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Published: October 6th 2007
Tiger Leaping Gorge
One photo from my trek in TLG in Yunnan province, China, another hike done partly in the rainI arrived in Vietnam on Wednesday, having crossed over from the (really cute!) Chinese border town of Hekou. From Lao Cai on the Vietnamese side I caught a van headed to Sapa where I found myself a simple room for 6 USD overlooking the nearby mountains and valley and booked myself onto a three-day trek to see some minority villages and occupy my time. My main reason for being here was to see the Sunday market in Bac Ha village, which is apparently not to be missed. So I had a few days to kill and couldn't think of a better way to do it than walking about 30km through Vietnamese countryside.
I booked through one of the many tour agencies on Sapa's main road and almost as soon as I walked out it started to rain. It stopped for a few hours and then started again as I went to bed and kept pouring and pouring right through the night. I waded through the main street to the agency thinking (actually, hoping) that the tour would be cancelled or at least postponed, but the smiling agent said it was going to rain for days so we may as well
TLG 2
One more shot from Tiger Leaping Gorge just go now. So I set out with a Dutch couple, a sour-looking Japanese-Swedish couple and our guide (who kept alluding to having a girlfriend by the end of the trip while looking in my direction - yuck!) into the muddy unknown.
Well, it poured straight through Thursday and we were glad to peel off our layers of wet clothing when we arrived at our homestay in Ta Van village. Our Dzay (an ethnic minority) hosts graciously let us hang our belongings over their cooking fire and were extra generous with their homemade rice wine as a recompense for our efforts in getting there. After a huge dinner of various dishes packed with fresh veggies, pork, beef and tofu, spring rolls and rice, we drank several rounds of rice wine while snacking on some sticky rice they had prepared in "celebration" of our visit.
The next day after a breakfast of crepes with honey (I love the French influence on Vietnamese cooking!) we set out into the rain again. This time we were followed by a group of Black H'mong (another ethnic minority) women and girls who paired up in groups of two to support us as we
Hekou feeling
Folk dancing in Hekou, China. This place was warmer in temperature and feeling than the rest of China. slid down the steep, muddy slopes toward the bottom of the valley (and then proceeded to try to sell us their wares, a variety of colourfully embroidered bags, belts, head bands, wallets, musical instruments, etc.) After lunch, about 7km in, the Dutch couple headed back to Sapa in a Jeep leaving my guide and I to trek deeper into the valley towards Ban Ho village for our homestay witht the Tai minority.
My fears of being stuck in a homestay alone with just my guide were allayed as there were two talkative French women staying with the same family and we spent a really enjoyable evening playing cards with our guides (though mine took frequent breaks to take drags from the family's water-pipe) and comparing the various countries we'd visited. Dinner was similar to the night before with the addition of some fern-like greens and turnip-like vegetable soup.
This morning we were rewarded for sticking it out through the rain by blue skies and hot weather and my guide and I spent a lazy morning swinging in the host family's hammocks and swimming at a nearby waterfall before trekking back up to the road where some motorbikes awaited
Friendly Girls
Two Black H'mong girls with impeccable English and selling skills to take us back to Sapa.
I'm really glad to be writing this entry while sitting clean and dry back in Sapa; but regardless of the rain and resulting discomfort, the trek gave me a great introduction to Vietnamese culture and a good chance to work off the weight gained from eating all those steamed buns in China!
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Mom
non-member comment
Great pics
Hi Ems - Sounds like a great start (minus the rain) to touring a beautiful country. Love the photos - everything looks so lush and green and the photos of the Black H'mong girls and the buffalo girl are gorgeous. Looking forward to hearing and seeing more. Enjoy your time there. Love, Mom