Sapa

I don't think that I can really put into words just how amazing my last few days have been.

My trip to Sapa started with a night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai. I got onto the train, which is far better than the night train in Thailand. Each train compartment was made up of rooms of 4. I was sharing with 3 Canadians. Once we did all our introductions, talked about what we had been up to and what we were planning, we bunked down and tried to sleep. I certainly didn't have much sleep. The train shuggles about all over the place, and the train doesn't just slowly come to a stop, it stops abruptly!

We got to Lao Cai at 6.30am, and was met by the bus driver who would take us the 45 minute drive to Sapa. The drive was constantly uphill, we didn't get much of a view on the way up to Sapa, because the clouds were so low. We stopped at the first hotel to drop people off and the hill tribe women were crowded around the bus. 'Madam, madam, you buy from me?'. Then onto the next hotel and exactly the same. Then we got to our hotel (I was staying in the same hotel as the Canadians, I have forgotten their names, so they will be called the Canadians). The woman were standing right at the bus door, and they followed us from the moment we got our bags out the back of the bus until we got into the hotel. Thank god they weren't allowed in, because I was so tired and really couldn't handle it anymore. I was quite close to telling them where to go, but I didn't think they would understand what I was saying. We had the morning to rest, catch up on sleep. Then at 1.30 we were met by a woman from the Cat Cat village. We walked 3Km (all down hill, enjoyed that part!) to the Cat Cat village, and we were followed by several other woman from the village. It rained the whole way to the village, we were completely soaked. Below is a view as we were walking down.

Cat Cat Village

We had a look into one of the houses in the village. There is 4 parts to the house. Upstairs is where they keep the rice, to keep it dry. There are 2 kitchens, one where the family eats, and another where they cook for guests. Then there is a living room area. There is hardly any room, and most of the families have 5 or more members.

We then continued walking down and at the bottom of the hill was the Cat Cat waterfall

Cat Cat Waterfall

Then there was the 3Km back up the hill. I have never been so sore in my whole life. It was was so steep back up, but I had befriended a Cat Cat Village woman, who walked up with me and was asking me questions, ' Where you from?', ' What your name?', 'How old are you?', 'How old your parents?' and 'You have boyfriend?'. These questions are asked ALL THE TIME!

Once we got back to Sapa my Cat Cat Villager friend asked 'My friend, you buy from me?'. I felt that since she had stayed with me, I would buy something from her. I bought a pair of earrings from her, and she gave me a bracelet for free, as I was her friend. What I didn't realise though was that several other village woman had seen me buy them and quickly swooped in and were trying to sell me stuff. I still had a 10 minute walk back to the hotel, and couldn't shift them. I told them I had no money, they would take me to an ATM, thank god they took me to an ATM that wouldn't actually give me money! I said to them that I would try and get money out later on, but had to get back to the hotel. They said they would come and find me the next day. I wasn't going to be in Sapa the next day, but didn't let on to this, so said that I would see them then.

We got back to hotel and had a Vietnamese meal, which was rice, spring rolls, and a variety of ways of having chicken, pork and beef. Then one of the guys at the hotel offered us some Apple Wine, we happily obliged. He came along with 4 shot glasses, I soon realised this wasn't your usual wine. Dear god it burnt all the way down my throat, it was more like whiskey than wine! The Canadian boy had a few more, he didn't really get a choice not to have. By 9 we were shattered, so headed to bed, and said our goodbyes as the Canadians were heading onto a different trek the next day.

Next day was an early start again, had to be ready to leave at 7am. Today I was going to Bac Ha market, the lonely planet guide had bigged it up quite a bit. It took us 2.5hrs to get there, in a bus that has the leg room for a 5'5", not 5'10" like me. We got to the market around 10, and we had two and half hours to look around. The market didn't live up to the hype. There was supposed to be different village folk from the Flower H'Mong, Black Dzao, Tay and Phu La people. I hardly saw any. All the stalls sold the same items. Within an hour I had seen it all, bought myself a scarf and a pair of funky trousers (which dyed my legs green when I tried them on back at the hotel :/) . We met up with our bus at 1.30, and headed out to one of the Flower H'Mong villages. The views from the village were amazing. Then we wondered round to see some of the villagers at work, and I saw one of the strangest things ever. It was a farmer on a wooden board, being dragged along by a Water Buffalo. I think he was trying to make the ground flat. I took a video because it was just bizarre.

On the 4th of July, I got to sleep in a little bit, didn't have to be ready to leave until 9am. Today we were going on a 15Km hike, the sun was out and we saw some amazing views

Muong Hoa

Again we were followed by local villagers, this time from the Black H'mong tribe in Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai communes. It was mostly down hill this walk, so haven't been sore at all from this walk. We had little breaks every so often. The first stop, there were kids everywhere trying to sell us bracelets.

Little girl who was trying to sell her bracelets to us

There was one part of the walk that was quite steep going down hill, and was muddy, I was given a hand by 2 villagers on the best way of getting down, I then had to thank them by buying something from them at the end, a silver bracelet and a bag, and they gave me two bracelets for free. Again I was seen buying and was surrounded by more woman trying to sell me stuff. They were sadly disappointed as I only had 5000 dong left. We had amazing views of the area because the sun was out, which we were told was quite lucky since it's rainy season at the moment.

View

We got a bus back to Sapa once we had finished the hike, thank god! Just as I got back, one of the woman from Saturday who I said I would buy from found me, said she had looked all day for me the day before and hadn't seen me. I had to buy something from here just to get her to leave me alone. Time for a quick shower, then it was back to Lao Cai to catch the night train back to Hanoi.

I definitely recommend going to Sapa if you head to Vietnam. Well, not Sapa itself, bit touristy, sleep there but head out into the villages during the day it is just amazing. Apart from the villagers constantly trying to sell to you, they are the nicest people. They want to know about you, and are genuinely offended if you don't buy from them at the end.

I am definitely going back!