We are now up in northern Vietnam in a mountain town called Sapa. We went on a two day trek visiting 5 minority villages and we had an incredible time! The pics will soon follow...
Alright, Jilly left off in Hoi An, so Sapa will have to wait for now...
We left Hoi An on the bus at 8 am and got into Hue around 1:30. We decided to just walk around the town for a few hours and then catch the overnight bus to Hanoi at 6 pm. We weren't looking forward to it but we just couldn't wait to get to Hanoi and then up to Sapa. We got into Hanoi at 9:30 the following morning and by 10:30 we decided to take the overnight train up to Sapa that night. We spoke with the travel agent in our hotel and it sounded so good that we just couldn't put it off any longer. So we got freshened up in the hotel and got ready to see the sites and sounds of Hanoi.
Not twenty steps out of our hotel we decide to take a 'cyclo' around the old city. We spoke to our 'cyclo' driver and thought that we had come up with an agreed upon price and amount of time we would be on it... but yet after another communication break down we found ourselves in another district of the city once our hour was finished. We thought, oh well, we'll be back soon maybe we're getting a little extra. Well, after another hour and a half we finally got back to our starting point and had to rediscuss what amount would be paid. All in all, we ended up seeing more of the city for more money. Oh well, it still left us a little time to walk in and amongst the little shops and markets before we had to go and catch our Water Puppet show in a local theatre!
The water puppet show is world reknowned and came highly recommended by Fiona! It was fantastic! We were about 7 rows from the front and it was quite a unique show. There was a live mini-orchestra off to the side of the stage while the puppets would move in synch with the music! It was like nothing we have ever seen, we loved it!
We got picked up at our hotel for our overnight train ride and got on the train quite early. We had a sleeper car and were both on the two bottom bunks so we played some two handed euchre while we waited. Once the train started moving we were surprised to find out we got a free bottle of water and a loaf of bread! Wow, we felt like we were in jail, bread and water to eat in our four by six cell! The bunks were very comfortable and we ended up having a great sleep!
Once we exited the train in Lao Cai we had to catch a bus to Sapa. The cold air hit us like we were back in Canada. Believe it or not the temperature was only +4 and we were not quite ready for the sudden drop in temperature. Hanoi was about fifteen degrees colder than in Hoi An and now Sapa was even five to ten degrees colder than Hanoi. There we were in our room with no heater layering on the clothes. Thankfully we kept our long underwear with us and other warm clothes! I know most of you feel no pity towards us, considering we missed your -30 degree weather, but when the temp. drops over twenty degrees overnight, you really feel the difference and our bodies weren't used to it. But we layered up and a couple of hours later we began our two day trek into minority villages!
We met our guide Sins (pronounced Sing) while eating breakfast. He seemed very friendly and his english was quite good. We began our trek and it didn't take long until the camera was out. The sites were quite unique; there were buffalo on the path, pigs everywhere, minority people dressed in their ethnic garb and terraced rice fields as far as the eye could see! Unbelievable. Unfortunately though, like previously mentioned, the weather was quite dull and the pics are ok, but they don't do much justice towards what the area and people would have looked like if there was sunshine.
The first village we walked through, Sins took us inside one of the locals houses and it was very neat. They had two kitchens, one to cook their food and another to cook the food for the pigs. They had corn all tied up in the rafters, meat was hung from the roof and they were showing us all of their crafts that they would like to sell; bracelets, blankets, pillow cases, shirts, ethnic clothing, etc... He also showed us the huge barrel of indigo that they use to dye their material. It was quite fascinating!
There are five different minority people that live near Sapa and we were able to meet three of them; Hmong, Dzay and Red Zao. Sins told us that most of the minority people had come from China over a 1000 years ago and they love living in the mountains. They must be acclimatized to the weather because they are quite scantily clad. Some were in bare feet wearing sandals, meanwhile we had thick socks and our boots on.
After the first village we visited a hydroelectric power station that was built by the French in 1902. Sapa is a former French hill station that is situated in the hills near the Chinese border. Its high elevation of 1600 meters creates its cool climate and hence, became a summer retreat for the French who built villas there.
