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Published: October 30th 2008
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Hello All!
THE TOUR OF THE VILLAGE WAS GOOD! I will stress this, the guide was excellent her grasp of English made it easy to have conversations about the people and their way of life, how it has changed and is still changing, very rapidly!. Our guide was happy with her way of life the way it was and this was most noticeable when our guide gave a 100,000vnd note to a baby to play with. And with Hemp plants growing wild in their back yards it is no wonder there is a level of happiness in the village….but seriously the hemp is what they make their clothes from and some still do it the old fashioned way by loom and then dying. They make the thread for the loom as they walk around. The hemp plant is boiled and the hemp strands are separated into a course string. The ladies walk around all day with a bundle of this pulling it apart and joining it to make it 1 long ball of twine which is then woven into a roll of cloth about 200mm wide and 30m long. The cloth is then died many times using an indigo color
Traditional clothing
All the rage in Sapa, headded for a catwalk near you soon. from a plant (this is another process altogether) once the desired color is achieved the tribe patterns are stitched in and a shirt or a pair of pants are made. Now all the women have blue hands, from the dye of course and they said that they dye it in a way that the color does not run….if this is true how come I saw a lot of men with blue legs! Hmmmmm! MAYBE IT RUNS A LITTLE SO DON’T WASH IT WITH YOUR WHITES! The village it’s self was pretty standard little wooden shacks, satellite dish and cable TV as standard, fire in the floor in the other such a mix of old and new.
The rest is not going to be a favorable blog. I am afraid I was disappointed in the place and it's locals. Lets start from the ticket buying. In Hanoi there is a coffee shop familiar to many Australians called Gloria Jeans, a little home away from home (and just as expensive) but you can get a cap or a flat white or latte etc.... We purchased our train tickets from the tourist info centre there and booked our accommodation. Now, rooms in
Our day 1 tour group.
All together now..."YOU BUY FROM ME!"...not this time girls. Sapa range in price from 6-$50Au/night and there is not much difference so if you are on a budget just buy the ticket for the train and get your accommodation when you get there. The train... now there is a difference here so spend the extra and get the sleeper.
Point 1) Watch out for the "helpful people" at the train station they look to be assisting you but like everything else I have found here it comes at a price. I will digress at this point and discuss tipping! it appears that the art of tipping is well and truly alive here and for us Aussies it is not normal day to day activity so to make it easy for you it should be between 10 and 30% of the total bill depending on the effort you think the person put in. A TIP IS A REWARD FOR SERVICES ABOVE THE NORM. Saying this the people here are not unaccustomed to arguing that your tip is too small! especially if they see your wallet bulging with tourist dollar!
Point 2) When the train arrives in Sapa do not be afraid to ignore the guy outside who is
insisting on this is the last bus and you must get on it quick to get to Sapa, it is another scam ( yes we fell for it!)(did not get stung too badly luckily).
The hotel we booked was average and included a good buffet breakfast @ $25/night it is at the dearer end of the accommodation here. On our first day in Sapa we had no specific plans and wanted to explore the city and book a tour of the local indigenous tribe, the H’mong. Leaving the hotel we were greeted by a young looking girl from the local H’mong tribe a bright smile and the first words were “You buy from me!” This set the tone for the day because the H’mong hang around the town and sell things which are not made buy then anymore. YOU CAN FIND SOME HAND MADE ITEMS. But you have to look for the people doing it on the street or all you get is a machine crafted purse made in a factory somewhere in Vietnam.
Day 3) Bad day Tummy Bug and fever 38.8c,
What a day for the water to stop flowing at 3 am in the morning.
Markets
Odours here make even the strongest constitution shiver! Me first and Lynne after it passed within a day so we were cautious about what we ate the next day but all is normal again. I just knew you all wanted to hear that!
I am sorry I could not write a brighter blog about this place but I guess I was looking forward to some natural culture not money grubbing locals. An image which sums it up is of a 2 or 3 year old child we walked past in the village who did not even speak but as we walked past held up her hand with the same gesture as the adults did and was just missing the “you buy from me” statement! Sad really.
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