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Published: December 21st 2006
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Dog Meat
"Good deal for you" she says. "Very fresh" Personally emerse myself in the local culture, but this is a little too local for me! The 12 hour train ride from Hanoi to Sapa was great. A 2nd class, soft sleeper train. We board at night and wake up the next morning in another city......Actually in Sa Pa's case it feels like a different country, a whole world away from Vietnam.
Of course being in Asia nothing is as simple as it seems. Getting off the train we were stopped by some officials asking for our ticket. I left it on the train. The stone faced officals wanted a whopping 400 000 dong fine ($30). I ran back the full length of the train to get the tickets. The lady would not let me back on no matter how much I pleaded. She kept saying "No English" Money talks in Asia so as soon as I pulled out my wallet, my tickets magically appeared. I paid 20 000 dong ($1.25) to her and she gave back the tickets.
The incredibly scenic town of Sapa, high in the mountains right on the China/Vietnam border. At home in Vancouver Canada I have spent many years climbing over 50 mountains. I've seen a lot, but nothing as breath taking as the beauty of the surrounding mountains of
Our guides
Anyone thinking of going to Sapa. I suggest not booking a $10 tour through your hotel or an agency. You can meet any of the girls on the street who would love to bring you to their villages. And you'll pay a 3rd the price. It's a much more authentic experience Sapa. What adds to this expereince is the little villages along the way, and the different tribes that populate them.
The town itself reminds us of the resort town of Whistler, BC, but without the snow. The first thing you notice is the cold. We were not ready for this on our tropical vacation! During the day it's not so bad, maybe getting to 12 C, but at night it dips to 0. Our fireplace in our hotel, just didn't seem to do the trick of keeping us warm.
We started off the morning by walking to the Cat Cat Village. Just 3km from the market in the centre of town. On the way we would run into all kinds of people dressed differently. Some more colourful then others. You can tell who are in what tribe by the outfits they have on. Most have some sort of handicrafts for sale to sell to people like us. So you'll always here the same thing when you meet them. "Where you from? Whats your name? Want to buy?" A lot of people rush right past them saying "no no no" Jasmine and I decided tosit down and have a
Hill Tribes
Along the raods and trails you meet the nomadic people. All incredibly friendly, and will explain their ways of life to you. Learning from tourists they seems to have a pretty good command of english chat with the people and try to get to know them. Unlike the Vietnamese in the cities, they quickly forgot that they were selling stuff and started to explain their simple but hard working way of life.
This was very rewarding. We asked the girls if they could bring us to their village the next day, offering 120 000 dong (about $12) for the both of us. We found out later this was a much better decision than booking a tour through our hotel. It not only saved us money but more importantly we weren't herded with other tourists into a minivan stopping at unauthentic hilltribe restaraunts and coca cola stands that wouldn't exist without these tours. Those tours aren't so bad, just not the real deal, more watered down I guess.
We spent the rest of the day hiking up and down the steep mountains, stopping to rest at waterfalls and chatting with the local tribes. The market which is as traditional as it gets, probably much the same as it has been for 100's of years sits under a bunch of beautiful hotels that just don't seem to fit in. We were offered some dog meet,
The girls and I
The lead us down a valley of rice terraces to their village. They belong to the Hmong Tribe. We loved them, such friendly playful people to which we politley said "no thanks, maybe later"
That night we froze, under some extremely thick blankets, beside a fire place that didn't seem to generate enough heat. I guess what can you expect for a $5.00 hotel. The views are amazing though. A similar place in Whistler goes for about $500.00 per night.
We started off at 7am. Early enough to bypass the ticket booth for which the Vietnamese collect money to enter the area, not giving any of it to the tribes. This is what started off to waht was to be a surreal day. It's hard to explain walking through this landscape by ourselves with a bunch of tribal people. It wasn't as akward as one would expect, but that may be because we've been travelling for a couple months already. I guess the word that comes to mind quite often is "Wow". It's a whole different world out there. Out guides "Chi Chi, Lulu and Zhao" would bring us on the ultimate adventure.
