It all began with the train ride. What a ride indeed! I paid $5 extra for the "deluxe" compartment. I knew it was 4 bunks and I also knew the washrooms were shared, at either end of the railcar. The bunks were comfortble enough, but the pillows and blankets....questionable on how clean they were. The train is a night train, taking 9 hours, per the brochure. The train was scheduled to depart at 9:50 pm and arrive Lao Cai at 5:30-6 am.
Jim and I are settled in and were sharing the compartment with a Vietnamese couple. No probllem. We couldn't communicate but lights were out a a reasonable time. I opted for the upper bunk to be closer to the air conditioning vent. The compartment had nice, cool air upon arrival, but soon changed over to a fan blowing air. OK, at least there is some ventilation. Ther is a door that you can close to the hallway and our luggage was safely stowed.
4:30 am and I need to get up to tend to my baldder. I mistakenly made the assumption there would at least be a toilet in the washroom. Surprise! No toilet. They were kind enough to have an imprint of two feet on the floor with a hole in the middle of the floor. Decision time: hold ballder or go for it. I tested my sense of balance by stepping out of one pant leg so as not to get my clothes wet. Balancing act successful, especially with the movement of the train. Next issue, no toilet paper, ooh, and don't step in that brown stuff on the floor from where someone, obviously missed their target. Cataastrophe averted. Got my clothes back on and stepped outside to wash my hands. t least there was a sink available for washing.
Our tour was delineated into specific time blocks: train arrives and our guide is to meet us with our names on signs. The train was scheduled for 6 am arrival. Well, train arrives at 8:45. We depart and see many names, but not ours. OK, tour missed, now what. I showed my tickets to the other tour guides, were put on 2 different shuttle buses, before finally finding someone that DID have our name, and we were finally off for the 30 minute, bumpy and rough ride up to Sapa.
I am already thinking that we missed our first tour ( which was to start after our breakfast, at 10 am). We arrive at our hotel, met by our official tour guide for the day. He asks us " how fast can you eat your breakfast"? They did wait for us to arrive before starting our tour. We ate a cold breakfast and headed out on our first day hike.
I am not sure of the elevation, but it is close to the Indochinese Alps,Mt. Fanispan is about 2km from China's border. The town is fairly small and lots of the local tribal women, make the daily trek to the town to sell the items that they make "by hand". The tribal women set up on the street sidewalks. Also, Saturday and Sunday, is the Market. You can buy local wares or produce, veggies, chicken and dog meat. Yes, dog is eaten by the Vietnamese, but only the men. Dogs really aren't as pets, but also used for protection. I just could not think about it as it is upsetting, just thinking about all the dogs I see in the city. I won't talk about this anymore.
After walking through the market, we went to CatCat village. The higher elevation brought cooler, yet still humid weather. We walked through the village, saw the countryside, saw lots of the shacks and huts where families live. Diego, our guide, took us inside a house of a family. It was a very low ceiling and it was covered with ears of corn. They have and old fashioned grain mill, that they grind the corn down for cornmeal. They have an open fire for cooking and heat source. Sapa does get snow in the winter. The fire is for warmth, but there are so many openings for the cold air to still get through. Grndparents, parents and children all lived here, about 14 people total. The mom was feeding her baby a grasshopper that she found in the hut ( there will be a picture of this). I happened to notice a TV in the corner. The village just recently got electricity. I am not sure how well it picks up stations, but there is a TV in this primitive hut.
The homes also have their items for sale outside, as more and more tourists are coming in. I would imagine, this will change a lot in the next few years, as Vietnam is becoming more popular for tourists. There are many, many Austrailians here. They tell us it is only an 8 hour plane ride away, so fairly close for travelling.
We also saw many fulcrum based wells. The water tricles down, bills up a little boat, when full, spills into ponds. Families gather their water here. So many of the little children were so dirty, but laughing and playing and seem very happy. In town, there are many children selling things too, maybe as little as 5 years old. Incredible.
