Our trip to Sapa

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Monday 02nd November 2009 - I really didn’t know what to expect coming to Sapa. Steve and Maj came while they were in Vietnam and said it was great, but I guess I just really wasn’t expecting it to be this great! The scenery takes your breath away.

We hopped off the train at Lao Cai Station at around 6am, there was a man waiting as we stepped off the train to offer us a Mini Bus to Sapa - we were very lucky that this man asked us and we said yes - as he worked for Cat Cat View Hotel in Sapa, and that’s where to Mini Bus took us.

The hour long drive in the mini-bus was great. So much to see - so different to Hanoi. Lao Cai is just near the Chinese border, Sapa is south of that, heading back down towards Hanoi. The roads are so windy because it’s up in the mountains. Just beautiful though.

We arrived at Cat Cat View Hotel, Sapa, and were welcomed in to look at their rooms. Such a well set out Hotel, excellent views. Luke bargained till we got a good price for an awesome room. On the 9th floor, floor to ceiling windows, looking out over the balcony, that looks out over the Villages of Sapa, the Mountains, Rice Terraces, and the blue sky that we’ve missed seeing while in Hanoi - all for $18USD per night!

We spent the morning walking around; the people are so different here compared to Hanoi. There are tribes here; Black H’Mong and Red Dao, the girls sit and wait for you to walk outside your hotel and ask you to buy things from them.

Their English is really good, they’re really friendly, and they joke around, remember your name, and if you say “No” to buying something from them - or say “Maybe later” - they remember that “Maybe” and your name, and come back until you buy something - it’s pretty funny.

The town of Sapa is pretty small, the villages seem so close - the Tribal girls walk into town every day - it takes about 2hrs, some we met were in their very early 20’s with their 2nd or 3rd baby strapped to their back.

We checked out the markets, Luke bought a compass, for those ‘just in case’ moments while I played peek-a-boo with the little boy behind the counter. Luke-e also bought a handmade bracelet from a Black H’Mong Tribal Lady, she was funny. And then I bargained for a bangle, down from 150,000VND to 50,000VND - which was still too much, especially when I actually tried to get it on my wrist and it was too small - after I’d paid for it. Luke just gave me one of his looks, where he doesn’t need to say ‘you’re a dickhead’ - I can just feel it, so I’m determined to get this bangle to fit, and try squashing it over my hand whenever he’s not looking - I think I’ll stop trying for a few days though, my hand is swollen and a little bruised.

We were fascinated by the dried ‘Horse Cock’ that was for sale in the Markets, there was a poor chook tied to a tree with rope by its ankle right near here too. When we were walking back to our Hotel for a sleep around midday, a little girl Mai walked with us. She was so cute - spoke good English, she told me she was 8 yrs old, and when she found out we were from Australia, she showed us her Kangaroo pendant around her neck. She sang as she spoke “umm-maybe-you-buy-from-me-a-bracelet“? I didn’t buy anything from her and she was upset, cause she’d walked all the way back to our Hotel with us.

Luke and I shared a 4 person hot-pot, between just us, for dinner - it was delicious. You get fresh meat, fresh veggies, and a hot-pot full of veggies, pineapple, garlic, chilli, and mushrooms - so you cook it all yourself. It was a feast!

Tuesday 03rd November 2009 - We slept in a little, a tad bit hung over from last night’s efforts. Starting our day off a little later than we’d hoped didn’t affect our adventures at all. We had the best day today!

Breakfast at our Hotel, looking out over the balcony, Luke-e had an omelet and I had Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls - I just can’t get enough of the scenery - photo’s just don’t do it justice.

We put on our pants and joggers, and hired Motorbikes for the day - I had my own automatic bike. I was petrified. The bikes, to hire were 180,000VND - 90,000VND each - which is $10USD for the both of them.

Luke kept saying to me all morning - ‘Why do you look so scared’ - it’s because I’d never been more scared in my life - Me - riding a motorbike - on the road - in Sapa - Vietnam! I thought I did well to keep up with him though, and only had one slight mishap, when - at the end of the day - we’d just driven through the very narrow roads of a Village and had to turn around, so I had to hop off my bike and do like a 10pt turn - it didn’t happen so smoothly and Luke-e had to come to the rescue after it had turned itself side over onto the ground…

We spent the day riding to a Waterfall and back, it was beautiful, we’d stop along the way to take photos and video each other riding. We took fruit to have lunch at the Waterfall, and parked our bikes with a lady, at her stall, on the side of the road. The walk around the waterfall was 2km - ha, and we struggled the whole way!

We walked back down to our bikes, and I had a piece of cooked corn on the cob from the lady we left our bikes with, she also poured me a tea, and then later sold me a bag of the tea I’d just drank - it’s the nicest tea I’ve ever tasted!

