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Published: February 28th 2014
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28 feb - Friday
Woke early and rose
at 7am. Just in time to see our surrounding area. Momentarily, the mist has lifted to reveal stunning pine-covered mountains, in fact highest mountain in Vietnam, Fan Si Pan achieving 3,143 metres above sea level, is across the valley from our Homestay. Decided on clean teeth and scrubbed hands/faces, will have to leave showering till the Hotel later. Our guide has arrived for another day of trekking. Waiting for our younger fellow Trekkers to wake-up, amazing how much sleep they can enjoy! Looking forward to Pancakes this morning, after which our morning trek will take us to Giang Ta Chai village where the Red Dao Tribe live. After a lunch stop we trek onto Ban Ho Village. Transferring by road back to Sa Pa late afternoon, we are anticipating a very full day and we suspect more jostling for favours from our multitude of sherpa's , that will no doubt appear out of the mists as soon as we start off. Interestingly, although these villages are relatively close, their inhabitants speak two distinctly different languages. The local schools therefore include both languages on their curriculum. When a girl marries a boy from another
village, she moves to live with her husband's tribe, so communication must become very difficult at times. Today's hike is given as an easy 10km! To even us seasoned walkers, it was challenging. Not so much in length, but in altitude and gradients, it was a first for two people not always comfortable with heights. Following what we believe to be buffalo tracks, there were several mishaps. The ground was muddy and slippery at times. For the first few kilometres we shunned the assistance of our new Sherpas (our grand old village girls of senior years), but when the going got tough, we gladly accepted their guidance. What amazes us is that we were climbing/descending steps of about three feet, and at our heights of between 5' 8" and 6', we had much more difficulty than our diminutive lady assistants.The weather improved dramatically as we walked and very soon we were walking through a magnificent mountain chain. Past paddy fields on 1 in 2" inclines, with huge Buffalo wandering around like goats.We passed many small holdings, which could only have been reached by the same method we used; Shanks'es pony, Our respect for these minority tribes and the hard lives
they endure is massively increased. Said a sad farewell to our fellow travellers, who all return to Hanoi
tonight by overnight train, we share a last meal together. Contrary to some published Vietnam travel guides, there is an abundance of shops in Sa Pa selling Hiking Gear, from fleeces and boots to waterproofs and walking sticks, no need to worry beforehand if you have the right weather gear. We carried our Sa Pa gear across the whole of Vietnam for a month, not realising we could have saved a lot of bother and money by buying on arrival! Enjoying our evening here, views from our hotel room are to die for. Sun just setting. It's Good Night from us x Tip of the Day: If you are trekking in this region, bring a walking stick - and don't go on first impressions!
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