On the other end of Cat Cat village was a veautiful water fall and a hydroelectric plant that was built by the French. We did lots of steps up and down through this walk. Lots of cardio done. This trek is not for the weary. I was weary, but tried to show a brave face.
We were done with day one, after a 4 hour hike. We then went back to the hotel, was able to finally check in, shower and take a nap ( after lunch, of course as all meals were included on the tour).
Dinner was at 7 pm, so we met 2 people in our group from Montreal, and had dinner. We ate outside and people watched. They close the main street in Sapa to night traffic. After dinner we walked over to the Catholic Cathedral and main part of town. The Cathedral was all lit up and there was music, dancing, and many people milling around. It was auch a beautiful night for a leisurely stroll. Suzanne (from Montreal) showed us the lake in town as well. We then made our way back to the hotel, as tomorrow is another day for adventure.
Day 2 was breakfast, packing up to check out of the hotel, and trek through the rice paddie fields to 2 more villages: Ta Van and Lao Chai. I slatered on the Deet and sunscreen and we atarted out. We were followed by a group of Hmong women for entire trek. They all ask the same questions: "where you from? What's your name? How old are you? Any children?" I am now "LuLu from Schenectady, with 6 children and I am 39"! We all know the end result is for us to buy something from them when we reach the village. I was very happy to have my little friend by my side, because some of the paths were very primitive with many rocks, loose gravel and close to the cliff edge. When it got scarey, she took my hand and helped me. They travel these paths daily, carrying full pack or even their children on their backs, with only flip flops on their feet.
Our walk today was 5 hours in length, about 10km. There was the French Candian couple, a Vietnames woman, who now lives in California, and another Vietnames mother and son. We travelled through area with great vistas of all the terraced rice paddy fields. We stopped acouple of times along the way for rest breaks and water and photo ops. The locals were with us the entire way. Many bamboo trees lined the walks. I tried to get pictures of our path so you can appreciate the terrain. There was also someone with his eels. Our tour guide placed 2 in his water bottle, paid the local, and will be having eel for dinner tonight!
I photographed some of the homes, fields, water buffalo, a villager fishing near the water fall. When we arrived at Ta Van, my little friend asked if I would buy something from her. I said yes, and then I was surrounded by them all. All of them asking me " buy something from me too"? My little friend is a bargainer and we went back back and forth several times. We made an agreement for 400,000 Dong ($20) for a beautiful hand embroidered wall hanging. I just love it! This is a lunch stop for other groups as well, so finally, I got a reprieve qhen group 2 came through.
I manged a few pictures of a Marijuana tree growing wild. Our tour guide did say it is for "medicinal" purposes only ( haven't we heard that before?), and that smoking marijuana is illegal in Vietnam. Our guide also was smoking tobacco from a water pipe, which I have seen many times on the streets of Hanoi but haven't gotten the chance for a photo.
The mists would come and go throughout the day, from the mountains. It sure helped to keep us cool. After our trek, the van took us to our hotel where there were showers for us to freshen up for the train ride back to Hanoi. I got a photo of all of us for my memories.
We then were bused back down the mountain to Lao Cai to catch our train. Dinner in Lao Cai, washroom visit and no more water for me. I do not want so use another hole in the floor facility if I can help it.
Jim and I were just "dropped off" pointed where to go to catch the train, with a zillion other tourists. I had to aks someone as our train was scheduled to leave in 20 minutes. I finally found someone who could help us, we found our train car, and bunked down. It was tough sleeping on the train as the facilities in the compartment were similar. It is also quite a bumpy ride. I managed to not need the washroom on board, so I was happy for that.
Upon arrival in Hanoi, we hailed a cab, as it was raining, and arrived back at Lucky 3 Hotel. We got our breakfast , showered, and here I am blogging while everything is still fairly fresh in my mind. We hace until Friday in Hanoi, so will plan a couple of museum visits before it is time to head fo home. We will also stop by the hospital and check on our patients.
Enjoy the pictures. I tried to put them in order of the blog. I have yet to figure out how to post the pictures as I write about them. So here they are in a big heap!
Good night!
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