinly-bedded schist, which is early Cambrian and about 500 million years old. Between these rocks is a long disruption – that is why it is called an unconformity boundary.
It is believed that this was once part of the ancient Gondwana supercontinent. Once the whole area was uplifted and where it was the deep sea before it became land. The marine deposition was interrupted and the sediments changed.
This lasted for about 120 million years before the sea came back again to bury the unconformity boundary.
This is the short form of the information that you can see above.
The sediments – can you see them?This stream comes from China. The road on the left ends 100 meters before the border. There are some concrete blocks to stop bigger trucks from going further. I turned around because I was not sure where the border is. Do not want to get into this kind of trouble.Water Buffaloes on the way to their grazing ground1959 War MonumentBehind it the valley opens – the water looks nice for a swimBut after closer inspection, I decided against it!More farmland and mountainsThe farmers plant all sorts of vegetables but no rice up hereMore buffaloesA floating sand digger
It looks nice and quiet, but if you are on the road toward the Chinese border, you have a lot of truck traffic. Uphill or downhill they are slow but quite fast on the flat parts of the road.
All people study and follow the ideology and morality, Ho Chi Minh’s style! There is propaganda all over the place. The truck drives toward the Chinese border.A happy local girl. Not too much in the house. But Uncle Ho and all the family that was in the military were on the wall.Well look at the rest of the villageNice hanging bridgeCornfield in front of a Karst hillThat looks like rice fields but who knows?Another water wheelBan Gioc Waterfall – China on the right of the riverNot that many tourists here. Guess it is to far from everythingChina on the other side.
Not sure if they move the goods legally over these bridges. Saw plenty of them and some places where they had boats and shipped people to the other side. But that was a bit further in the mountains on a smaller road. And I would pass most of the ferry places if not for the parked bikes and cars in the middle of nowhere. Who knows what they do on the other side?
Vietnamese border marker
For a while, there is also a road on the Chinese side of the river. Nice cars and buses drive there, and it is flat and smooth. Thanks to all the trucks on the Vietnamese side, it is a pothole hell and super dusty.
Here you still have green hillsDown towards the Chinese border at Daxin XianNice formationThe gate of Ly Van Ly: The border crossing to China. Construction in Daxin Xian. Looks like I was lucky and had less truck traffic.Lavender fields on the Chinese sideBan Gioc Waterfall when everybody leftGuess this is one of the tourist horses. It finds its way home in the eveningSunset at the guesthouseAnother one of those good dinners at the homestay
I drove back to Kim’s Homestay to get another excellent dinner with beer and happy water!
Today’s drive: I drove 185 kilometers in 8 hours, 18 minutes with gas and food stops.
My mother got me an Eurorail ticket when I was 15, and together with two friends, we adventured into France. This was the beginning of a new addiction. I do like to take pictures, so one thing leads to another. On this site, I want to share some of my pictures and some of my trips with you! Now I am on the road for more than 8 months every year. Visiting old friends and making new friends while exploring this big blue ball.
