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Published: August 24th 2008
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Day 67
We arrived in Lao Cai after good overnight trip at 5.30am, and then onto the bus to take us to Sapa city. Unsure what we had bought into we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the Summit Hotel we gorgeous views overlooking the valley. After a quick shower and breaky we donned our poncho’s and set off for our morning trek in the pissing rain! We passed through the small ethnic villages, with women trying to sell you there handicrafts around every corner. Along the way we were stopped by our guide for some local triva, the most memorable being the local tribes marriage tradition… a guy who wishes to get himself a wife, must first find the one, then with the assistance of his mates must kidnap her ( old school style) typically from the local market Saturday night. He then locks her in a special cupboard with a small hole in it to talk to her through. Over the next three says he must convince her to marry him, woo’s her with his cooking and kind words, on the third day he asks her to marry him, is she says yes, then his sisters let her
out and they celebrate with a big wedding, if she says no, then his mother lets her out and the guys family must pay the girls family 500,000 dong compensation for her being unable to work whilst kidnapped.
Intrigued we asked whether our guide was married, he blushes and looks down to the floor, “no she was too strong for me and my mate” Our poor guide had found the ‘one’ but unfortunately she wasn‘t so keen and had fought off our small guide and his one mate. Once we had recovered from our fits of laughter we made it to the waterfall and then walked back along the beautiful lush green valley.
After a massive three course lunch we agreed to go with our guide ( for extra fee) to the Red Zao and Black Mong village, here we were quickly swamped by a heard of ladies in traditional dress who walked with us through the small village with their children or grandchildren strapped to their backs, brimming with numerous gold teeth depending on the wealth of their husband and plucked hairlines (apparently a sign of beauty).We watched some hard yakka local men making a house (without power tools!),
some young children playing in the mud and one young boy with a wooden home-made bike that he pushed up the hill and rode down (Jez was desperate for a go but the poor boy ran away!) We stood in awe of the tiny 2 roomed house which managed to occupy three generations, winter crops, chickens and other animals. We eventually made it back to the bus after clawing ourselves away from the ladies trying to sell us their handicrafts, there was way more of them then us and somehow once you bought from one then they all want you to buy from them!!
Back to the town of Sapa we wandered through the market and stopped at Bagette on Chocolate for a sugar hit, (they sponsor underprivileged children so it was purely for charity).
Another fantastic three course dinner swapping travel stories with our trekking group and an early night!
Day 68
Up and at ‘em for day two of our trek once again in the pissing rain, within the first 200m we lost one member of our group who wasn’t adequately prepared for a 10km walk in the rain in sandles, trousers and an umbrella. We steamed
ahead but were forced to ‘trek’ along the bitumen road till lunch as it was unsafe along the track, and when the other ground arrived covered in mud from head to toe we agreed the road wasn’t so bad after all. After a fantastic traditional Vietnamese lunch, we set back off very content and a little drier, fortunately the rain eased off in the afternoon as we made our way to our homestay.
Despite the drier weather the track had already suffered a hammering, some parts of the track we completely under water, and we were forces to detour along the sides of the overflowing rice paddies and make some massive leaps across over flowing streams. We finally arrived at our luxury homestay, including hot shower ( for the first 2 people), mattress, TV, Karaoke machine, freezer and cold beer! We enjoyed a huge dinner, numerous shots of rice wine (from our hosts) followed by some very entertaining Karaoke thanks to Mark Hughes (Hughy!) from Ireland unfortunately no-one else was game to get behind the microphone!
Day 69
After a great sleep we were greeted by the local women still trying to sell their handcrafts (they just don’t give
Red Zao Men
Building a house up!). After a feast of pancakes for breaky we hit the super slippery track again. Made worse by the fact the locals women wished too escort us (even with babies strapped to their backs, wearing sandals and some having at least a couple decades on us). We refused their assistance for the first half hour and they soon gave up. Amazingly we made it without a single fall and we weren’t obliged to buy their crafts like the others when we finished our trek! We stopped at the biggest waterfall in Sapa and past two other small villages before getting a bus back to our Motel in desperate need for some showers before our train. After a long wait in Lao Cai, with some more cakes from Baggette Chocolate to see us through, we boarded the train for a very chilli ride back to Hanoi.
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