Advertisement
Published: July 21st 2009
On Sunday we got a bus from Ninh Binh back to Hanoi where we had a few hours to kill before catching a train that evening. We arrived at about 2pm and me and Amy decided to split off from the group for a few hours to have a nice romantic meal to ourselves. We found a lovely restaurant called Green Mango and sat down for an excellent couple of pizzas before meeting back up with the group at about 6pm and heading to the train station to catch our sleeper train to Lao Cai city.
We had been joined by a new guide called Thuan (pronounced Twat!) and he ushered us into the station waiting room where waited for the train amongst hundreds of locals who found us fascinating and watched us constantly. To be fair, 16 sweaty, confused and rather out of place looking westerners with mountains of luggage between them probably were a fairly amusing sight in the middle of a manic Hanoi train station. After half an hour of trying not to get in the way of the bustling locals our train arrived and we piled on to find our carriages. The cabins each held six
people so we split up with Giang and Thuan joining us to make three groups of six. Me and Amy were joined by Sally, Judith, Jo and Thuan and somehow managed to squeeze ourselves and our bags into the tiny cramped room with three bunk beds on each side and just enough room to stand between them. The train left the station about 10 minutes later and we all settled into our grubby beds that were too short for our western bodies by a good few inches. The ride wasn't exactly comfortable but it was quite an adventure and before too long we were all sleeping soundly as we rolled through the north Vietnamese countryside.
At about 4.30am the train pulled into Lao Cai city (which is only a couple of minutes walk from the Chinese border) and 16 sleepy tourists followed 2 even sleepier guides into waiting minivans for the onward journey to Sapa. Our driver insisted on playing horrendous Asian techno at full blast all the way, despite repeated requests, and eventually pleas, to turn it down. The only thing that made the journey bearable was the utterly incredible views out of the windows of the van.
The north of Vietnam is very mountainous and as we headed towards Sapa we were treated to mist topped rice terraces dug into the dramatic slopes. About an hour and several perforated eardrums later we arrived at Sapa and were dropped at a hostel on the edge of town.
Sapa is one of the most heavily touristed areas in Vietnam and even only a few minutes into our stay it was already obvious why. The town is situated on the top of a mountain and the view over the hills from our hostel and the roads leading up to it was gorgeous. We checked into our room and had a couple of hours sleep before waking up for lunch and our first organised activity. We left the hostel and walked along the main road and a bustling market before reaching the edge of town and heading out through the countryside. After a short while we reached a hill tribe village called Cat Cat. The village is populated by one of the largest tribes in Vietnam, the Black Hmong. Hmongs are common through all of SE Asia and China and are split into several subgroups according to the colours their
very funky clothes are dyed. We walked through the village looking at the various craft stalls and quite a few of the group bought hand made bracelets, bags, clothes and other souvenirs. After leaving the village we walked a little further until we came to a waterfall in the crook of a valley. A bridge stretched over the water upstream and we crossed to a viewing area and another set of souvenir stalls. We sat down and watched the water cascading over the rocks for ages and just enjoyed the atmosphere. After a while I decided to explore the handful of stalls and found one that had a mini barbeque set up out the front so I took a seat on the bench and ordered some vegetable and minced pork kebabs and some rice stuffed bamboo canes while chatting the the owners in my best Vietnamese. I was soon joined by Giang and some of the guys from the group and we shared some of the food and the rather potent home brewed apple wine that the owner offered us.
Eventually we were persuaded to leave the beautiful waterfall and barbeque stall and started the long walk back up
the hills and towards our hostel through a different route. After only a few minutes we walked past a group of locals on motorbikes who offered us rides back to town for only 20,000 dong each (about 65p) and most of us, including me, accepted. With two passengers and a driver on each cheap and low powered bike we weren't much faster than the walkers (a group that included a moto-averse Amy) but bouncing along windy mountain roads with valleys spread out below us was definitely an experience to remember. When we got back to Sapa town I walked through the market taking more time to actually check out the stalls and spotted a stall selling dog meat with a snarling head on a plate as an advert. Nice!
The next morning we packed some essentials into a small rucksack, stored our large bags with the hostel and set off for Ta Van village, our home for the next two nights. The weather had definitely turned against us and heavy mist hung in the air so thick we could barely see the people walking ahead of us. Most of Sapa is over 1,000 metres above sea level so we
were effectively walking through a huge cloud. Before long light rain started to fall and we all donned our rather foolish looking rain macs while we trudged along the road. After a few hours of walking through the slowly clearing mist and rain we arrived at a small village where we had a basic lunch while looking out over a river and the barely visible hills. We were also shown around a traditional Hmong house in the village and it was fascinating to see the basic ameneties inside. Then we walked for another couple of hours until we reached Ta Van village and the house we were to stay at.
The house was essentially a large barn with a living and dining area downstairs, a kitchen and some bedrooms for the family just off it and then a large open plan sleeping area upstairs for guests with a balcony looking over the hills and rice terraces outside. We greeted the family and were shown to our beds which were just thin mattresses on the floor with mosquito nets strung above them. Some people had a nap after the long walk but me and Amy had a quick shower and
the sat on the balcony enjoying the beautiful view which you can see on this video -
&NR=1. That evening we had dinner with the family before the me and the guys from the group went to the local pub with Thuan and the girls stayed in to chat. The guys climbed up a couple of hill-side dirt roads in the village to the pub which had some plastic seats and a pool table outside. We paid 15,000 dong (50p) each for a beer and settled down for a tournament in one of the more bizarre surroundings I have ever played pool in. After a while one of the Hmong girls appeared from inside and challenged us to a card game that involved the loser downing a lethal shot of locally brewed rice wine after every hand. Before long we were all steaming drunk and headed back at around 11pm, skidding and sliding down the muddy slopes on the way home.
