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Published: October 28th 2009
Soooo I left the last blog with us in our taxi on the way to the train station to catch the overnight train... when we arrived we were ushered through the main gates and given no real direction as to where to go.. it looked like a scene out of some scary movie.. it was like a deserted railyard with a few old trains in it and you had to walk across all the tracks to get to the train... weird..
Yet Another Overnight Train Ride
We found our train and were shown to our cabin. We had booked 2 beds in a 4 berth cabin on Livitrans, and from what we could see it wasnt as luxurious as they advertise but it was clean.. we sat down on our bed, anxiously waiting to see who we would be sharing a cabin with... In walks an old Chinese man and plops himself on the other bed... we were thinking "oh shit we have to sleep in here with him?!" He looked sooo dodgy!
We walked out into the hallway and as we did the people in the cabin next to us walked out and then started
chatting to us. Ria and Josh are Americans who now live in Hong Kong and Matt lives in New York... They were so nice and friendly and we explained our situation! There was 3 of them and they said for us to come in next door and have a few drinks if we liked...
We thanked them, went back in to our cabin and sat back down.. Next thing we know a Chinese lady walks in, looks at us, looks at the old guy, starts laughing and then they start speaking in Chinese... we were sitting there talking quietly about how shit it was... then all of a sudden this guy turns to us and says in English "I am going to move and this lady and her friend will stay in here with you" - I think he was as horrified as what we were at the thought of sharing a cabin.. but we were even more horrified that he understood English and probably heard us bitching about the situation LOL
New Friends = Good Times
Once the train started moving, we grabbed our beers and playing cards and went next door
to hang with our new friends... we just chatted over a few beers and realised that we would all be staying up in Sapa for the same amount of time and leaving on the same night train... we made plans to catch up once in Sapa and share some tours... We headed back to our berth and tried to get a few hours sleep before arriving in Lao Cai.... at about 3.30am McKay woke up to the sound of rustling plastic bags and a slapping noise.. she turned to see the two Chinese ladies stark naked.. The lady in the top bunk was sitting naked in her bed and the lady that was in the bottom bunk was standing naked with her 'you know what' in close vicinity to me sound asleep in my bottom bunk... both were using some strong smelling sanitiser lotion to slap all over their bodies.. including their boobies!! McKay turned away in horror... I remember waking up to the rustling noise but as soon as I saw the Chinese lady standing there putting her bra on I quickly shut my eyes and went back to sleep.... WTF?!?
We arrived in Lao Cai at 5am..
and then took an hour bus ride up a steep windy mountain to Sapa from there... Once in Sapa we checked in, had some breakfast and while we waited for our room to be ready we went for a walk around the quaint little streets of Sapa. As soon as we walked out of the hotel we were approached by some Tribeswomen who attached themselves to us for the next couple of hours as we explored. At first they walked with us asking us questions then trying to sell us their bracelets etc... and eventually they just shadowed us... It worked.. we ended up buying some small bracelets off them... and the minute we did, we had another 20 of them surrounding us trying to sell us stuff!
We had a massage for $6 and then went back to our hotel to get our room and have a shower... the hotel we stayed at was Sapa Rooms Boutique Hotel and was FANTASTIC. I cannot recommend it highly enough.. A funky little hotel with great staff and great rooms that felt like home.
Cat Cat Village
Mid-afternoon we decided to trek alone down to Cat Cat
Village which is only about a 20 min walk away... we wandered through the village and ended up at a waterfall... as we entered the village we had an old Vietnamese man approach us stinking of liquor.. he asked for us to take his photo and him and his friend posed for photos... putting on their best faces.. he then asked us if we were for sale!? We re-confirmed that he had asked if WE were for sale and he was 'yes yes' and then he kept trying to get us to follow him into his hut!! Ah thanks but no thanks!!! I like the city life too much....
When leaving the waterfall we came to a fork in the path... and went the wrong way... we had to climb a long set of steep stairs and my legs are STILL sore 4 days later! We eventually ended up where we were meant to but it was the long steep way around! We then caught motorbike taxis back up the hill to Sapa! It was a great little village to see and there were so many great photo opportunities... however at times I felt bad taking photos of the
people but the opportunity was just too good.. so I succumbed!
We emailed Ria, Josh n Matt (RJM) to see what they were doing and we decided to meet up at their hotel for dinner and drinks that night... Dinner was lovely and washed down with two bottles of fine Australian wine.. After dinner we left the hotel in search of some nightlife... the whole town was pretty much shut down except for a couple of bars... we ended up down a side alley in a dingy bar that served great cheap drinks.. after a couple though we made the hard decision NOT to kick on as we had an early start the next morning...
Bac Ha Sunday Markets
The next morning we were up bright and early and hired a private van/guide through RJM's hotel to take us all to the Bac Ha Markets. It is a 3 hour drive from Sapa but a huge local market that sells everything from handbags and food right through to horse/dogs/cattle etc... Our guide was the hotel owner, Chai, who used to be a tour guide in Sapa until she married a guy from Europe.. they
now run the hotel in Sapa.
After a long journey we toured the market buying lots of cool presents for people back home... at one stage I turned around as there was a mob scene/commotion going on... I didnt know what was happening so went for a look.. I found McKay in the middle of about 20 tribal woman all trying to get her to buy their stuff.. she had apparently bought something from one and they all decided she should buy from them too.. Chai pulled her to safety! Very funny scene!!
We got to see the large open aired restaurant, where all the produce was sold and ate some local treats. Matt and Josh tried some local tobacco in a big bong looking device and Ria was game to buy a local coffee which was served in a glass that probably shouldnt have been drunk out of! She offered me some, and I took a quick sip... it was good but the hygeine side of it concerned me! lol
We then ended up in a big touristy restaurant for lunch which none of us were too keen on, so we left without eating and tried
to find a more authentic restaurant.. there wasn't much to choose from so we settled on another restaurant - the food was okay and by the end of lunch we were all ready for a nap... we decided to skip doing a small village trek and head home instead...
We were all fast asleep when we were woken to Chai telling us to get out of the bus to see some random temple... none of us wanted to but she insisted... Ria and I stayed on the bus while the other 3 trudged through the temple for 5 minutes.. the funniest moment was when they came back, Ria says to Chai "Chai, I dont think this place is a good idea, for future reference on your tours you should not take people here" - it was a complete tourist trap but apparently it was good as you could see China across the river... I think we were in Lao Cai at this stage....
On the way back up the mountain we asked the driver to stop a couple of times so that we could take some photos... the scenery was stunning and we were all obsessed with getting
the perfect rice paddy field shot! We would disappear over the side of the mountain and explore little tracks finding the perfect location until Chai would appear at the top yelling for us to come on!!
Once back at Sapa we were all exhausted so decided to have some relaxation time and meet up later for dinner at our hotel... I went off for a leg massage while McKay relaxed at the hotel...
Anyway that is probably enough for one blog so I will continue the rest of our Sapa time in another blog!
There will be heaps of photos (52 to be exact) of Sapa so I apologise in advance.. it is just so picturesque!!
Love to all
Reet & McKay xx
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chelle
non-member comment
:) Sapa looks cool...
hey babes... luvin the blogs... you had me laughing out loud with the naked chinese ladies... Sapa looks gorgrous .. added to the list.. :) glad to see you two are having so much fun ... xoxo