Touts, Treks, Tourists, Traps & Counterfeit Water
Trip Start
Feb 05, 2008
1
33
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Sapa,
Sapa,
Vietnam
Saturday, April 19, 2008
My first class sleeper car train ticket cost me 28 bucks. It would leave from Hanoi Station B about three kms. from my hotel exactly on time at 9 p.m. But not before my CAB RIDE (da da da dah)! I purposely took a meter taxi, for what should by now be obvious reasons. Word has it the cabs here have two meter settings, a 'tourist' setting and a 'local' setting. I think it's true. As we were driving to the station, my meter was moving up at about 1,000 dong per 100 meters. I looked over at another cab carrying locals and noted that the meter showed denominations of one hundred
View from my hotel
. By the time we got to the station, my meter (which sits on top of the dashboard on the passenger side directly facing the driver) read 39,000 dong--reasonable perhaps but a moto might have cost me around 20,000. Still, when I asked him "how much", he said "100,000"! WTF! Okay, suffice to say I argued. Long story short, I told him I'd give him 40. Only trouble was, all I had was a 50,000 dong bill. He took it and wouldn't give me change. To add insult to injury, he dropped me about three blocks from the station. Getting to the right station and checking in was a challenge but I had time. The sleeper car was great--four comfortable beds to a nicely appointed, wood-panelled birth. Unfortunately I was located at the back of the car near the hitch and axle, either or both of which made a hell of a racket all night, making it necessary to crank the iPod in order to get some sleep. I arrived in Lao Cai, a small city about an hour's drive from Sapa, at around 6 a.m. The minibus ride to Sapa costs 30,000 vnd (just under two bucks).
As soon as you arrive in Sapa and get off the bus, you are smothered by six or seven touts, of the cute Vietnamese girl sort, who are literally pulling at your shirt and talking at once, trying to get you to look at their hotel
View from my hotel
. It was really quite funny, especially when I asked them all to be stop talking at once, and they did. Sapa is not the isolated, remote travel experience I was expecting. Indeed it is beautifully set on the side of a hill overlooking a gorgeous valley of terraced rice fields but its mainstreet consists of wall-to-wall hotels, tacky souvenier shops, travel agencies and bad restaurants. I ended up settling on the hotel Daniel had emailed me about, the Lotus. A nice clean room with a view was a whopping six bucks.
Tour buses drop hoards of camera and money toting touristas which of course brings out the hoards of minority villager women who very aggressively peddle their wares--all of them carrying the same five items. Over supply is an issue. I tried discussing that issue with one them. Regardless, they are beautiful and friendly with wonderful smiles that expose a trademark gold tooth. Their English is amazing and it's fun to chat with them. Man do they know how to sell, employing the questioning technique masterfully. Perhaps a good seminar experience for up and coming newspaper advertising reps.
I stumbled upon Daniel sitting at one of the better local restaurants on mainstreet
Sapa trek
. He arrived a day earlier and had done all of the research about trekking in the area. We agreed on a one-day semi-private trek, somewhat off the beaten path with our own guide. It would take us through the countryside and three villages and cost $20 each, including lunch and guide, Hue. Perfect weather, no charge. The hike was reasonably challenging and the scenery was stunning, nearly living up to its billing. Had it been a bit later in the season, the hillsides and rice terraces would have been a spectacular green but growing season is just getting underway. Here there is only one rice harvest a year whereas throughout most of the rest of Vietnam there are as many as five. Along the way we stopped at the Lunh Ho, Lao Chai, Ta Van villages, the first two home to the H Mong peoples and the latter to the Dzay. They still go on about their lives as they were decades ago.
We also had the opportunity to stop at the home of one of Hue's friends for tea. Interestingly this clap-board style 'hut' with a mud floor and rustic furnishings was probably the most primitive I'd seen yet, despite Vietnam's being maybe the most advanced country of the three. Our host was extremely gracious. They marry young here. He was maybe 22 and his wife looked all of 18 but was probably more like 20
Sapa trek
. They had two children who looked at us like we were from Mars. We enjoyed a few cups of Lipton tea and the Vietnamese boys smoked at least three cigarettes before we headed out. We didn't see another tourist until we broke for lunch at Lao Chai. There, a few of the villagers hovered outside the 'restaurant' while we ate, their mouths watering while they also displayed their wares. We gave them our leftovers. I think they are hungry. We walked about 16 km before meeting a jeep that took us back into town.
Later, we met with Claudia and Peter at the Red Dragon Pub for some Bia Hanoi and some good times playing cards with a couple of locals.
The next day a heavy morning rain and a lingering fog foiled our plans to rent scooters and make our way to Thom Tan pass and the Cloud Bridge. All of us were catching a train back to Hanoi that night. Instead we spent the day wandering through the markets, taking photos, eating and drinking.
Daniel and I were on the same train from Lao Cai back to Hanoi
Sapa trek
. Before boarding, we decided to pick up a bottle of water. Daniel purchased his from a small corner store. I opted for one of the many street vendors selling water in front of the station and went for a discount priced cold bottle of Aquafina. I had gotten into the habit of checking the seals on water bottles after someone had told to watch for fakes (I'd also heard about this in Bolivia--they collect old bottles, refill them with tap water and resell them). This bottle was professionally sealed. Funny though, it wasn't quite full to the top and most bottled water is. Anyway, as soon as I cracked the bottle and took a swig, I knew I had my first encounter with counterfeit water. I left it and bought a bottle from the same place as Daniel had. There's word of cholera in the north. My same $28 ticket back to Hanoi strangely rendered an inferior second class sleeper card of a standard considerably lower than what I had on the way up. Sleeping did not come easy but it was better than what Daniel had over in third class. We arrived in Hanoi at around 5:30 a.m. and made our way towards the Old Quarter. By six we found a great little sidewalk coffee spot and enjoyed a couple of ca phe sua da's with the locals.
After a day of fooling around and shopping with the crew, I caught the night bus to Hoi An.
