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Published: March 10th 2008
Sapa
In case you're wondering I'm wearing 4 layers of clothing that's not me having put on weightHi everyone. Thanks for your comments and messages over the last few weeks. Its great to hear from you all and that the blogs are coming out ok and readable!!. Keep them coming and also let me know how things are going back home and any gossip!!. Well surprise surprise I'm about 3 weeks behind again on blogs and have got ones on Hoi An, Hue and Saigon to publish but I'll get there soon enough. So Sapa seems a vague and distant memory but I'll try and describe what it was like, with the help of my trusty guidebook. Quote from guidebook 'SAPA is a magical combination of alpine landscapes, ethnic cultures and bracing mountain air' It was discovered by a Jesuit missionary in 1918 and in the 1920's the French decided to develop SAPA.
After the hectic pace, mad motorcycle traffic, hard faced locals who don't smile and shouts of 'Hello motorbike boss?'!! on every street corner, of Hanoi I parted company with the GAP group and headed up to SAPA which is famous for its scenary, Trekking, friendly locals and near the border with China. I booked a 3 day tour with Delta travel - the deal
was sleeper train journey there, hotel for 1 night, 1 1/2 days trekking, full board and sleeper train back all for $99.00. I left my main luggage with the hotel in Hanoi and just took the essentials ( lots of warm jumpers and DVD's as I heard the week before it had been snowing and the water buffalo were found frozen dead on the road).
The train journey was pretty grim but I shared a cabin with a friendly French couple and we chatted about other places in Vietnam that they had been to and what they recommended ( in English of course!!). After that it was time to get down to some serious DVD watching as I couldn't sleep much due to the train bumping all over the place and going uphill!!!! I had purchased prison break series 1-3 for about $12 in Hanoi so got stuck in to some serious attempts to break out of prison by some lowlife characters but at least the lawyers and prison doctors were nice! The train pulled in to Lao Cai at 5.30am, pitch black, freezing and chaos. My name wasn't on a greeting board as promised so I manged to
Sapa
Those tribeswomen were strong ! get on the wrong bus and after a 1 hour journey ended up at the wrong hotel but SAPA is a small place and by 7.30am I was checked in and ready for breakfast ( these minor hitches can occur when travelling but generally everything works out ok in the end). My guide turned up she was called Mong from the Black Hmong tribe. Within ten minutes of walking down SAPA highstreet we were ambushed by around 20 other tribeswomen who all wanted to go trekking with us. This is nice I thought as Mong seemed to pick around 5 of them and we all set off for some trekking in the mud and paddy fieldS of North Vietnam. I was soon bombarded with questions from the locals including (1) whats your name? (2) where you from? (3) where you going? (4) how old are you? (5) are you married? (6) what do you do for a job ( these same questions were asked by another 30 or so over the next 1 1/2 days and I got used to them by lunchtime). Then the serious trekking in the mud started.....see pictures...
When the mist cleared the views were
fantastic and the guide was very informative about the local culture and history ( her tribe had fought major battles with the Chinese and were once financed by the American CIA!!!) also there was a large catholic community in the area and all schools are painted yellow with a red roof. We trekked until around 5.00pm and I was exhausted by the end and 15 dollars lighter due purchasing goods from the tribes. At the end I met 3 women from 3 different tribes ( Red Zao, Green Hmong and I can't remember the other one) as with everyone they were really friendly and I took a picture of them ( remember to always ask first as some of them think to taka a picture steals their souls). After trekking we got a bus back to the hotel. I was exhasuted so it was dinner the off to my freezing room with mini heater and a bed with an electric blanket. It was bed time by 8.00pm and another DVD called 'Gone Baby Gone' - this is the best film I have seen in ages go see it!!!
The next day it was more trekking to Cat Cat and
a waterfall followed by an afternoon of seeing the market and more shopping. The train back seemed better for some reason, met a couple from Hanoi who could speak good English and watched Atonement on DVD. Arrived back in Hanoi at 5.00am. I had a flight booked at 3.30pm to Danang but instead of going straight to the hotel I decided to walk to the lake area and watch the sun come up. It was an amazing experience to see the city wake up. I sat on a bench and a group of local elderly women showed up with a gheto blaster and started playing this wierd music to which they would do these funny moves to. It wasn't Tai Chi but some form of aerobic exercise. People would ride past on their bikes, stop and join in for 15 minutes. I stayed there until around 7.30am, had some breakfast overlooking the lake, purchased some more $1 DVD's and then went back to the hotel to shower and pick up by other luggage for the flight to Danang and journey to Hoi An which so far has been my favourite city but that's another blog entry.
I'm in Cambodia
now, Phnom Penh and heading to the beach 2moro for some R&R after a month on the road from Bangkok to Pnon Penh. SihanoukVille itself is not supposed to be that great but apparantly there are some great Islands you can get to where its very peaceful.
Take care all and keep in touch.
Rob
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Vicky Braxton
non-member comment
Hellooooooo!!!!!
Hey Meanie!!! Glad to hear you are having a fantastic time, it all looks very excting. No gossip from me at the moment, just doddering along, but am out with Carolyn and Carlton on Friday night so we will try to create some then!! See you soon, Take care V/x