Sapa

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After 2 nights in Hanoi we decided to head to the north of Vietnam to the station resort of Sapa. Took the overnight train from Hanoi which was one hell of an experience. After our first experience of a sleeper train in Thailand I was quite looking forward to getting a good nights sleep after a few heavy night out in Hanoi. How wrong I was? We'd booked the cheapest ticket which we found out was 6 people in the smallest cabin you'll ever see with 3 bunks either side. Neal and I were in different cabins, both with 5 locals in each and muggings here drew the short straw and got the top bunk. Now I'm not the smallest of men these days so it was quite a struggle firstly to fit my bag up there but then all of me as well. There was no matress just cold plywood to sleep on and a dirty old pillow. Plus because I was on the top bunk I had an industrial fan blowing straight onto my head.

Slept reasonably well considering, did get woken up a few times by the train suddenly stopping and the local below me snoring his head off. Arrived in Sapa at 7.30am after a 10 hour journey. It was pissing down with rain and very cold, which I'd read in the lonely planet guide but still decided to stay in my shorts and flip flops. Haggled for a bus drive to Sapa which turned out to be about a 40 minute drive through the mountains. Sapa reminded me of a little ski resort one main road through with guesthouses, restaurants and travel agencies. Booked ourselves into the Moutain View Hotel for 12 dollars a night, room was similar to a honeymoon suite with a fantastic balcony overlooking the surrounding mountains. Shame I only had Neal with me!!!

Had a wander around Sapa through the local market which was serving up all the local crops and fruit along with dog's head (got pictures to prove it!!!). On our walk we got followed by a group of young girls from one of the minoirty villages that surround Sapa. They come here everyday some young as 7 to sell arts and crafts that have been hand made in their local village. They took a liking to Neal and I, we ended up giving them 10,000 dong each which was only about 10p each but made them happy.

Today we've been to visit the local cat cat village, which was a bit of a hike, up and down all the way, but saw another beautiful waterfall and some awesome views.

After watching 3 premiership games live in bar Saturday night, we woke up Sunday morning to start a 2 day trek. The firt day we walked 14km seemed like 30km, walking up and down mountains through the different minoirty villages, past waterfalls and some spectacular views. We stayed with a minority family Sunday night, which was an experience, whilst we sat waiting for dinner we saw the extraordinary sight of 2 very large pigs strapped to either side of a motorbike as a local drove it up the mountain. Got some video footage of it, the squealing is unreal. Thinking about putting it on youtube as 'Pull a pig' but may get named and shamed by animal rights group.

Sat with the family for dinner as they plied us with 'happy water' which is the locals daily tipple of rice wine, tasted like pure alcohol. We cleared 2 bottles worth in the space of an hour, and felt pretty pissed after that. Headed next door to another families house who had a karaoke machine in the front room. Very bizarre evening, but we ripped up the karaoke with renditions of Hello, Easy, Flying without Wings and Neals solo effort of Footloose. The families kids were begging it to end as they tried to sleep upstairs their school day starts at 7am so they are usually asleep by 8pm.

Got back into Sapa Monday afternoon and said an emotional goodbye to our young female guide Jew Jew and her sidekick Koo who were only 18 but they spoke 3 languages including, vietnamese, their own village language and very good english which they only pick up from tourists. Got the 9.00pm sleeper train back to Hanoi, was even more painful than the last time, as we could only get the soft chair, and the locals insisted of playing ringtones on loudspeaker through their phone until the early hours.

Next update will come after our 3 day trip to Halong Bay

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Comments

[Rune]

happy water
Stayed in sapa myself this summer. Though the town aint large, I felt it had a certain charm to it. And i must agree, the happy water does the trick after a couple of bottles. Combine it with the local dances, and you have a strange but fun night:) On your 2 day hike, did you go to ban ho village?