Advertisement
Published: October 21st 2005
Edit Blog Post
20th October - Sapa
(I've just had a bit of a disaster, I wrote loads and when I tried to save it it crashed! Typical! So this is attempt number 2..)
This is my final entry for Vietnam as in 2 days time we will be in China! Our last port of call has been Sapa, a small town in the North West of Vietnam.
We came to Sapa in search of great secenery and a bit of mountain trekking and boy did we get it. The views are amazing plus there are plenty of local hill tribespeople who wander around town in all their gear buying and selling their craftwork.
We went to a couple of tour operators to see what kind of treks they had on offer. There were some nice walks to surrounding villages (a bit like the trekking we did in Thailand) that sounded good and even some overnight stays in the villages that would have been interesting but little did I know that Will had other ideas! We discovered that it was possible to take a 3 day trek through the Hoang Lien Son mountain range to climb up Mount Fan Xi
Naxi Women
Sapa is full of minority groups selling their craftwork. Some of them have really funky traditional outifts! Pan (Vietnams highest peak). At 3143 meters, jungle-covered Fan Xi Pan is almost 3 times the size of Ben Nevis and apparently is usually capped with a dusting of snow. It is described in the guidebook as "rough terrain" and "a gruelling climb" and you are warned "not to underestimate the challenge" Now doesn't that sound like fun!?!
Not wanting to turn down such a challenge, we packed out waterproofs, hired a couple of hill tribes men (Sau and Tang from the local Mong tribe) as guides and set off in search of glory!
It's not really climbing in the traditional sense of the word, we didn't have to crack out the ropes and crampons or anything, but it is by far the most physically demanding thing I have ever done, or am ever likely to do, in my life. It involved a lot of pulling ourselves up and down the place using the bamboo and trees growing by the sides of the path (it's a good job they're strong!) and clambering over rocks and streams. Below I've outlined the 3 days but I don't think it even comes close to describing how difficult this was (particularly for
The start
Here we are at the beginning, sweet and naive with no real idea what lies ahead! me!!)
A bright and breezy 7.00am minibus ride took us to the start on the first day and we began the journey with a steep climb; which was to set the tone for the next 3 days. After about 5 minutes one of the guides, Sau, cut me a thick piece of bamboo to use as a walking stick (hmm, do I look like I am struggling already?!), which turned out to be an absolute life-saver. Not only was it a tremendous help to the point where I don't think I could have made it without it, but also I could pretend I was Gandalf from Lord of the Rings (although with my heavy breathing on the uphill climbs I probably more closely resembled Darth Vader!)
We hiked for about 7 1/2 hours on the first day to the first base camp which was basically just a clearing in a clump of bamboo. We had climbed 1000m in altitude but far, far more in distance with all the ups and downs and both Will and I were exhausted! Sau and Tang sorted out the tents and the dinner and it was an early night in preparation for a
6.30am start the next day.
On day 2, after a breakfast of the thickest pancakes known to man served with banana and chocolate sauce, we started to climb again. Today seemed even steeper but we made it to the summit at about 11am and it was fantastic to be on the top knowing that we had actually managed to climb Vietnams highest mountain. Unfortunately it was a little cloudy for us (on a clear day you can see all the way to China) but this didn't do much to dampen our elated spirit! We'd made it! We chilled out at the top for a while but then had to get moving in order to reach the second camp before dark.
The 3rd day was by far the hardest. At around 7am I tried to leave the tent only to discover that I couldn't walk! My body is not used to all this activity and it had gone into rebellion!!Every step was complete agony and considering we had about 8 hours of walking down a mountain to do I suspected that this was not good news! We trudged off, up another uphill start, and battled our way through thick
vegetation and sludgey ground. Ow ow ow! At one point our guides were a little dithery and we suspected that they were slightly lost. Hmm. "We are on a path though so it must lead somewhere" I ventured optimistically and fortunately it did.. over a stream to yet another steep uphill climb! Most of the day was downhill though which we thought would be easy but it was very hard work, (particularly because of my sore thighs) tricky in places and downright dangerous in others! At one point we heard a growling from the undergrowth that I would have sworn was some kind of big cat had I not known better. This time it was Wills turn to be the philosopher "I think we had best keep moving babe!" and pain or no pain we stepped up the pace after that!
We seemed to be walking forever and after each peak we could see the next so finally seeing the bottom was a joyous sight and then it was back to the hotel for a hot shower and a cold beer. Phew. Unfortunately our hotel is about 300 steps up, that wasn't very well thought out!!
That was
yesterday and today I am still in a lot of pain. I'm walking a bit strangely.. and very slowly.. but it was totally worth it and I'm so glad we did it. Though next time I might question Wills suggestions a little more strongly!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0192s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Governor
non-member comment
Mt. Fansipan
Great Story!!! Your young, I'm old. I don't know if I can do your climb or not. Governor