More trekking

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Finally, after weeks, I got a good night’s sleep. At least it felt that way. I still woke up early but falling asleep at 10:30 and sleeping through most of the night was wonderful. Maybe I’ll make it through the day without yawning excessively. Like yesterday, breakfast consisted of eggs, bread and jelly, with a side of Celine Dion’s greatest hits - all four of them - on repeat (I am well aware that she has more than four notable songs - they just played the same ones again and again).

My same group set out on a much longer trek today. From the start we had beautiful weather, with only slight overcast as we trekked mostly downhill through the Muang Hoa Valley. Along with us was our guide and a handful of other village girls and women that I would imagined ranged in age from eight to 50.

Towards the beginning we passed a group of nice homes on very well kept land that Chu told us were the second homes of wealthy Vietnamese people. We continued walking until we reached a stop for toilets and rest. Chu was helping to peel and cut sugar cane which we were all encouraged to try. As I sat off to the side, a couple young boys came over, each holding two bamboo posts. Neither spoke but one leaned towards me as if he wanted me to have it. I stood up to see what exactly it was, baffled with what he wanted me to do with it. Paul wandered over, sat down, took one and held it like a sword. It was playtime.

I got behind one of the kids and helped him hold it to have a sword fight with Paul. He picked up on the concept pretty quickly, blocking most of Paul’s advances. Eventually he grew tired and realized that we weren’t going to take part in his true intent - what Paul realized was that these were meant to be walking sticks they attempted to sell.

We continued making our way down into the valley along dirt paths cut through the mountain, past a large bulldozer responsible for much of the effort, beside rice plains and across steep rocky and dirt terrain, often just steps from falling off a cliff or into muddy waters to either side. Eventually, we reached the Muong Hoa River below where we began a slight ascent up some rocky ground to the road.

After passing through a village of the Black H’mong tribe and, for me and a few others, across a rickety old bridge, we settled down for a lunch of bacon and egg sandwiches on rolls with beers for most of us. It wasn’t exactly the most proper Vietnamese lunch but it hit the spot. Especially the Lao Chai beer, which under different circumstances would have been dreadful.

Following lunch we resumed our walk, passing through Lao Chai Village and onto Ta Van village where in the former we saw a small school, complete with a dancing performance by a few of the students. Chu also demonstrated the weaving of fabric by machine inside one hut, as well as how they make the dyed fabric shine. At Ta Van - I think I have it right - we saw Chu’s house, where she lives with her parents, brother and sister. Hers, like many of the houses along the way, had a small satellite dish though their TV was broken. She also had a cell phone so I had to wonder - with nothing against her or the people, mind you - just how impoverished are they? Maybe I approach things with a western view but I certainly don’t deem those things as necessities. Gadgets aside, you could tell the rest of life was not luxurious.

Just down from the village was a final bridge to cross that got us to the end of what we learned was a 14 km trek. Feeling pretty good about our efforts - and with time to spare before the other group with which we would ride back would arrive - we settled in for a round of celebratory beers. No Tiger beer has ever tasted so good.

The trip back to the hotel was much shorter than the one there. Each of us gave Chu a nice tip as we were all really appreciative of her showing us such a wonderful time. Everyone remained amazed at her ability to communicate so well in English without having any English education. While some of the tips were surely in part a bit of charity for a girl trying to help her family make ends meet - most of what she makes goes to her family; she is only allowed to keep money for food and drink while working - I saw the whole thing as deserved, not because I felt sorry but because she earned it; she performed a desired service extremely well and deserves to be rewarded. While I feel bad for the girls that walked along hoping to sell garments and such, my buying anything would purely be a handout, perhaps encouraging the sort of behavior that keeps a society downtrodden.

Back at the hotel, where there are bathrooms outside the restaurant that we could use to clean up, I opened the door to a partially opened one marked “man” and heard the shriek of a woman before I could even walk in. She must have opted to shower in the men’s room and didn’t bother to have someone wait outside since the door was broken. Later, on the train ride back, I would get my just desserts, having a similar thing happen to me while going since, I found this out after the fact, the lock on the door wasn’t working.

Before I caught my shuttle to the train station at 5:00, I joined Peter and Gerry on a walk into town to get a few cheap garments. I bought two pairs of trekking pants that convert into shorts for $25 total. And that was probably more than I needed to pay. The bad part was that, while I have shed some weight this trip, I seem to have grown fatter - from a medium to an extra large. I had to get the biggest sets they had. The heck with the South Beach Diet - just eat rice and noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you’ll be a stick, too.

After a brief cleanup I was joined by Paul, Liz, Peter and Gerry for a quick dinner - for me at least since I had to catch my shuttle at 5:00 - before we unfortunately had to part ways. I had a really enjoyable time in Sapa. Some of it was being out of the decrepit hell-hole that is Ha Noi and much of it was the beautiful scenery that we were treated to over the last two days. Actually, it’s tough to capture that properly with technology, let alone with my inferior ability to do it justice with words; but this is a really lovely place. However, most of my enjoyment was the time spent conversing about all sorts of things as we went about our journey.

The shuttle made it to the train station about an hour later. There we waited for a bit as our guide went to a handful of places to get our tickets. With my train being the early one - they started boarding before the guide was back - I was pretty happy when mine was the first ticket handed out. The guide seemed to be prepared for this.

While we waited for him, I ran into Peter and Gerry again who had made it rather quickly to the station on a different bus. We parted ways again and I haven’t seen them since.

The train that took us back to Ha Noi was much nicer than the prior two I had taken. I went from two trains where I questioned whether they washed the linen to one where there was a special cover on top of the pillow, complimentary bottles of water, peanuts and moist towelettes.

In my cabin were three other travelers - a man from Munich and a couple from western Switzerland, near the French border. At one point I was talking to the man from Munich and he could not understand how I could travel without the benefit of a thorough guidebook (mine is only a very broad teaser book that covers all of Asia). It seemed like he would be completely lost without one as he entrusts the Lonely Planet exclusively for where to eat, sleep and tour. I find the guidebooks helpful at times for the highlights, overviews and any places to eat that seem interesting but I will not allow a guidebook to dictate my life on the road. I like exploring beyond the pages and seeing what I can stumble upon too much.

Our conversation brief, I read for a bit before heading off to be early. We’re supposed to arrive in Ha Noi around 4:15 am.

Thanks to Peter for a number of great photos I used in this entry.

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Photos

Morning fog
A great shot of the early fog outside our hotel.

Girls waiting
Guides and sellers wait to accompany the tourists.

Sapa Town
Looking back at Sapa Town where we stayed.

Valley
Looking deep into the valley below.

Vacation homes
Homes used for retreats by wealthy Vietnamese.

Basket backpacks
The local women carry many of their items in hand made baskets strapped to their backs.

Walking
Liz and I talking as we continue our walk.

Dirt road
Much of the early trek was over loose dirt. Sometimes it could be a bit steep.

Looking down
One slip and a steep drop on loose dirt awaits.

More grade
Working our way down some more steep hillside. The dirt here was more packed.

Narrow walkway
Gerry traverses a narrow rock walkway, trying to avoid falling into the mud.

Back uphill
Working our way up some rocky terrain onto the road.

Bridge
A few of us cross a rickety old bridge. The two women in front of me should have opted for the other bridge, instead of stopping every few feet because of fright.

Lunch
The group, except Peter, waiting for lunch.

Cloth making
Chu works a cloth making machine.

Chu
Chu poses in front of her family's house.

Talking
Gerry and I talking while we wait to finish the last bit of our trek.