Still in Hanoi

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Nov 1-5 Back in Hanoi

“Hallo. You buy from me. You buy from me, I give you cheap. You buy from her, you buy from me. You happy? Me happy.’ And so it went while visiting the villages near Sapa. And yes, I bought a small embroidered purse to carry the camera in, and was then pressured into buying a braclet…for $1.50.
But before I go into the details of our Sapa trip, I must finish the excursion back from Cat Ba Island. Our ride was a little on the unnerving side as we were herded into a van that in Canada would be licensed for 14 people plus a driver. This one had enough seating for 23 people, including the driver. Now add this to narrow, windy, hilly roads…I won’t say anymore. So after arriving back in Hanoi around 4 in the afternoon, we had time for supper and were then taken to the train station for the 9 pm train. Believe it or not, our train was non other the ‘Oriental Express” (remember the movie?) We had deluxe soft sleepers which means we were in a compartment with four beds that had mattresses. So after a long night of sleeping in our clothes and of rocking and rolling all the way (Vietnam rail tracks are narrow gauge) we finally arrived in Laocai at 6:30 am. Another hour on a bus got us to Sapa. Sapa is 1600 metres above sea level and is located near Vietnam’s highest mountain. The result was that the temperature was a lot cooler than Hanoi, and was actually cold at night.
We had not even checked into our hotel before our first trek started. After a quick breakfast, our guide marched us out of town, picking up a young Japanese tourist who joined us. (We also picked up three Black H’mong , one of the minority group, women who accompanied us until our lunch break where they sold us their wears) The four (7)of us walked along the road for a few km. and then hit the trails. These trail lead to the various minority peoples’ villages and around their rice terraces. Pictures are the only way to describe the beauty of this area, and then I know they won’t even do it justice. We were incredibly lucky that the weather was sunny and not too hot, as a tourist we had talked to last week told us she did this trek in the rain and it was a mud hole. As it was the trails are all clay and were wet in some places. Lots and lots of steep up hills and down hills.
That afternoon, after a 12 km trek, we arrived at Lao Chai village where we did a home stay with a young couple. Many, many of the homes here do home stays for the massive number of tourists who visit. Our meal was home cooked, we helped with the spring roles, we ate with the couple, and we shared their rice wine, yum, with them. After dinner a young woman from Germany, Astred, who we roomed with on the train, joined us for more drinks. She had been traveling on her own and wound up in a homestay across the lane from us.
Next day we treked another 9 km to another village and then back to the road. Here we were pick up in a jeep and driven along a very rough road back to town. The way this area handles water culverts is to put concrete on the road for the water to run over. Makes for mud and deep puddles. All in all, it was a great trek.
After getting back into Sapa we finally checked into our hotel. I should probably mention that we left our big backpacks in Hanoi at our hotel there and carried only light ones. Sapa was once a quiet government community, but it has been overrun with us tourists. There are big hotels going up at an alarming rate which simply take money out of the area. If you every come here, stay in a local hotel so your dollars stay here.
The next morning we treked out of town again, this time to the village of Cat Cat, another Black H’mong village. This village had a controlled number of visitors and have been able to maintain a semblance of their original life styles. The homes were much simpler, and most did not appear to own Tvs. From there we walked to a small farm village. We were the only visitors there and it was extremely rustic. I am not sure they even had power. The area was quite dirty and I am sure it would be all mud in the rain. However, the country side with its terraced fields and water buffalo was beautiful. After walking back to the road, we were picked up in a van and driven back into town. I must mention that these roads I talk about…the people here usually use motor bikes to get around, and the roads are in worse shape than those ‘back roads’ that we used to dirt bike on.
That night we were bussed back to Lao Cai where we hopped onto the night train for another rocking and rolling trip to Hanoi. Once we arrived in Hanoi, at 4:30 am,we grabbed a cab to take us back our hotel. First lesson in getting ripped off by metered cabs. He tried to give us a tour of the city but we got mad at him and got out of the cab. We recognized the area we were in and knew what he was doing. So from there we walked back to the hotel, with a little help from the locals giving us directions. Hanoi’s old quarter is a very interesting area no matter what time of the day and we felt perfectly safe walking around at that time.

Today we are supposed to be in Hue but we are still in Hanoi. When we got to the airport, we discovered that the Hue flight had been cancelled due to rain in Hue. We are rebooked for the 7th so have returned to the Serenity Hotel where we have been staying.
Visited two traditional communities this morning. One was a pottery village where we watched them making pottery. Along the street a couple of women were carrying sand across their shoulders and suggested I try. I did. It was extremely heavy, infact, I could hardly lift it, but I did. I still think they had made a bet on whether or not I could lift it because we were all laughing at my attempt. Even Darrel tried it and found the load very heavy. Then the woman simply picked up the load and continued to work.
From there we visited a silk village, and no, I did not buy anything. Will have to come back here on a shopping trip one day.
Rest of the day has been for R and R and getting organized for tomorrow.

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Photos

Valley view
We are about to trek down there.

Water buffalo
Passed us on a very narrow, steep trail

Ratan bridge
Steadier than the new one beside it

Sapa
Start of our trek day 1

Trek
Heading into the valley

Black H'mong
These three ladies joined us at the start of our trek and didn't leave until we bought from them.

Kitchen
Fortunately not the one we ate at.

Homestay
This is where we spent the night Actually quite clean and comfy.

Sunset over Sapa
No colour but an amazing double image of the mountain...highest mountain in Vietnan

Sapa
Our hotel is the white building in the background..Sapa is 1 mile above sea level.