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Published: October 12th 2009
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Sapa
After a hearty western dinner at Jaspers and some ritz and oreo biscuits bought, we were ready for our sleeper train to Sapa. Sapa is a town in the hills which stands in the shadow of Fan Si Pan mountain - the highest in Vietnam at 3143m. We got on our train for the 9.15pm departure and in our 4 berth cabin we were sharing with 2 Vietnamese people. A weird man who was opposite me on the bottom bunk, he was up and down all night and on his phone most of the night and a young girl who was opposite Zo on the top bunk. She must have been dreaming in the night because she shouted out the Vietnamese word for "oi" and grabbed Zo's duvet, but went straight back to sleep!!
Our sleeper train arrived at Lao Cai at 5.30am after quite a good night sleep, for a train journey. We got picked up by our hotel bus and then headed the 40km up the mountain roads going at about 5mph to Sapa. When we got there we got our breakfast, checked into our room and was ready for our first day trekking to Cat
Cat village. As I haven't been here for 4 years we asked Chris whether we should take our walking boots or not. He informed us that it is flip flop terrain - how wrong was he!!! We hired some wellington boots but with no socks bought with us they were very uncomfortable!! We set out on out 3km trek down hill to Cat Cat village with our Black Hmong tribe guide Pang! On the trek we got bombarded by the Black Hmong tribe girls asking us questions and trying to sell us stuff that they had made. Sapa has such stunning scenery of the surrounding mountains and the rice fields cut into the side of the mountains - unfortunately we couldn't see anything because the clouds were so low. It was quite creepy walking through all the mist. The lower we got the better the view got and in the end we got to see some stunning scenery - I have no idea why the Americans would want to bomb such a beautiful country!!
We got to Cat Cat village which has changed a lot since the last time I was here and they have now set it up
as a tourist village of how they live, rather than a place where they live. We sampled some apple wine, which is pretty much a liquor and they showed us how they dye their clothes indigo to differentiate them from other tribes. We then carried on walking down hundreds of steps across a rickety old suspension bridge to see a stunning waterfall. It was a lot larger then last time I came and wouldn't surprise me if they had channeled more water to it to make it more impressive. Needless to say, it was still amazing and the first waterfall Zo had ever seen - many more impressive ones to come! We then had to walk back up the hill which was exhausting and made ten times harder due to the loaned, smaller sized shoe wear we had to borrow. We got back about 12 and had the rest of the day free, so headed of into town to the market where Zo picked up some beautiful bright coloured scarves and a bag for next to nothing!!!
Next morning we were up early for our second day trekking. Due to the bad experience of the boots we decided to
Mid trek
1st day trekking use our own footwear. Zo used her sandals and I decided on my pristine white shoes!! The cloud was still low and we started our walk with the usual Hmong sales pitch on the way to Muong Hoa Valley to the Black Hmong village of Ylinhho. This took about 3 hours and we had to walk on wet muddy paths, across rice fields and down the side of steep mountains. With walking boots this would have been a doddle, unfortunately we both had flat bottomed shoes which made it a bit more interesting!! Zo had to get help from one of the tribal ladies who had her kid strapped to her back, but being a man, i had to go it alone!! Well worth it though because we stopped for a rest on the side of the mountain and I have never seen a view like it. Our last mission was to cross this shear drop on a path no wider than a foot, if you slipped you died. Not good for my vertigo so just put my head down a went!!
We stopped for lunch before going to the village. Very strange to think people still live like
this - most of them are married by 14 and dont get to choose their husbands. Have kids at a young age. The men are nowhere to be seen and the woman do all the work - a part of their culture that we need to bring back to the west!! We walked further to ta van village which is inhabited by Zay minorities. Over another suspension bridge and back on the bus for the 30min ride back to the hotel. We were shattered by the end of the day and shoes were no longer white, so muddy in fact that they have been thrown, along with Zo's sandals that broke on the trip!! Thanks Chris!!
We had a couple of beers and dinner at the hotel before getting back on the bus for the down hill journey back to Lao Cai train station. I got to sit in the front due to my size, which turned out not to be a good thing. The mountain roads would give the Amalfi coast a run for it's money, except the driver in Vietnam are even worse! His brakes weren't really working so had to pump them the whole way down,
combined with some daring overtaking maneuvers, it made for a eventful journey!
Had to wait around for an hour for our train so went had a couple of beers with an American lad to help us sleep! When we got on the train we had realised that we had been drawn the short straw. All the other westerners were in a nice comfy carriage together, whereas Zo and I had to sleep in a lower class carriage with the Vietnamese. Luckily the Vietnamese couple in our room were very nice, but the aircon went off in the middle of the night which turned the small enclosed room into a sauna!!
We arrived back at Hanoi train station at 4.30am and took a cab to Chris' to go back to bed. Got up at about 10 wrote our blogs which we should have done last week and went to the botanical gardens and to see Ho Chi Minh museum - not that great museum but meant we were close to the Hanoi beer factory. Went to the Bia Hoi (A really cheap beer that has top be drunk on the day it is delivered - loved by the Vietnamese).
Had a glass each for 6000 VND - 20p and decided to move onto the 2litre jugs of the better stuff (less chemicals) for 70000VND - £2 for 2litres!! Had a couple of those before going out for a lovely dinner - our last with Chris, which he kindly treated us to. It was a Vietnamese restaurant with a Chech microbrewery - being men, Chris and I opted for the 1litre which took us a bit by surprise! Few more drinks and back home.
Woke up later today and writing blog - going for lunch with Chris and then got to get sleeper bus to Hue tonight. 12 hours on a bus but looks very comfortable. we have had such a fantastic time in Hanoi and that is all thanks to Chris. We cant thank him enough for his generosity and taking us places we would never have seen without him. It will be sad to leave Hanoi. Even though we have been here just over a week, Chris had made it feel like home. We will be back, when we set up our money making business venture 'Vinagon.'
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Joe
non-member comment
Fantastic blogs!
Your blogs are brilliant, keeping me chuckling when I really do need a laugh. It sounds like you a both having a fantastic trip, although make sure you don´t get bogged down writing you blogs, sod everyone else, go and enjoy yourselves. Sorry to spread doom and gloom but please make sure you both have copies of your passports and credit cards etc and keep them somewhere safe (scan into your hotmail or something)? I got mugged on Saturday in Ecuador on my way to the airport by 3 blokes with a knife and I now have to return to the UK to get a new passport. I´m really pissed off as it means I miss my Argentina to Rio tour. Thieving b'stards! Take care, stay safe and enjoy yourselves. PS. Tom get that bloody haircut - you are looking a lot like Jeremy Clarkson! Joe x