Trekking in Sapa

We arrived back into Ha Noi from Ha Long Bay with a few hours to spare to look around and get some dinner.

Some group were playing on a small stage on the side of the road at a busy junction! The photo doesn't quite do justice to just how in the road they were!

Next, this lady asked me to buy some of her fruit, I politely refused, but she insisted I took a photo of her, I said I was fine, but she became very insistent, so I did, next thing she wanted paying for that instead! Hmmm, don't be deceived by her beautiful smile! A very canny lady!

After dinner and listening to a backpacker who had clearly lost his marbles taking one too many substances on his journey through SE Asia (his friend actually checked when he last changed his underwear, had a wash, slept or a good meal!) we headed for the train.

"If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction."- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The process was a little confusing, as we really did not know what was going on and there were no arrivals or departures boards and few staff around. we were met by a guide from Vega Travel (who I can thoroughly recommend) and he ensured we got on the right train and carriage...

Our abode for the evening, shared with a nice Dutch couple. Beds a little hard and the window a little drafty, but all in all not bad. We managed to get a little sleep as we rocked our way to Sapa.

We were woken at 430am and off the train by 530am. There were hundreds of people arriving and being picked up and it was pretty confusing to find our ride, but soon enough we were on a mini bus heading to the hotel. The roads up to Sapa were winding and foggy, what we could see looked amazing, but we were all glad to get out and get some fresh air as the twists and turns had us all a little nauseated.

"Truth is the torch that gleams through the fog without dispelling it. "-  Claude Adrien Helvetius

"Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." -  E. L. Doctorow

At 630am we were at the hotel having breakfast and a shower, and then began our trek through Sapa. Our Aussie friends were on the train too, but they had opted for the hard climb of the local mountain Fansipan!

Off we set, down through the market...

and into the rural farm land of the Black Hamong People...

We passed a tree that produced loofahs, I didn't know they grew like that on trees! 

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And saw a litter of mismatched piglets!

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." -  George Bernard Shaw

We headed down into the valley and to a local waterfall, market and tourist centre....

We walked upstream a little and took a drink from the freshest part of the stream, we were now at the highest point of our trek and as there were no villages upstream using the water to wash and dispose of waste it was clean to drink.

Some local dancing in the tourist centre.

The last part of this day trekking was super tough for me, I was so tired from lack of sleep and the altitude we were walking at was not doing me any favours and I was really struggling. When we got back to the hotel I came down with a cold too (which was a bit of a relief as I felt I shouldn't have found it so tough) and spent the afternoon in bed whilst my friend went off for an explore. 

As night fell the whole place was covered in thick fog and it became really clear we were up in the clouds - literally. It was cold and eery and weirdly awesome.

"Behind every cloud is another cloud." - Judy Garland

We had a dinner of Vietnamese Soup, veggies noodles, broth, meat etc, I am sure akin to the chicken soup theory and by the next day I was tonnes better.

Having found the first day pretty tough I was worried about day two, but it was a breeze, a lovely walk in the Vietnamese hillside and really enjoyable, luckily day three was the same too!

Day twos weather was cool and sunny and as we headed downhill to the rice fields and countryside...

Some of the rice field vistas were just awesome, the air was so fresh and being so in nature made you feel really free.

On days one and three we had a larger group, but day two was just us, so we had a great chat with the guide and could really see how much he loved his job and why!

Part way through the walk we took a break at a place where they dyed hemp fabric with indigo dye.

Weaving hemp.

After a rest and a cool drink we carried on through the beautiful landscape...

...saw an irrigation system for  the fields...

...and met some pigs...

...and passed through a village where they specialise in giving people herbal baths...unfortunately we did not have time for one.

We looked up at Fansipan and thought of our Aussie friends trekking and camping up there.

We had a little lunch...

...and headed back to Sapa to have a look around. My turn to look around whilst someone took a nap.

Lake.

Loved the dramatic skyline!

Dinner time and off for more Vietnamese soup (fish this time). You get everything on plates and a big pot of broth and add things as you wish to cook at the speed you like.

"Only the pure in heart can make a good soup." - Ludwig van Beethoven

salmon, tofu, veggies

veggies and pineapple

Delicious!

Day three soon arrived and we headed off with a larger group, including our Aussie friends..

Strike a pose! - Our great guide!

We headed down into the mist trapped between the hills...

We were soon greeted by a group of lovely Hamong ladies, who make a living helping tourists navigate the ride field terraces, muddy sections and sell heir crafts.

The ladies weave crowns and animals out of grasses and reeds and give them to you as gifts. 

Princess Instant Noodle Hair in her crown!

Another lovely crown for our new Aussie friend!

A horse, I think?

Little did we know once we had accepted a gift we were paired with these ladies for the duration and as such encouraged to buy crafts and tip at the end. 

The ladies were lovely and had pretty good English, which was lucky as we all had no Vietnamese, apart from 'thank you' ! We talked about our lives - where we lived, ages, husbands, babies, school and jobs as we headed through the fields. 

These ladies were wearing jelly shoes...

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...and one lady was heavily pregnant, but blimey were they strong and did they have good balance! For the most part we did not really need their assistance, but it was nice to have them come along with us and share about their lives and have a chat. However, there were some sections that were super difficult to traverse without landing knee deep in muddy rice terrace and we would have probably still been stuck there today if it hadn't been for them!

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone."-  Ronald Reagan

Balancing on the edge of rice terraces, so worth these views!

