Blogs from Lao Cai, Northwest, Vietnam, Asia - page 47

Dusk is falling in the mountains. It's 5pm. The sky turns a dusty rose while the sun looms as a bright orange ball just above the peaks. Sows trot along in the ditch with piglets running closely behind. Children are riding water buffalo or towing horses home from pasture. Women trudge up the hills with woven bamboo baskets full of sticks for firewood. They are all wearing traditional clothes: leg warmers around their calves, embroidered pleated skirts, cuffed shirts and varying brightly coloured head scarves. They keep their time-honored ways of dress, farming, and husbandry seemingly unaffected by satellite TV and Coca-Cola campaigns. Uphill patches of old crops are set alight and a yellow rim of fire consumes the dry rice stocks leaving behind squares of black soot on the mountain. And then we realize, we ... read more

After a surprisingly fast train ride, and windy/crowded mini-bus ride, deep into the mountains of northern Vietnam, I arrived in Sapa. I found Brian and Greg (the 2 Canadians I went to Halong Bay with) in a restaurant having breakfast on my first day, and they invited me to share their room (2$ is much better than $6), and join them for a hike. Note to self - don't partake in a 28km hike after an hour long run, especially when both of which are extremely hilly! We treked down into a Red Xao and Black Hmong hill tribe village and further on to a cave. I ejoyed the journey more than the destination, as the cave was full of shouting and screaming kids, and kreosote from the kerosene lamps. The scenery in Sapa is breath-taking ... read more

Our New Year's eve for 2007 was a little anti-climactic - asleep on a train somewhere in Central Thailand. So it was fortunate that we ended up getting another New Year's Eve in the same year to get it right - in Hanoi as the Vietnamese celebrate "Tet". At the same time as Chinese New Year, moving into the year of the Golden Pig. Unfortunately it was not easy to have a REALLY good time since poor Sarah was holed up in bed sick. By a cruel twist of fate she contracted the worst chronic headache of her life coinciding with Tet - when Vietnamese youths make it their personal mission to generate as much noise as possible. Firecrackers so loud they send shock-waves not to mention sore ears. As a mark of solidarity I was ... read more

I was up early to catch the train to Sapa. I ended up with a hard seat in a packed carriage. The ride took 9 hours and it was hellish. The one time I got up to use the bathroom, someone took my seat. I had to argue a bit to actually get it back. It was interesting, though, to see how the Vietnamese travel. We arrived in Lao Cai in the late afternoon and I found a minivan for 30k to take me up to Sapa. After a few minutes of waiting, I got moved to another van. By sheer coincidence, Mickan was also in the van. I thought she was off to China for a few days, but apparently she changed her plans. The ride up into the hills took about 45 minutes. We ... read more

Odmietla som zaplatit 70 USD za 3 dni v meste Sapa (cez agenturu) a rozhodla som sa tam ist na vlastnu pest. 10 hodin vlakom z Hanoi do mesta Lao Cai na Cinskej hranici a z tadial minibusom do mesta Sapa. Po prichode, ranajkach a horucej sprche som navstivila 2 baby z Kanady s ktorymi sa nahodou stretavame v kazdom meste uz od mesta Saigon - vymenili sme si adresy a dnes sme spolu podnikli 12 km turu strmymi kopcami. Nasledujuce dni chceme navstivit viac okolitych dediniek kde ziju miestny ludia - vraj maju rozdielne oblecenie. Super sposob ako si zlepsit kondicku.... read more