Sapa
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2008
1
43
68
Trip End
Ongoing
Sapa,
Vietnam
Monday, October 27, 2008
We wearily wandered out of the train, out of the station and into the minibus that was already full. We mysteriously waited a further 40 minutes then started the one hour drive to the hotel. We were tired, tired, tired. Not a problem, however. We had reviewed the itinerary we'd booked; we were looking forward to checking in to the hotel immediately on arrival, then have about 4 hours free time (ie sleep time) before going for a light three hour trek at 1pm. We had noted this carefully.
At least this is what we had been sold. The reality is a bit different, of course. Once you've paid your money, in a town the other side of that 10 hour train ride, they alter things as they please. The itinerary we were presented with on our arrival told us that we'd trek for three hours at 9am, and on our return we'd check into the hotel, but not before 12 noon. The mist was so thick that we couldn't see the five-storey building across the street from the hotel. It was raining pretty hard. We were so tired.
We might as well run with it, we thought.
Sapa
Catherine and I purchased "raincoats" from the hotel. 20,000 Vietnamese Dong (80p) each bought us a pair of plastic ponchos/body condoms. Mine was in aubergine, Catherine felt lilac was more what this season was about. I hired some wellies for 15,000 Dong (60p). Imagine my delight when the colour of these wellies turned out to be camouflage. I was wearing shorts and so assumed that any wellies would make me look ridiculous. But somehow, an exact combination of aubergine body stocking, beige shorts and camo wellies achieved a look that exuded sophistication. I looked good, and I knew it. We started the walk. I knew I would never see any of the locals that we passed again, but I was still conscious of how ridiculous I looked. This day was going badly. Ten minutes into the three hour walk, I feel a "ping". The button had decided to free itself from my shorts. Luckily I grabbed them before they fell, which would have otherwise completed my stylish look. But I had a long way to go, no drawstring on the shorts, and my belt was a ten hour train ride away.
Catherine was good enough to remove the drawstring from the hood of her body condom, and I threaded it through the belt loops of the shorts to hold them up. It worked OK, and only needed readjusting every hour or so. The walk would continue.
We carried on walking, through paddy fields arranged in terraces on steep hillsides through tiny villages and past rivers and waterfalls. The fog lifted within the first hour of the walk and although it never cleared completely the views were decent. Our guide, Lan, was a 22 year old girl from a neighbouring village. She spoke pretty good English which she had learnt off her own back, solely by talking to tourists. She stood about 4'10" high. She laughed at everything, none more so than when I walked into a horizontal bar forming part of a bridge and developed an instant swelling like a red egg on my forehead. She was really good fun, and was keen to find out as much about each of us as she could. There were seven of us in the tour group.
We got back to the hotel at 12.15pm. Went for some lunch, then passed out for about 4 hours. After dinner we walked into town, where we saw what must be the first Christmas decorations of 2008. It's very hilly, quite cold and misty, and the town has the feel of an Alpine village. Very touristy. A few beers at "The Red Lion" pub, then off to bed. A longer hike's planned for tomorrow.
