We should have worn wellies!
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2011
1
82
110
Trip End
Jul 14, 2012
Where I stayed
Dzay family homestay
Sapa, Vietnam
Friday, March 30, 2012
Well, we arrived back into Hanoi on Weds 28th March at around 3:30pm. We still had yet to sell Harold and so before getting the train at 9pm we spent the afternoon/evening putting up small advertisements aroud the Old Quarter (which is the backpacker district) in the hope that somebody would bite! If a marketeer can't sell his own bike there's something seriously wrong!
After a good couple of hours we headed back to the hostel. We ate some cheap but good phô around the corner and just chilled until the mini-bus came to pick us up at around 8pm to go to the train station.
We were getting the overnight train to Sapa, about 300km north west of Hanoi and were hoping for some decent 'soft sleeper' beds. This was a wedding present from my Aunty Angela and Stuart, as well as my cousin Dan and Lois. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to make it to the original trips they bought us (a trip to Ba Be National Park and the Perfume Pagoda) so we decided to put their money towards one big trek in north Vietnam! We hope that's OK guys!
When we turned up to our carriage on the train we found the mattresses were actually sponge-padded - good times! Not only that, the duvets were nicely folded and presented on the bed, there were flowers to make it feel homely and wood panelling throughout which meant it felt a bit higher class! The most important thing is that we got a good night's sleep, which thankfully we did!
We arrived into Lao Cai, the jumping-off point for Sapa, early doors at 5:30am and caught a mini-bus to take us the hour's drive into the hills. It was quite foggy that morning and the ground was a little moist from some overnight rain, but apparently that's normal for the spring-time in Sapa. On the way we caught a glimpse of what the scenery had to offer and it looked stunning already.
We made it to Sapa Summit Hotel, our base for the next couple of days. We wouldn't be staying there, it was just for storing our bags because that night we'd be staying with a Dzay tribe family in a home-stay. After a shower and some breakfast to rid us of the train journey we met our guide, Kur (I'm not sure if that's how it's spelt but that's how it sounded so it'll have to do!), from the Black H'Mong tribe who would be with us for the next couple of days. The hill-tribe populations still dress in traditional clothes, with colourful head-gear, tunics and retro-style leggings all coloured in natural dyes farmed from the land. It's great to see!
We were standing with the rest of our tour group and it wasn't long before a whole group of hill-tribe women and girls crowded around. They were all dressed the same way, in their traditional tribal clothes and were carrying wicker-type baskets on their backs. They were also wearing wellies and I thought to myself "surely they're not the best footwear for a trek". We'd soon find out if they were or not!
It was at this point we noticed how tiny the women were up here. Seriously, they were that small that Fran actually looked like a giant next to them (see the final picture)!!
At 9am we began our trek walking out of Sapa and into the Muong Hoa Valley. It was still quite foggy and so we weren't too sure about what kind of views we were going to see as it was supposed to be stunning around this part of the country.
We soon left the main road and began our trek up and down the hills, walking alongside small trails by rice paddies full of water, past huts and daily life in Ylinhho village and amongst wildlife such as chickens and oxen (oh and some darn dogs, I don't like Vietnamese dogs!). It wasn't long before we realised this wasn't going to be an easy trek when one of the guys from the group in front of us slipped and managed to slice his hand open on a bamboo fence! It was interesting to see the local 'medicine' they put on it! The problem was that it was really muddy due to the overnight rain and this meant that it was incredibly slippery. In patches along the pathways there were mud pools and it was at this point we realised why wellies were the locals' footwear of choice!
As the mist cleared it wasn't long before we came across the first of many fantastic views of the area. It's a little hard to describe how the landscape looked but essentially over the centuries the hill-tribes have created hundreds of small rice paddy fields up and down the hill-sides which have given rise to an unbelievably beautiful patterned effect across the land!
We'd trekked for a three or four hours and finally arrived at the biggest village in the area, Lao Chai. It was there where we stopped for lunch - although not before we had the guilt-trip selling technique of the local Red Dzao tribe women trying to sell us various souvenirs of our trip! The 'hassle' is one thing I won't miss from SE Asia!
After lunch we wandered through Lao Chai Village and then onto Ta Tan Village where we arrived at about 4pm. Ta Tan is inhabited by Dzay minorities exhibiting a strong Chinese culture and it was here where we would be spending the night at a homestay with a Dzay family.
The homestay was....basic....to say the least! Although it had 'mod-cons' like a western toilet and hot water, most of the beds were just mattresses on the floor. The air was also really damp which made all the sheets and duvets on the bed damp too, and it was clear that those sheets and duvets were never washed. To be honest it's one of those moments when you just have to grin and bear it. In the end we actually managed to get a proper bed which had a mosquito net over it and to be fair the duvets were pretty warm!
The rest of the evening was spent chilling out, reading and chatting to the other guys in the group. The dinner that was laid on was lovely and traditionally cooked in a basic kitchen which made it all the more tasty.
I was knackered and ended up passing out at 9pm.
The next day we woke up to the sound of cockerels calling which is always interesting. We had breakfast of pancakes with pineapple and chilled out playing pool until we were ready to leave for some more trekking at about 10am.
We were told by Kur, our guide, that it would be more slippery than the day before and so we had to be extra careful. It was particularly foggy again this morning, but we'd managed to get some decent photos from the day before which meant we could concentrate on hiking. We only hiked for a couple of hours on the second day, but as predicted it was incredibly muddy in parts and our walking shoes got covered in the stuff! At times you were just balancing on the slippery thin clay wall of the small rice paddys and it felt like you were going to slip and fall on your face into the mud pools.
Luckily there was no major slipping incidents and by midday we'd reached the next main village where we walked past school children running around and playing on rocks. We'd bought some coloring crayons before we left Ho Chi Minh City which we planned to give to some children on the Ho Chi Minh trail but we didn't really come across any. So we decided to hand the crayons out to the school children here. We were told that kids go crazy for crayons out here, which they kind of did and just started drawing all over their wooden bridge that led to their homes. It was quite sweet and funny at the same time and was good to bring a smile to their faces.
We ate lunch at the top of the hill and waited for our bus back to Sapa. We arrived back around 2pm and just couldn't wait to jump in a nice hot shower! Sooooo good! That night we caught the overnight train back to Hanoi, unfortunately it was back to harder beds which didn't make for a comfortable nights sleep. Luckily we were in a nice hostel in Hanoi so were looking forward to a good rest there!
Overall Sapa was awesome, and both Fran and I agreed that it was one of the highlights of our trip to Vietnam. We would just like to say a massive thank you to Aunty Angela and Stuart, and Dan and Lois for this gift. We had an amazing time and were so chuffed that we could put your wedding present towards something so fantastic!
Next up is Hanoi, where we're hoping to sell Harold off for a tidy sum! Next time I talk to you we'll be in Japan.....I can't quite believe it!
Until then....
Mahoney
