Afternoon Ride in Sapa

Motorcycles are definitely the preferred travel mode in Vietnam, so one afternoon while we were in Sapa we rented motorcycles to drive around in the mountains and see some of the scenery.

Checking out the bikes. Be careful not to get ripped off (as we all found out later!)

Brian, Caleb, and Dave were the drivers and Rachel, Katie, and I were the passengers. I wished I could have driven myself, but since I haven't driven motorcycles before, I decided that it was better not to learn on curvy, narrow mountainous roads in a country with crazy-aggressive bike drivers.

Making sure we didn't run out of gas.

Dave was my driver.

Women harvesting rice in the terraced fields.


When we stopped to take photos, a minority women and her kids ran after us trying to sell us jewelry.

Terraced fields surrounding Sapa


We had to drive through water and mud and around large potholes the size of craters while being careful not to go careening off the side of the mountain, since, of course, there aren't any guardrails.

Relax! . . . This isn't real!!! At one point, Brian and Rachel had gotten in front of me and Dave. Dave and I drove around a corner and this is what we saw. Just before Dave and I started panicking, we heard laughing. Brian and Rachel got in front of us and then decided to stage an accident. The Vietnamese people who were watching thought it was quite funny. You have to always be ready for a joke when you're with Brian.

View of Sapa as we drove back into town.