"You buy from me?"
Trip Start
Apr 01, 2008
1
7
20
Trip End
Jul 24, 2009
Sapa,
Sapa,
Vietnam
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The overnight train was fine and would definitely be a preferred form of transport over buses anyday. We had booked a 4 night/3 day tour from our guesthouse in Hanoi and after our experience, I would strongly advise to travel to/around Sapa independently. Arrived at 5.30 am Sunday morning to be directed to a cafe where we sat around aimlessly for 2 hrs waiting for our transport to God Knows Where (they weren't big on communication). Drove on a bumpy partly-sealed road for about 2 hrs to the Bac Ha Markets - interesting story point was our 'guide' (again a source of limited information) who kept throwing up out the window as we drove. Hmm. Markets were fairly impressive/pituresque with the village women in their traditional dress, but was also a spot of constant sales pitches. It was a bit more fun going off the beaten track into the food stalls and doing hand signals to try some of the local cuisine (not sure what it was, tasted like corn fritters, I was happy enough to eat if if there was no meat or live game around)
Not sure if this style will take off in Bondi
. We've become a bit more laxed about what/where we eat, as the tourist-targeted food is often overpriced and much of the same. In the afternoon we were dragged to a 'minority village' which was a total joke! More like a dirt track which I could wander around at home. Some minor amusement when a random vietnamese man ran along the track, stopped at Paddy, and started mumbling some mumbo jumbo and rubbing his arms, chest, etc! Still at a loss as to what was going on there but I was laughing! Then a 3 hour windy/bumpy journey to Sapa interrupted by more vomitting from the guide and the van breaking down and having to be push started halfway... but we did get there in the end! So much for '7 hrs of trekking the first day though..
So as to not make this blog one of complaints (even though they make for better story telling), I will say right away that Sapa is beautiful. It's high up in the mountains and it has a kind of surreal feel to it, like it's a bit stuck in time. It's a lot cooler, and the mists pass through the mountains intermittently making for some gorgeous views. A lot of the women and children are traditionally dressed, and most of the kids are very cute, albeit in dire need of a bath. As I said at the beginning, I think it is a fantastic spot to do independently with a local guide.
Our hotel we stayed at was definitely the worse to date! To summarise: freezing, bed bugs, power cuts, damp sheets, and 4 roosters outside our window. The food was probably the only good thing there
Paddy loves his pigs
. If you couldn't guess, I had a serious case of the whinges, although I had been pretty patient about everything else. 2nd day, we 'trekked' to Ta Van Village where we had our 'homestay'. The commas represent the fact that it was more of a Sunday stroll, and the homestay was more of a guesthouse! This was still a fun day though, and we had two lovely Slovenian girls in our group who were extremely interesting. The scenery was absoloutley amazing, the hills, local people, the greenery... if only these people would just stop trying to sell yout stuff! The local women walk with you and hold your hand to steady you on the muddy bits in case you slip (which of course I did), but by the end of it, they use this as a guilt trip to push their wares (which of course I bought...) under constant calls of 'you buy from me, you buy from me'. I'd wisened up though and by the afternoon was not having a bar of it - so when a toothless and shrivelled lady of indeterminable age decided to hold my hand and not let go for about 5 minutes, then tried to sell me stuff... well I literally ran for the hills! The older ones seemed to target me, whereas the kids seemed to target Paddy, for some reason they steered clear of the Slovenians?! I was so impressed by their agility though, they were like little mountain goats, and could prance all over the place from about the age of 2 up!
The homestay housed about 10 guests, and we had a really good night with the owner and some of the other guests
This transport may have actually been safer
. Compulsory karaoke and many epic games of Uno, with interesting rules interpretation by the Danish, Irish, Kiwi, Slovenian, Dutch, French, and Vietnamese players! I'd had too many shots of rice wine and hanoi vodka (It's tradition!) by that stage though so it was a relatively early night for me. Unfortunately, with the drinking, my usual urge to take photos dissapeared and I don't have any photos from the night. The 3rd day was spent strolling to another village. Probably about 1.5 hrs versus the advertised 5. The villages are quite small, usually with a school, some homestays, pigs, buffalo, too many dogs, and a LOT of bare-bottomed toddlers. The children are quite good at English from practicing their selling skills on all the tourists that come through. I would say though, that the best time I had was when me and Paddy went off in the afternoon on the 2nd day and just chilled out by the river watching some of the locals fish and soaking it all up. Was so good to have quiet from the traffic and the salespeople! Jeeped back to Sapa yesterday afternoon and waited (again) for our transport to Lao Cai and beyond. Sapa was beautiful, but this was far from a 27 km trek so I felt a bit underchanged (I never imagined I'd actually want MORE walking).
Back to the madness and chaos of Hanoi this morning... and despite my whinging, I miss the hills!
