Tracking the Trekkers in Sapa

At about 6pm we headed off to the train station very excited for or nice 10hr train journey.

The train carriage carrying the commoners (aka the 2nd class hard sleeper passengers) was a carriage with 6 beds each side had triple bunks and there was a small space to stand in between. There is not much space to stand or sit around so all we could do was climb into bed. Trying to sit was quite an adventure as there was hardly any space and you needed to do some awkward contortionist moves to get anything done. We were glad to provide some entertainment for the locals by being the 'white folk' in their carriage, cos we are all sure a few telephone calls were about us.

 

After a splendid train trip we got to Sapa at about 5:30am were we found a minibus to take us into town. Wowwee that was an adventure... As soon as the mini bus filled up we headed up the windy road. A road just big enough for to card,barely. The minibus would overtake trucks on a bend and scooters would just swerve out the way. It was best to just close your eyes and not look. I don't think I will ever be able to get used to the driving in Vietnam, there doesn't seem to be any rules or correct sides of the roads to drive on!

After getting to Sapa we ran around trying to get prices for trekking tours. after we had got a few we went to mull over them over a nice breakfast and decide which one we wanted to go for and if we wanted to do the hard or easy trek.  After breakfast we were just randomly walking past a place and went in to ask how much and seeing as it was 29:20 and the tour left at 9:30 we thought it was to late to go, but alas it was not and the lady who was very sweet said 'Why Not?' and made a plan for us. 'Why not?' seems to be her answer to any question we asked her, it was quite funny.

Soon enough our guide Quay was at our side ready to lead us up the treacherous hills in Sapa. We decided on a 2 day 1 night tour in the hills of Sapa, with the night in a homestay of one of the ethnic minority tribes we would be visiting.

 

We headed off down the road followed by a bunch of girls, basically they are girls from the ethnic minorities tribes that come into town to sell stuff to the tourists, you will get hassled by them pretty much every 2 steps you are walking in the town.

Quay told us that the girls would just follow us. We headed off into the rice paddies and every little while Quay would stop and tell us some interesting facts about the people and the land. Like when a man wants to marry a woman his friends will literally pull her into a hut and lock her in there and will cook and woo her for three days. During these 3 days if she doesn't want to marry him she cant eat anything, she can only have water and if she accepts she can obviously eat. If she accepts the man will go ask 'permission' and the family will tell him how much he must pay (ie 3 boofalow, 7 chickens, 6 pigs and 7L of Happy Water). If he cannot pay all the 'labola' he will have to live with the family until he has paid it all off. 

Then we were off up rice paddies, round rice paddies past the Buffalo (now pronounced boo-fa-low), all with the girls still following us. It is crazy to think they will follow you for pretty much the whole day so that you will buy something from them. On the way we stopped for rest breaks where we could have some water and have a sit down and get out the sun for a bit. on the way up and down many hills we stopped off at a little house where they were making some clothing using the indigo plants that grow there. they soak the indigo leaves and then add the material and it dies it and then they have to hang it up to dry... just like that its done :) It was then more walking over rivers, jumping rocks (feeling like a right old fool getting a helping hand  from the girls who were following us - who were about half our age, and wearing flip flops!!)
As we got to the place we were having lunch we got swarmed by all the girls that were fo9llowing us, and the many more that were waiting round at the lunch area. Obviously feeling a little bad we brought something from some of the girls that were following us... but only brought like one thing each...seriously how much did they want us to buy?

 

After lunch we went to see a school and some more tribes. They are all pretty close together and there was no defining line really between them. I'm not sure how they keep track of who's chickens are whos?? We went past a bunch of marketie stalls which we weren't to keen on getting anything so just carried on walking. We arrived at our homestay at about 3pm where we put our stuff in the room big enough for 17 for only the 3 of us!! and got in our cozzies to cool off in the river. Boy oh boy did we cool off, not the warmest river ever I would say and pretty much after my pinkie toe was in I was cooled down, but we braced ourselves and took the plunge, and quickly got out to sit in the sun and warm up again! :)

(Darryn this will be your favourite bit) After an amazing shower (no not that bit) we sat on the balcony and got some chips, but no these were not any chips they were possibly the best chips in the history of chips and had some butter and garlic on them.. words cannot express the tasty taste sensation! After that we moved inside to have dinner with the family (1 man, a lady and a granny) and we were greeted to a table full of food. We got given a shot glass of Happy Water which is pretty much rice wine that some locals make and all locals drink. We had a cheers (another interesting factoid is that you cheers according to age so the oldest person will have their glass higher then a younger person as a sign of respect). The men just smashed the whole shot glass but we decided to take a sip and by golly gee wizz I am glad we did, I think it burnt a hole in my oesophagus. It was then on to the food which was pork, chicken and beef dishes with veg, crumbed pork, spring rolls, joko (a local veg), some other stuff which was super spicy, bac choi and rice. we didn't stop eating and if you did either Quay or someone else dumped some more food in your plate until we actually could not fit anything else into our stomachs. And then rolled off to bed after a long day.

 

Day 2 we got up and had pancakes for breakfast which is a nice change compared to the normal bread, butter and bananas (and no Mom, JC & I haven't started eating those) and then we headed off to face the day. Today was slightly more challenging as in the evening the mist had descended upon us and there was a slight drizzle, just enough to make the ground nice and damp! The view would have been amazing if we could have seen most of it! So we headed up rice paddies, on rice paddies, up hills, down hills and through trees and soon enough I found out my shoes had no traction. so there I was slipping and sliding around, and JC a bit and there was Mountain Goat Thomas, just hopping along over streams from rock to rock. It was a rare beauty to see a Mountain Goat Thomas in her natural environment. an not so slight down hill later I decided it would be faster to slide down and did that for a little finding I didn't get to much further buy had a nice leg full of mud. A little while later while rock jumping over a river I thought it was best to cool down and slipped off the rock into the puddle and got a shoe in the watter and a graze on my knee and a hole in my jeans!! Thanks goodness it was almost lunch as I was tuckered out. Mind you if JC or I got tired I'm sure Mountain Goat Thomas could have strapped up to her back and carried us home no problem.

By this time we were freezing cold and all to glad to see soup for lunch. It was then up one last hill and to a car who was waiting to take us back to the hotel where we could shower and change.

 

It was then back to the train station to get another sleeper train to Hanoi. Had a wonderful mini bus ride back, the guy said our trip would be VND20,000 each and in the middle of the journey when JC gave him a VND100,000 for all of us the guy only gave us VND10,000 back. We tried to reason with him politely and more forcefully, but in the end he wouldn't give our money back which made us all super mad!!! We stormed into the train station to by a sleeper ticket and were helped by the nicest man who translated for us and gave us prices etc. What a difference...

The sleeper on the way back was the hardest loudest train ever. It felt like we were sleeping in a piece of cardboard and that at any moment the train carriage was going to break away from the rest of the train!!

 

(p.s the pic is not ours, we will upload pics as soon as possible... the computer cant seem to read the pic CD we made)