Homestay in Mountain Village

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SAPA - 18/03/07 - 20/03/07

The night train to Sapa was a bit of an experience. It left at 11pm and we felt a little like prisoners of war being herded onto a train. It was push and shove since (we later discovered) that it is common for the Vietnamese to double book sleeper cabins. Some poor European tourists were unlucky enough to have tickets for a cabin that did not even exist. They were trying to steal ours. The toilets on the train was a totally unforgettable experience. Lets just say they weren't exactly clean and smelling of roses.

So arriving in Lao Cai which is the town closet to Sapa, our tour guide was, in the nicest possible way, dodgy! After an hour of waiting around, we finally got on the bus which was chocas! The scenery up the range to Sapa was quite spectacular although it took about an hour to drive 30 kms.

Sapa is a mountain village with a population of 36 000, 1650m above sea level and only 23 km from the Chinese border. The weather was mostly misty and cold, however we were lucky and our first day was quite clear. We trekked with our tour guide, 2 young Norwiegan guys, and 2 young mountain girls named Gong and Mai. These girls were belonged to the H'mong people who all wore traditional dress. Our tour guide, also named Gong, was a 17 year old mountain girl who could speak very good english. Her story made us appreciate just how lucky we really are. Her day consisted of waking at 3am, working in the home to prepare food for her family, trekking 25 kms to collect bamboo for firewood, and then making her way to Sapa to be a tour guide. After the tour was over, she would return to her village and continue to work at home. We felt very lazy coming from an 8 hour standard work day.

We trekked 12km deep into one of the valleys through rice fields and numerous other villages. The H'mong women seemed to roam the villages chasing after tourists. They made various handicrafts including blankets, bags, wallets, jewellery, and were persistant in trying to sell their goods.

Tavin was the village where we stayed for the night. These mountain villages have had electricity and mobile phone range for the last 2 years which made the stay very comfortable. The home consisted of 4 generations of the same family and were very hospitable. After an amazing dinner of traditional Vietnamese food, the hostess bought out "happy water" which was free flowing to say the least. Happy Water is a rice wine which is made locally and is quite potent. The name of the drink definitely reflects the behaviour as we both got a severe case of the giggles :-)

After a brillant nights sleep, we trekked a little further back to the main road where we were picked up and driven back to Sapa. After a short stroll through the markets, we boarded the bus back to Lao Cai and then the night train back to Hanoi.

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Photos

Jules and Sar with H'mong girls
Taken at the beginning of our trek to Tavin.

Jules at the Homestay
Although traditional Vietnamese food was served, they also gave us THE BEST CHIPS IN THE WORLD!!!

Scenery surrounding Sapa
This photo was taken during our trek to the mountain village of Tavin.

Comments

[Carol]

Hi Jules. It sounds like you are having a great time. It reminds me of the kaos of India - IT'S FANTASTIC. But there seems to be a lot more alcohol in Vietam - or do you girls just track it down!? :) The trek would have been fun. It's great to get out and see the real life of people. Keep up the blogs!