North Vietnam II

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Sapa

I arranged to get my visa for Cambodia and Laos while I was in Hanoi and this meant that I needed to fill a few more days in North Vietnam. The obvious choice was Sapa. Sapa is in the high country of North Vietnam, close to the border with China and the weather is a bit cooler thanks to the greater altitude.

I arranged to go hiking for two days and stay in a local village at a home stay. The trip to Sapa was one of the more interesting (I'm not sure if anyone actually knew exactly who I was or what I was doing especially me!).

I had booked to go treking through the same people that were organising my visas and they had included all the transfers however it seemed when we were dropped off at the trainstation this had not been communicated to the taxi driver! After about 10min of hand signals and talking slowly(yet unsuccessfully) he pulled out a cellphone and suddenly everything was resolved.

After being shuffled through about about 5 different transfers (at no point was i really aware what i was doing) I was dropped off in a little township where a group of hikers had stayed the night and joined with them for two days hiking. Our tour guides were two local girls (16) who were a lot of fun but often were more interested in tricking us than providing any information. The younger girls definitely have the best english of all the people i've met and most of them have picked it up from talking to tourists.

Being out of the city is nice as you get to spend a bit more time getting to know people who are around you. It was interesting to find out about the lives of the girls who were guiding us. They would often lead treks for multiple days and this prevents them from going to school. When they do have the opportnity to go to school, it seems they prefer to skip that and go play pool or darts.

The two days treking in Sapa were stunning for both the scenery and lifestyle of those that are living there. while we were sweating like fish trying to walk around the area, locals would be travelling in the other direction carrying 50kg bags of rice!

After my two days of walking in the sun I was ready to get back on the train and head back to Hanoi.

Back to Hanoi

Back in Hanoi i went to check out afew of the local museums, but it turned out that monday is the one day a week that most of the museums close. So instead i settled myself down infront of the lake with a book.

That night I was invited to dinner by a Viatnamese family that I had met one of in Sapa (They were hosting a guy from the Czech Republic, who they were showing around Sapa). Given my previous experience with being invited to locals houses I was a little sceptical, but since I'm about twice as big as any of the guys here I decided it would be fine as long as I didn't take anything worth stealing.

Dinner was nice, they even had German Sausages! Afterwards it was time to head to Karaoke. Now this scares me at the best of times but the idea of karaoke in Viatnamese was even worse. Just to make me feel even more uncomfortable, on the motorbike ride to the karaoke bar the viatnamese guy straight up asks me if I want to F*** a viatnamese girl. So now I find out that karaoke is not necessarily just karaoke.

In the seedy little bar there are large sofas where people sit down together and sing while seated. With my vivid imagination and desire to leave viatnam with all my organs, I decide not to hit the alcohol too hard and only to drink the drinks I saw opened in front of me. Unfortunately this only helped me to appreciate how badly I actually sing(I already knew this but it's never fun to hear myself).

At the end of the night I was dropped off at my hostel by my hosts. Once again proving that most people are not going out of their way to get you.

The following day though I was happy to be moving forward and onto Hue.

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Photos

Rice Paddies in Sapa
Almost every square meter of land which can be used for farming in Sapa is used for farming. Rice paddies cover every hill on slopes where you don't think it should be possible,

Our guides
Our guide Li Ly shows us the coulourful wings of a local grasshopper which are apparently good fried.

Working the Fields
Most of the work in these areas is done by hand. I was sweating like a fish while walking around in these areas while locals walk past in the other direction carrying 50kg bags of rice!

Local Children
The idea of stranger danger is not a concept here. These children take the water buffalo for a walk without an adult in sight. Elsewhere I see children wandering (so small they can hardly walk) on the main road with no adults in sight.

The local Village
This is the view from the house that we were staying in at the local village.

Swimming
As always finding a good place to swim is a delight. The water in this pool was particularly nice. And there was not raw sewage being dropped into it up stream! (I hope)

Children in Hanoi
Despite the number of tourists we are still a bit of a novelty. These girls where having a great time trying to steal/read my book and get in photos.

Street Sales
Where ever you go in Hanoi someone will try to sell you something. In this case a photo of me with the bannanas proved to be bonus that made the sale.