City in the Clouds

Trip Start Nov 08, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Vietnam  ,
Monday, February 26, 2007

Our first day in Sapa was beautiful. Our second was less so. Clouds had enveloped the town, the valley, and the peaks above. Everything was white. Anything more than 10 feet away was invisible in the haze. It was kind of magical though. I don't remember ever seeing fog until I was in England. It was an entirely new phenomenon to me. I liked it. But I didn't have to drive in it or accomplish anything. I just walked around looking at trees near the pub I lived in. But what we saw in Sapa was different. It wasn't fog, it was a cloud. I don't know that they're fundamentally different or share a different chemical make-up, but they look dissimilar. The clouds were constantly moving. You could see them slide toward you or away as you tried to swim through the translucent ether. The wind would spin the air into a visible whirlpool, or send it cascading down into the valley, then piling up again onto the peaks. We stood and watched the water condense on our arms, appearing out of nowhere. It was like living in a cool humidifier. My lungs loved it, as much as lungs can love anything.

We sat in a café and watched the rivers of white pour one way, then another. Water buffalo appeared on the street and disappeared just as quickly. Figures were just shadows, fleeting and ephemeral. It was a wonderland. Up and down lost distinction because there was no horizon to balance your worldview, no buildings to navigate with. It was purgatory, but pleasant.

We drank hot tea, read a little, snapped some photos when things came into view. We spent the evening bundled under thick blankets. The heat of Bangkok seemed like a dream - far away and unreal. Having spent most of my life in El Paso, cold and cloudy days always have a bit of enchantment to them. It was easier to get lost in a book because the lines had blurred. The real world seemed imaginary, the fiction easier to escape into. It was a day when we felt far from home, and it was lovely.
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