Day 29: Sapa, Vietnam

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Tuesday, February 24th

We arrived at Lao Cai station (38km from Sapa and 3km from the Chinese border) at 5:15am. We had to sit in the mini-van for an hour and a half until enough people arrived to fill it.

When the van was finally full we drove an hour and a half into the mountains to Sapa, where we had time for a great breakfast and a hot shower.

We met our guide named Hai. Even before we stated the trek we could see the "vultures" waiting outside the doors of the hotel lobby. These "vultures" were a group of older ladies in traditional clothing selling woven fabrics and souvenirs. The moment we set foot outside they wanted to know where we were from, what our names was and how old we were. They then proceeded to follow us all the way to lunch.

Even though it was only us three in our group a whole bunch of tourists started the trek together. The first kilometer was next to the road through town and a huge procession followed us out of town. It was a little "Pied Piper-ish".

After the first break a lot of people opted for the shorter route so we split of on the longer one, about 14km. Three of the ladies stuck with us as we made our way past gorgeous terraced hills to our lunch spot.

Here the friendly ladies would stay behind and we wanted to buy some of their cloth. We were soon swamped by tons of other women and children who wanted us to buy stuff from them too. The problem is that everybody sells the same stuff. It was a battle but we stuck to our guns and after some bargaining we bought something from each of the three ladies. We then had the difficult task of saying no to 20 other women and children and soon retreated to the safety of our guide.

As we set out we found four new "friends" following us! Argh... They never give up! We made it clear that we didn't have any more money and after a few kilometers they stopped following is.

We arrived in the village of Giay. Here we would spend the night with the Hoanz family. There are 3 generations (6 adults & 3 children) that live in the house. After a nap we played cards with Hai while the ladies prepared a feast. It was a great experience to share a meal with the family. After dinner we continued to play cards with Hai until bed time.

Today's highlights:
1. Hiking in the quiet of the mountains.
2. Playing cards with Hai.
3. Sharing a feast with the local family.

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Photos

Up waaaay too early!
Waiting in mini-van at Lao Cai station