Sapa

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  Sapa, Vietnam
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

    This morning we arrived in Sapa after getting the overnight train from Hanoi. We were greeted immediately after getting out of the minibus by women dressed in what looked like traditional village clothes. They asked our names, where we were from and how old we were, and generally seemed very friendly. We had been dropped at a hotel and decided to walk to the actual town to try to find somewhere else to stay. On the way a lady gave us a card of a guesthouse and walked us to it. We looked at three rooms, $15, $10 and $6 respectively and decided on the $15 one as she agreed to give it to us for $12. It's at the top of the hotel and the views are absolutely stunning. I wish I could put photos up!

After settling in we headed out for lunch and then walked into a travel agency where we organised a four-wheel-drive trip to Ta Phin village. Here we were greeted by women wearing the most wonderful clothes and large red headgear. They again asked our names and how old we were, where we were from etc. As we walked around the village they spoke to us in surprisingly good english and showed us their schools and their homes. Once we sat in one of their houses Nick decided it was a good time to look at the things they wanted to sell. This resulted in absolute havoc because everyone wanted to sell something and it was more expensive than we had anticipated. Nick, ever calm, managed to decide what he wanted to buy and negotiate a good price but I got rather frustrated by everyone shouting "you buy something from me, you buy one small thing from everyone" and ended up refusing to buy anything while I was being shouted at. After this rather tricky encounter we left the lady's house and slowly walked back to the car with all the women, who were still saying "buy from me..." My new answer was "maybe" to everything and I held on to Nick's hand rather tightly. We got back to the car and I chose two scarves and a small table covering and was firm that I didn't have very much money with me and that that was all I wanted. Eventually I paid and we walked back. One of the women asked me to wait, saying that she had a present for me. She reappeared with a bracelet which she tied around my wrist and said that it would bring me luck and happiness.

The children were so sweet and seemed to run around the whole place by themselves. The women explained that they had school in the morning from 7.30am until lunchtime and then after lunch they had to work. I was allowed to take some photos of them although many were really camera shy.

The scenery in Sapa is absolutely stunning - there seem to be rice fields that just go up and up and up on the mountains; we can't understand how they are looked after. It is much cooler here, Sapa being much higher above sea level than Hanoi. This evening we had an encounter with a lady desperate to sell us a scarf - she invited me into her stall and then refused to let me out until I had bought a scarf. At first she offered it to me for 350,000 dong (about $22) but as I said I didn't want it she dropped the price again and again until it got to 60,000 dong (about $4). By this time the only way for me to leave was to physically push past her which I didn't want to do and I was so desperate for my freedom that I agreed to pay for it and finally managed to leave. After this we had a drink and dinner. I suppose that, looking at it positively, I ended up with a beautiful scarf that was rather cheap, despite the fact that I hadn't really wanted it!

Lots of love xxxx

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