The land was quite mountainous so our trek was tiring, but atleast it kept us warm. By the time lunch came we were ready for a break. Sins had brought lunch with him in his back pack and we ate while sitting around hot coals trying to keep warm as our sweat began to evaporate. We met a few people while warming up and Jill was having fun being hounded by the local girls and women to buy more goods. Yes, she crumbled once again, but the souvenirs are really beautiful.
That night we stayed with a local family in one of the villages and what a neat experience that was! In this house there were four generations. They were sooo nice and we just watched them cook dinner over the fire while we warmed our toes. What a spread they made... garlic french fries as an appetizer along with a traditional 'sticky rice cake' (hard to describe but quite tasty). Then they made fried tofu with tomato, fried morning glory, a noodle dish, rice, home made spring rolls and fish. It must have taken almost two hours to cook but they were very efficient, considering they only had to fires to work with. We also tried the local 'rice wine' and I must admit, I was not a fan.
After dinner we just sat around the fire trying to keep warm and the young girl kept us entertained. She was shy at first, but just like any other 4 year old, once they feel comfortable look out. Before I knew it she was all over Jilly and I. We got some fun pics! Then we washed our face and feet (like the rest of the family) from water that was heated by the fire before we went to bed. What an experience this home stay was.
We hit the hay around 9:30 and were wondering how we were going to be able to sleep without freezing to death... but once we went upstairs we took three blankets which were quite thick and mixed in with our body heat we were able to keep warm and have a great sleep. We woke up to realize that half the village was waiting outside to show us more of their crafts. Breakfast consisted of vegetable fried rice and believe it or not it was quite good considering it was the first thing we ate. That is their typical breakfast, rice or noodles.
We began our trek to two more villages but in the meantime we walked through a bamboo forest, stopped at a waterfall and walked across a ratten bridge. The views were terrific but considering it rained throughout the night and most of the previous day the trail was quite muddy. Sins turned out to be a very informative guide telling us about local customs, language, nature so we knew we were in good hands. Well, as it turns out, Jill took that literally because the path/trail was so muddy and slippery, Sins had to hold on to Jill's hand while we walked down some of the more steep slopes. It was quite funny to watch and it wasn't long before Jilly found herself sliding down the hill, with Sins in toe and then finally having her first spill of the day. She was quite dirty but being Jill, took it all in stride and had a good belly laugh at herself. Like I said before, unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it was quite foggy and misty for most of the two days. But we aren't complaining because we still had a fantastic time! We actually never saw the sun until the third day when we were leaving Sapa to go back to Hanoi. Sun or no sun, it was quite a beautiful area.
Once we returned to our hotel we couldn't wait for a nice hot shower and a heater. Even in the restaurant the temp. must have been +6 at the most because even the waiters wore their leather coats with big sweaters underneath. Jill would choose our table depending on where the closest heater was.
The third day of our tour allowed us to explore the village of Sapa itself. We slept in, had a late breakfast then bundled up for a walk around the town. We ended up spending the next few hours at the local market buying more and more goods for the house we will own eventually. We met so many minority people while we were bartering but this one little girl was quite a little treasure. She would help us negotiate with other women, she told us about her life and then she also sold us a few items as well as giving us a little gift. She was sooo sweet. After lunch, we went for a walk just outside of Sapa and there was a break in the clouds and the sun seeped through for the first time. We could finally see the surrounding mountains and the terraced fields. What a site once the fog lifted. Wow, it was breathtaking!
We caught the overnight train back to Hanoi and then at 10 am we were catching our flight to Laos! To leave on Monday we had to travel via Air Laos and to be honest we weren't all that excited. Here is what we read from our 'travel bible' stating, "the US State Department has issued a warning about Laos Aviation's safety record, especially over mountainour areas". But don't fret, I am writing this posting in Luang Prabang, Lao, we made it in one piece!
To summarize our time in Vietnam, it was awesome! As you have read, Vietnam is very diverse in what it has to offer and Jilly and I would highly recommend anyone to travel to Vietnam! We hope Laos offers us a similar experience!
Til next time,
Bow.
PS. the pics will be coming soon... so stay tuned!
Posted by jill at February 8, 2004 08:25 AM