Advertisement
The summit!
The smiles are no doubt from the adrenaline rush! Two days, 54 kilometres of hiking (27 up and 27 down), 3143 metres, "899, 765 bottles of beer on the wall," the highest peak in Indochina, Mount Fansipan...CONQUERED! The idea to climb a mountain was on Matt's travel agenda. We had been talking about going to Borneo to climb the more famous Mt Kinabalu for some time now on our travels however, upon further research we realized that bookings are required at least 3 months in advance at a cost of well over $200 not including meals. One site that we looked at actually recommended Mount Fansipan in northern Vietnam as a great alternative to Kinabalu. Heading in that direction Matt was sold and raring to go! Me? Well I was a little more weary after 5 months of relative inactivity, but I reluctantly agreed to make the 2 day assent. If Matt was writing this blog he would tell you that the climb was difficult in parts but overall a pretty steady and fun hike. So, I decided to write and let you know how it actually was and not sugar coat it with the ego of a man's pride!
We booked our tour guide through Queen hotel
and we arrived on the morning of departure to find not only a tour guide who spoke great english, but also two porters who would be carrying all of our food and sleeping supplies up the mountain. Our guide, Kim, was dressed in proper gear with hiking boots and a traditional Vietnamese conical hat of course, however our porters wore only flimsy plastic sandals on their feet, and what I can imagine would be the most uncomfortable blister giving shoes for the grueling hike ahead. On top of the unfit shoes for the hike they were also carrying an extra 30lbs or so of gear and food on their backs. We set off on the trail with cloudy skies covering most of the mountians and eliminating any view what-so-ever of how high up we were to be. We hiked for a couple of hours through misty forest and it lent a kind of eerie and mysterious feel to the hike. For the most part the first couple hours had been relatively easy. A few big climbs but a lot of it was easy terrain. We followed a path through forests, streams, rocks and even a few flat sections. After two
Matt admiring the view
During the few sun breaks we had hours we arrived at our first camp stop for lunch. Baguettes, cheese and fruit were displayed for us and we feasted.
It was another 4 hours to our camp for the night and we were told that this is really where the climb begins. And so it did! Matt found me a bamboo stick to use and it was my saviour at points where I had to rely on my upper body to help my lower body to propel up giant rocks and to give me a nice stable hold against mud. There were two other guys climbing along with us and we would stop every 20 minutes or so for a couple minute break to catch our breath and to allow our muscles a chance to relax. The terrain was set deep in the jungle at points and it was actually quite a fun hike/scramble. My moto was that "slow and steady wins the race" as my steps were much smaller and less sure than those of the fearless boys. I often found myself singing, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" to distract my mind from the loud voices of my muscles screaming at me. Despite Matt's multiple
attempts at a sun dance, the cloud cover persisted for most of the first day, only allowing us a few sneak peaks of the stunning views below. We arrived to our base camp at 2800 m for the night and after our bodies cooled from climbing we were thankful that we had brought our touques! The night ended wtih a fantastic meal and chants of "Mo, Hai, Bat, Yooooo!" while downing shots of rice wine. Aparently rice wine trumps the sun dance as it began to downpour shorty after our dinner finished. Unfortunately, the rain persisted throughout the night and it reverberated off of the tin roof making for a sleepless night, even despite the rice wine.
We climbed out of the warmth of our sleeping bags in the morning and after a breakfast of eggs and noodle soup, started the ascent up the final 300 metres to the top of Fansipan. Most of this climb was also done in the rain and becuase of the downpour all night, it made the final 7km more of a wade through small rushing streams of water. The cloud cover was still in full force and there were several points where we
thought we were at the top, only to discover that the path continued as we could only see about 10m in front of us. Finally....FINALLY...and with Matt's hand guiding me the final steps, I climbed up to the top peak of Mount Fansipan and admired all of the fog! Knowing that there was a need for a proper celebration at the top, we came prepared with some rum for a toast at the summit. One final sundance by Matt still proved unsuccessful (maybe he doesn't know the right steps!) and we prepared ourselves for the 5 hour, 27km hike down.
I didn't actually realize how high we had climbed on the way up, but the decent made me extremely proud of our achievement over the past couple of days. My quads and knees sure told me so! Although the hike down was rather uneventful even slightly anticlimactic, the ride back to Sapa proved us otherwise. We were due to catch the night train back to Hanoi that evening, however it was apparently also the most optimal time to dynamite the only road back to Sapa completely obstructing our path. We ended up missing our original train as we watched
Our porters
And their plastic shoes! the huge pile being excavated out, however the staff at Queen hotel were extremely helpful in changing us to a later train, with the manager even paying out of his own pocket for a private car as we had also missed the last shuttle bus. Nearing the end of our trip through Asia, this was the first time that anyone has gone out of their way, and not with their own financial interests in mind, to help us out. It is great to go out on a positive note! We did feel very sorry for the two other people that we shared the cabin with on the train ride back to Hanoi as there wasn't any time to shower!
899,765 bottles of beer on the wall later, we had climbed to the summit of Mount Fansipan and back! Although it proved to be very difficult at times, and poor views and therefore an anticlimactic peak, we still enjoyed our two day climb and are extremely happy and proud of our achievement.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.184s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 56; dbt: 0.07s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
ashwith fernandes
non-member comment
Lovely Times... Hiking Times
Your journey is so refreshing...i wish i could have joined you on this trip. I love hiking and it would have such a pleasure.... enjoy you trip....