I've explained in earlier blogs about ancient towns of Luang prabang in Laos or Hoi An in Vietnam. Towns where it feels like you've been put 100's of years
Sapa Town
Nestled on the hills on the border of China sits the market town of Sapa. Where all the tribal people of the surrounding villages meet back in time. Well if these are 100's then Sapa brings you back maybe 1000 or so. For example to build a simple wooden house that would take us a day or two at home can take up to 5 years out here. First the men hike far into the mountains for a couple weeks. Chop down a tree, and process it. And then 2 of them will carry it down the mountain with no tools. We saw this twice, looked like backbreaking labour.
The hike was about 10 km, and it took us through 3 villages. The first one was the most interesting. We stopped off at a very rural school. It seemed to be lunchtime of recess because they were all playing games inside and outside the school. However maybe they were just simply there playing and school was not in session. Hard to tell what was going on because there were no teachers. The boys played with marbles and the girls used bamboo sitcks and a rock, playing a similar game to wjhat we know as jacks.
We stopped at the mini rural market to pick up some noodles and vegatables. We knew we were
Rice terraces
The Cascading rice terraces on the sides of the mountains contribute to the breathtaking beauty of the land. paying for this, but didn't expect that they'd fill a bunch of grocery bags up for the whole family at our expense. We reluctantly payed, but then had a good laugh when the entire bill came to 13 000 dong (about 75 cents).
A few kms later we stopped at Chi Chi's house in her Village. Her house is as simple as you could imagine. It was a 1 room bamboo hut, that the whole family, two dogs, a cat, a pig and some chickens live. In the middle of the room lays a firepit with a big metal bowl used for cooking. A hose was running water into another giant bowl on the ground, it's brought up somehow from the river. It's really dark inside,even during the day. They have 1 light on, they explained they do have electricity but generate it themselves somehow with the running water in the river.
They spent about 2 hours preparing our noodle soup. Something that would take about 5 minutes with our luxuries at home. We requested vegatarian because their meat was questionable and we were sure it would make us sick. At one point Chi Chi's mother brought out
Tribal outfits.
The tribes make their own clothes. You can see them hiking up the side of the mountain, weaving as they walk. Something that must take many years of practice I'm sure this corn, which she peeled off with her dirty hands and left it in the mud. We were relieved when she fed it to the chickens and not us!
They were incredibly poor. Living on less then a dollar a day. However they are completely self sufficent. Gorwing their own food and making their own clothes just as they have been for 1000's of years. There's no real need for a lot of money. In fact more money will change and probably put an end to their culture. Tourism is good and bad for Sapa. it's good because they need some money to have a better life. But bad because it changes their ways, it's not unsual to see some locals dressed in traditional outfits and some Nike airforces shoes.
It is pretty cool that they can go to Sapa town and email us though. We'll definatly keep in touch. It's good they are getting more of an education through tourists than their owbn schooling.
The fed us a lot of food. And we were off to finish the rest of our hike through 2 more villages. We saw where the tours brought the people and were glad
Boy chopping firewood
This is no joke. The actually start working this early. He is chopping firewood for the family. The big pile beside him shows that he's been doing it for hours. we didn't join them. Our guides were great! I wish we could bri g them home, or even to Hanoi, which at this point seems like its on the other side of the world.
We were lucky enough to catch a minivan back 10 km to town. It's all up hill. Our new friends gave us some gifts and we said our goodbyes. Promising to exchange emails and send pictures. I wish we got to spend more time here. We showed up early in the morning on a train, and left the the next night. We were glad to go back to where it's warmer, but left wishing we could've stayed a lot longer.
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Christina
non-member comment
creepin...
well it seems alisha gave up on her blogging so i have been sneaking a peak at yours every couple of days. Jazz will probably remember me, i was out to duncan to visit alisha a couple of times and hung out with jazz there. anyway! I dunno why i just LOVE reading these entrys, i love getting a small look at the world even through someone elses eyes. Keep it up! I gave up on alisha haha and you have way more pictures. excellent have a merry xmas guys -christina ....from okotoks.... near calgary... indeed