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Cold, cold mountains
Entry 23 of 44 | show all | print this entry |
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I had heard from the Swiss people on the Halong Bay cruise that it was now possible to cross the border in the North of Vietnam into Laos so I decided it was worth heading to Sapa and then onto Dien Bien Phu. The best way to get to Sapa was said to be on the overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai and then get a minibus. The train was nice enough, I had a 'soft sleeper cabin which is basically upper second class (I did try to buy hard sleeper but typically the woman in the ticket booth just printed out the most expensive ticket and then refused to change it for me) or something like that with 4 bunks (though somehow we ended up with me plus Vietnamese people in mine. I was totally shattered after being kept awake by the hotel staff watching Rambo films till 3am the night before so just went straight to bed. It soon transpired that I would have to sleep with IPod on due to the snoring of some bloke below me - I honestly have no idea how some women can endure years of marriage with blokes who snore. At some point I must have fallen into a deep sleep as the next thing I know I am being woken by the guard and everyone else has already left the cabin. Stumbling outside I am met by the usual posse of Vietnamese trying to get money out of nice western people like myself. He wants to get me on his minibus to Sapa with all the usual lies and crap about this being the only bus for two weeks and costing a $5 despite the fact I can clearly see 10 other buses and a sign which says the price is $2. We eventually agree on the correct price and I pay him in loose change...in a singly Vietnamese moment that sums the country up he tells me he is not accepting the 10,000 Dong change while reaching for the 100,000 Dong note in my hand which is the same colour as the 10,000 Dong note hoping I'm too sleepy to notice. Obviously he didn't get it but it sums up so much about how people spoil this beautiful country. On the bus I met a Canadian girl called Christina and we would hang out together for the next few days.
Arriving at Sapa I got a txt from some people I had met on the Halong Bay trip so went to the Pinocchio hotel where they were staying. As this hotel was in the Lonely Planet I had my reservations but figured it was a try as it was cheap and apparently had heaters in the room (Sapa was freezing cold). I sat down for some breakfast and the bloke assured me that a room would be ready in 5 minutes....2.5 hours later when Christina showed up I decided to jettison this gaff and go to where she was staying with a nice woman; I thought it was a bit cheeky for Mr. Pinocchio to then kick off with the nice woman for stealing his customers. Anyway, I ended up with a top little room for $5 complete with balcony over the valley and an electric blanket to keep me warm for the night!! An interesting English bloke called Ally also came with us as he had been waiting for even longer at Pinocchio and for the next few days we formed a cool little threesome.
Unfortunately the weather was crap in Sapa, a bit of a bummer when the main thing to do is to go hiking. The cloud was down in the valleys most of the day and it was freezing cold - meaning that restaurants were selected on the basis of having fires rather than anything to do with what food they served. There were some local villages to walk to, which although quite touristy were interesting. There was an American bloke (called Caesar) who was all gung ho to get up the highest mountain in Vietnam but I didn't fancy it in that weather and my visa didn't have enough days to do it in the relaxing 3 days I would have liked.
It is generally hard to go anywhere in Sapa without being accosted by groups of ethnic woman all done up in the local garb. These range in age from old woman who tug at your arms to try and get you to buy tat from them to young girls who can speak the most amazing English ever. If you say to them you have no money to buy their stuff you will be hit with 'No Money, No Honey' and 'Why you no buy anything from me; you get to be a tourist in my country but I never get to be a tourist in your country, its no fair, please buy something so I can save up to come your country'. However, this kind of selling was fun and much nicer than the normal Vietnam. The woman who's guesthouse we were staying in was also really nice and even gave me a lift to get the bus on her motorbike for free (me taking the guesthouse key with me...I hope the weird Italian bloke I met going the other way managed to give it back to her).
After 3 days of miserable weather and the fact that my visa was to expire Christina, Ally and myself had a final night in the Pink Floyd bar (where the little manager girl had a single Pink Floyd DVD (Live in Berlin - watch it if you can, amazing)) on the snake whiskey it was time to move on towards Laos. Photos here. More thumbnails ...
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