We went to hop back on our bikes, and Luke realized he didn’t have his key. We soon figured out that he’d left it in the seat, and the Vietnamese woman who I’d just sat and had a cuppa with, had given it to the lady across the road, and wouldn’t give it back to Luke - unless he gave her 100,000VND. He was furious! Haha. He started raising his voice at the lady, saying “Give me back my key” - over & over - sometimes he’d say it loud and slowly, other times he’d say it loud and quick - whatever he did worked, cause she eventually handed the key over without him paying anything.

We ended the day riding around Cat Cat Village, taking photo’s and video’s - losing our lense cap cover for our new camera! It was a beautiful day though, blue skies, and a really fresh coolness - freezing in the shade of the mountains, but warm everywhere else.

Wednesday 04th November 2009 - Luke-e was pretty much bedridden today - we think he has Dangue Fever.

I didn’t do much today, just wrote some postcards - I got really sun-burnt sitting out on the balcony. Luke hopped up to come have some lunch in town, we ran into Mai - the little Vietnamese girl with a Kangaroo pendant on her necklace who sang her words. I had a chat to her, asked he what she’d been up to and she sang-spoke to me “I-go-to-the-selling”.

Luke went back to bed for the afternoon and I just walked around the markets with Mai - I didn’t buy anything - I get all nervous going to bargain without Luke there, I feel silly.

We had dinner bought to our room - as Luke really was too sick to move - we spent the night watching corny b-grade movies on the Foxtel. He had such a bad fever, and it was cold, so we had our fire lit in the room - it was so funny watching the men from the Hotel all work together to get this fire going - they are so helpful. Almost smoked us out, but it kept the patient warm!

Thursday 05th November 2009 - I had to sort out our train tickets back into Hanoi, which was a big deal for me - who had happily sat back and watched Luke do all the talking for all purchases.

I went down to see how much our Hotel sold them for - and after running back up the stairs to tell Luke they were 510,000VND, I had to go back down to find another place cause our train over was only 420,000VND. I went into the first travel agency I found, and was quoted 370,000VND - the lady assured me the train was with Livitrans - I really wanted to make sure it would be Livitrans, cause Luke was so sick he really needed to be comfortable.

I ran back up to tell him the price, and he said to double-check / make sure it was with Livitrans - so I did, and heard her confirm “Livitrans” over the phone, and I also had our tickets from Hanoi to Lao Cai and she assured me it would be the same train - I paid, and she told me to come back in 45mins - so I ran back up to be with Luke-e.

45 minutes later, I went back into that trusty Travel Agency, to get my Livitrans Train Tickets - she handed me the Tickets - that weren’t Livitrans!

Apparently there weren’t any seats available with Livitrans, but “this-train-new-it-better” - she repeated. I argued with her, saying “NO, I book Livitrans, I pay for Livitrans” - but it just wasn’t going to happen, so I just had to hope she was right about this train being better than Livitrans.

I found Mai “selling” her bracelets, and postcards on the street, and we wandered around for a bit together. I took her to have ice-cream at a Café in town, and she loved it. I showed her photo’s on my phone of everyone back home, she repeated everything I said in her little singing voice - very sweet.

She’d never had ice-cream before, and all but licked the bowl clean! We took some photo’s together, and then I had to go - she gave me a hug - and a ‘present’ off her bag that she did the selling out of. It’s a little embroided bag with a bell on it. I was sad to say goodbye to her, she was so nice, and kept looking back at me as I was walking away.

I spent the afternoon shopping - and actually got pretty good at bargaining. I brought 3 scarves, 2 pillow cases, and some handmade bracelets, and a bag for our camera. It’s not really my thing, but I had fun, and enjoyed exploring by myself.

I packed our things up and tried to help sick Luke as much as I could, he had such a bad fever - really wasn’t in a good way.

Our Train from Lao Cai back to Hanoi, was called The Orient Express - we hopped on, and it was so far from being nice - especially compared to Livitrans. Stupid Travel Agent Lady!

I couldn’t sleep it was so rocky, the beds were so hard, and the train would stop every 10mins or so - no idea why. My journal entry reads - Fri 7th Nov 1:05am Orient Express Train: Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh What the ****! This is the worst train ride ever……. - etc.

Friday 07th November 2009 - We got back into Hanoi early this morning, and caught a taxi back to our street - Van Mieu - the cab driver’s meter was wrong, and he was driving the wrong way to clock his meter up more - well he did that until Luke realized and yelled at him.

We hopped out on Van Mieu Street, and only paid him what the meter should have been - he was so cranky and faked hopping back in his cab to drive away? I don’t understand this tactic - we couldn’t care less if he drove away and we didn’t pay him. It was funny too, cause, he was speaking good English till Luke told him he was going the wrong way and that his meter was wrong - after that, it seemed he couldn’t speak any English at all!

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Photos

View of Cat Cat Village
From our Cat Cat View Hotel

Happy Faces
Black H'mong Tribe

Amazing
The photo's really don't do it justice

The Rice Terraces
Working in the afternoon

Little Mai
and her Kangaroo Pendant

A day in the life..
of Black H'mong Tribe in Cat Cat Village

Mai and I
after our ice cream date