The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and then headed out for another trek. As we left the house we were joined by a group of local Hmong girls in traditional dress who walked with us chatting
in broken English and trying to sell us souvenirs. Some of them were very persistent about us buying their goods but others were just friendly and left us mostly alone. We walked through our village before heading out into the open fields with the local girls. The landscapes around Sapa and its tribal villages are spectacular. Dramatic slopes have been deliberately terraced over thousands of years to create a step like effect on the hillsides. As the hill tribes are very poor and their existence is reliant upon the intensive cultivation of rice they need to make use of every available surface around their homes. As the landscape is so rugged they carve the slopes into ledges that are then planted with rice seedlings. In each step there are carefully planned gaps so that when the rain falls in monsoon season the water filters down and perfectly fills each ledge and allows the rice to grow. Once we had left the village we stepped out into the rice terraces and started to walk along the lip of a ledge near the bottom of a hill. The lip was only about six inches wide so walking along was a fine balancing
act. Fall one way and your leg will be buried to the knee in soggy wet mud and rice plants, fall the other way and you'll fall a good few feet into the ledge below and perhaps even beyond. It was great fun and actually quite challenging, especially as the muddy ledges had a tendency to crumble occasionally and send people tumbling into the mud regardless of whether they were well balanced or not.
We walked through the rice fields, occasionally crossing one of the steps up to the higher one and gradually working further and further up the steep hillside. Before long we were very high up and got some phenomenal views over the rolling landscape. At one point we passed a family harvesting rice and called out hello in Vietnamese while they stared at us in surprise. You can see a quick video of us passing them here -
. I think they wondered why people would actually choose to come and walk through the rice fields if they weren't working in them. Gradually the group naturally seperated into two groups with Thuan and a really nice Hmong girl leading the quicker people who struggled less across
the difficult terrain and Giang leading the second group who required more help. Once the first group got a little way ahead Thuan broke into a sprint across one of the ledges high up in the hillside and those of us following him joined suit. Running at full pelt along a crumbling six inch mud lip on the side of a rice terrace hundreds of feet up the side of a steep hillside was one of the most exhilerating experiences of my life although I don't know if I'd dare do it again!
After taking a break at a group of little huts where some local ladies were having a rest (video here -
) we continued along the terraces with the fast group taking a higher route up the hillside and the slower group taking a lower route. We walked for about half an hour or so before the terraces turned into forest and we had a different challenge in trying to navigate slippery mud patches and soggy bogs while clinging onto bamboo shoots for dear life. The Hmong girl who had stayed with us was excellent and pointed out slightly easir paths along the way. Eventually we
made it out into a clearing and the top of a waterfall that cascaded over a hundred foot to the rocks below. The view was yet again stunning and we stood at the top of the waterfall for about 15 minutes just gazing out over the hills. You can see a quick video of this here -
While we were standing at the top of the waterfall we actually saw the slower group arrive along a path at the bottom and shouted down hello before setting off down the hillside to join them for lunch at a local cafe where we had some more excellent pho (which I have since found out is actually pronounced "fur") and bought some souveneirs from our Hmong guide.
After lunch we walked back to the village via the main road which was probably a far more sensible option than the rice terraces, if much less fun. Along the way the group again separated into the slower and quicker walkers and after getting quite a way ahead the quicker group (which included Amy and I) stopped at a cafe to let the others catch up. After about 10 minutes they still hadn't
showed up so Thuan and I left the cafe to look back along the mountain road and see how far behind they were. To get a better view we ducked into the porch of what looked like a house that hung over the edge of the hillside. To our surprise we were greeted by a friendly Vietnamese lady (not Hmong) who introduced herself, via Thuan as an interpreter, as a doctor from Sapa who treated the Hmong locals and any tourists who happened to injure themselves on treks. Probably while sprinting along rice terraces, the silly buggers. The ramshackle concrete hut that we had stood in the porch of was actually the local hospital and she offered us inside for a look around and some green tea. The building simply consisted of four basic rooms around one central reception area where the three of us sat and chatted over some powerful tea. The doctor told us how they try to educate the Hmong population in modern medicine and the troubles they face when the locals are suspicious of things like needles, pills and non-traditional medicine. It was fascinating talking to the doctor and looking at the posters on the walls
that proclaimed the benefits of simple things like washing your hands before cooking and eating and keeping meat properly along with some basic medical knowledge that I thought everybody on earth would already know. After about 20 minutes we thanked the lady for talking to us and left to join the others in the cafe.
That evening, after some very well needed showers, we all went to a different pub in the town and played some pool while drinking some cold and delicious Bia Hanoi (the local brand of lager).
The next morning we got a bus back to Sapa and had the afternoon free to spend exploring the town further. The main town of Sapa is actually fairly developed and touristy, although it has been done in a very nice and seemingly positive way. There are many good restaurants and bars and after having some delicious treats in a bakery me and Amy went out for a curry before joining the others for some beers in the English run pub, The Red Dragon.
On Friday morning we had some more free time before we drove back to Lao Cai City in the afternoon for dinner in
a local cafe next to the train station. We then boarded another night train back to Hanoi for the weekend.
Yikes, that was a long blog. I'm sure most of you probably stopped reading halfway through but for anybody who didn't, I love you more! We're a little behind with the blogs so expect to see a few published in the next few days as I try and catch up. We hope that everybody is good back home, particularly Chloe and Susan.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.092s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 8; qc: 28; dbt: 0.0664s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Douglas Eggleton
non-member comment
Sapa Sapa Sapa ...
This has to be without a doubt one of the best bits! Amy getting muddy, what a memory!