We took a little rest for a short while and played with the kids and had a chat with the ladies...

...before heading on towards the river.

What we were trying to avoid standing in (not all of us managed!)

This section was the trickiest, but also super fun, once you got your rhythm and just kept going you were likely to bounce from terrace to terrace or end up splat in the mud!

Much needed help...

Someone's having fun!

Some tricky navigations taking place...

And from there it was all downhill...

We walked through a lovely bamboo forest.

"Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind." - Bruce Lee

Hemp grows everywhere here.

And its a perfect place for water buffalo.

We bought our crafts, thanked our helpful ladies and said our goodbyes before a spot of lunch.

As we got into the next village the ladies showed us how they pound rice...

In this village they also made scarves in a batik style and this lady is 'surfing' on some waxy fabric as part of the process. 

Adding yeast to ferment rice to make a local brew.

Us and our guide.

What a great trip! We headed back to town for the night train back to Ha Noi and were treated to dinner from the manager of the company, which was very kind indeed.

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see." - Mark Twain

Before we knew it we were asleep on the night train and about to arrive into Ha Noi in the middle of the night...

Halong Bay, two birthday cakes and just enough rice vodka to take the edge off the kareoke! - Part 2

After our kayak we were rewarded with some great, local food. Delicious spring rolls, fish dishes, tofu and much more - scarily it just kept on coming! After the food came the second birthday cake of the day and lots of singing - which was really nice of everyone. I also got a lovely bouquet of 12 red roses - which were lovely (if a bit of a nightmare to carry around from boat to boat and hotel to hotel and I managed to forget them somewhere sadly). Accompanying all this was fluorescent pink 'champagne', the less said here the better!! 

"If I could drink only one wine, it would be Champagne." - Gary Vaynerchuk

A very nice and thoughtful surprise and a lovely fuss was made. It seemed that in all that celebrating on my behalf everyone got carried away and before we knew it the rice vodka was flowing and karaoke was on full blast. We were sipping the rice vodka and trying not to lose our sight (it was pretty strong) whilst trying to refuse any more of this danger drink and slowly getting sloshed! The karaoke was pretty full on, and talent was no barrier to enthusiasm - especially for the staff. 

"I have been called the human jukebox, yes. But karaoke is not meant for people who can sing!" - Carrie Underwood

The staff were all SE Asian and all the guests were from a variety of non-karaoke-singing-nations such as Australia, Switzerland, India and the UK. Slowly we all shied away from the karaoke, accompanying bleeding ears and rice vodka: and found ourselves outside taking in Halong Bay by night. It was around 10.30pm by this stage and we were all geared up for a few more drinks and some relaxation time before the celebrations at midnight. Suddenly we looked around and the staff had packed up the karaoke, closed the bar and bedded down to get some sleep. Cultural differences seemed to show as we didn't want to do karaoke, we must not want to party, so it was bed time. 'Before midnight?! on New Year?!' I hear you cry - yup! We stuck it out for another half an hour or so with empty glasses in the cold on the top deck of the boat, before deciding that being in the middle of the sea nothing was going to change at midnight - we would still be drinkless and cold and there wouldn't be fireworks, so at 11.30pm - we relented and went to bed! 

'If you can't beat em. join em' - anon

We got up for sunrise at around 6.30am and took in the sunrise views. Luckily for someone she does not drink any more, but I had definitely felt better - rice vodka and florescent pink 'champagne' and a G'n'T or two were not a recipe for a harmonised sunrise wake up. Glad I did it though as it was beautiful. 

Next stop, a look out point where we climbed around 400 steps of a lookout point to see these - very worth while - views...

From here we set sail towards Cat Ba Island and we changed boats along with the Australians, mid sea.

The staff on the whole tour were awesome, but having shared a birthday and new year with this crew they had really looked after us, so we did really miss them! 

Off we set onwards to Cat ba...

Every so often there would be a random home with a small family and a dog in the floating middle of nowhere. Making a living off fish, shellfish and kayaks.

We got to Cat Ba and took motos or cycled to the start of our walk around the national park. 

It was nice having an amble through the jungle and soon we were on the road back...

Before heading back out on a boat...

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing on the boat and kayaking around one of the islets...

"If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."- Loren Eiseley

We journeyed on before dark and went to the more populated side of Cat ba Island, here there were many floating villages and fishing communities...

We got to the harbour and headed to our hotel, freshened up and headed out for the evening with one of the other guests on the trip where we went to a local eatery and shared some food. I remember delicious pineapple and squid and terrible burnt fish!

View from the hotel.

Sun setting

Cat Ba harbour sign,

The next day we took the boat back out to Halong bay, and saw more stunning islets.

Apparently the rock formation below is very famous and looks like two fighting cockrels.

We took the mini bus back to Ha Noi, picked up a few essentials, had dinner in a local restaurant next to a group of twenty something lads, one of which had clearly been overdoing it and had many a story to tell of ladies and booze and drugs. We stifled giggles as one of his friends checked, very seriously, when the last time was he had changed his underwear. 

Soon we were off to the train station and pleased to be joined by the lovely Ozzies from the boat, they were trekking Fansipan Mountain for a few days and we were trekking the rice paddies.

Working out which train and which carriage to board was really confusing, but the company rep was great and got us sorted. Soon we were tucked into our bunks next to a Dutch couple and on our way....

“The gladdest moment in human life, me thinks, is a departure into unknown lands.” – Sir Richard Burton