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Our trek to Fansipan began at the decent hour of 9am on Wednesday morning. On my arrival at the travel agent I found out that another 2 people had joined our group and had therefore lowered the cost for everyone. Feeling very pleased with the bonus cash in my pocket we headed off to the national park entrance.
The first few hours were leisurely. We chatted and made sure we stopped often to enjoy the spectacular vistas. By mid afternoon one of the guys in the group was struggling with bad leg cramps which slowed us down. We were late getting into camp that night but we arrived in good spirits.
The 'base camp' is unfortunately incredibly dirty, piles of burnt garbage littered the camp. Many of the once protective trees have been cleared and the place we were to spend the next 15 hours was a ramshackle shed with a wooden platform for sitting, eating and sleeping. For bedding I was one of the lucky ones who scored a thin camp mat. The sleeping bags were ridiculously thin and I was not the only one there who slept in every item of clothing I had brought with me.
Although the camp conditions were completely inadequate and a big disappointment considering how much money the thousands of tourists spend on this tour alone nothing could dampen my spirit. I was simply thrilled to be on the verge of summiting this mountain.
Thursday morning we woke at 6 and got walking straight away. It was physically and mentally tough for everyone except our superhero guide Zoi and Mr Sa our porter. The mud made everything slippery and at one stage I was hoisting myself up the mountain by clinging to the protruding bamboo plants. After an exhausting 2 hours I was the first to summit, closely follwed by the others. It was cloudy at the top but I was so proud to have risen (literally) to the challenge.
The rest of the day consisted of kilometres and kilometres of walking - close to 25km in fact. Needless to say by the time we arrived back in Sapa City around 5pm I was completely shattered and could hardly make it up the stairs to my room but that pain made me feel all the more satisfied with my efforts.
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Carol
non-member comment
Well done
Well done Chloe this must have Bern sn amazing experienc. You are so fortunate that you are able to rise above the small unimportant stuff and enjoy the bigger picture. The vista must have been amazing but as you say conquering the challenge of the climb and the big walk was the real thing. So well done indeed little mountaineer!!xxx