Feb. 28th-Mar. 2nd
Aside from visiting all of Hanoi's historical wonders and partying our asses off, we still somehow managed to find time to organize a trip to the mountainous region of northern Vietnam.
Our train left Hanoi during the night, and since we opted for the cheapest package, our upright seats assured that we got as little sleep as possible.
We arrived at Lao Cai shortly before sunrise and were greeted by the usual pushy tout who brought us to our minibus for the rest of the journey to Sapa, our final destination. We were joined by a Brazilian girl named Joana who was finishing up her stint in South East Asia, and I spent the ride picking her brain for information on Vietnam and Myanmar.
After a beautiful drive through spiraling rice terraces and jagged mountains, Mike, Josh and I were dropped off at our hotel, the immaculate Sapa Summit Hotel. Considering the price we paid for our package, this hotel was far beyond my expectations. We checked into our room and made our way down to the dining area for breakfast.
Not only was the breakfast filling, but the dining area led to beautiful terrace overlooking Sapa and its mountainous landscape.
After breakfast we went back to the lobby and were greeted by our Black H'mong guide, Em. Although she looked like a child herself, she said she was 18 years old and had recently given birth to her first child. She seemed to almost beam with pride when she said she started working again only six or seven days after having given birth.
Sapa was established as a French Hill Station in 1922 and is now the epicenter of Northern Vietnam's Hill-Tribe tourism. The city is frequented by many of Vietnam's ethnic minorities and it is not uncommon to see women in beautifully coloured costumes and head-dresses selling their wears in Sapa's various markets and squares.
Out of the several minority tribes that call the Hoang Lien Son mountain range their home, over half of them are of the H'mong group. Em said her sub-group, the Black H'mong, could be recognized by their dark-indigo dresses. Although younger members of this group wear plainclothes in their everyday life, most would still wear their traditional costumes for special occasions and while guiding photo-op hungry tourists such as myself.
We started our leisurely descent towards the H'mong Catcat village. Although now considered a tourism area, many H'mong people still live in traditional houses, raise pigs and produce high quality textiles and clothing.
As we made our way to the village, the similarities to neighbouring China were quite evident: the magnificent rice terraces spread out as far as the eye could see reminded me of when I got lost in the rice terraces in Guangxi province in southern China.
Our mostly downhill walk culminated at the beautiful Tien Sa waterfall, where we stopped to take some group pictures, before watching a H'mong dance show.
While down at the waterfall, we met a Kuwaiti girl who would be joining us for the rest of our day. Unfortunately, she was as bratty as she was beautiful (and damn she was attractive!).
After having a good lunch and listening to our Kuwaiti princess insult our Vietnamese waiter for not speaking English, we asked the hotel manager where we should visit by motorbike. He gave us a map of the area and crudely wrote where some of the places of interest were.
After struggling to find the gas-station in downtown Sapa, we were finally on our way uphill onto the winding roads in the Hoang Lien Son mountains.
I've been on some pretty impressive roadways in the past, but this road has to have been one of the nicest. This mountain range is at the eastern extremity of the Himalayas; and their jagged, rugged peaks are a hiker's dream.
We spent the rest of the afternoon zipping around on our motorbikes, admiring the scenery, visiting some waterfalls, and just loving life in Northern Vietnam.
Because Josh was chauffeuring around the Sultana of Kuwait, Mike and I sped ahead and eventually lost sight of them. We searched around a bit, but eventually gave up and climbed a nearby lookout point.
This lookout point gave great views of Vietnam's highest peak, Fansipan, standing at 3143m (10,312ft).
After pretending we actually saw the peak of Fansipan, we drove back towards Sapa as the setting sun illuminated the rice terraces in a gentle golden hue.
The next day, we were once again greeted by Em, who would be guiding us deeper into the countryside, where we would be staying overnight at a local homestay. We were joined by a French couple and Yulia from Russia.
The walk was incredibly scenic and Em allowed us to take many breaks along the way to admire the sprawling rice terraces and to catch our breaths from the combination of blistering sun and lack of shade.
We stopped for lunch and were instantly pestered by little H'mong girls trying to sell us colourful scarfs and bracelets. Although Mike and I each bought a scarf, the little girls kept harassing us until I responded 'Ochow' (thank you in the H'mong language), which Em had taught me earlier. In fact, every time I used the word from that point on, the touts would leave me alone. Genius!
What was particularly funny, was the approach these girls took to selling their items. They would all repeat "buy from me" in a monotone, children-of-the-corn-type refrain until someone would finally give in. It worked more often than not.
A short while later, we arrived in the multi-ethnic Ta Van village that would act as our home for the night. The vibrant headscarfs and clothing of the local women were a sharp contrast to the arid yellows and greens of the surrounding hills.
After dropping off our stuff, Mike, Yulia and I climbed up a steep path in order to get a nicer view of the area, but a growling dog made that goal unattainable.
Following a nice home-cooked meal, we chilled at Luckydaisy's Bamboo Bar, conveniently located right across the road from our homestay, before coming back and enjoying just the right amount of rice moonshine and calling it a night.
The next day we continued our walk toward Giang Ta Chai village, passing local children, animals, and traversing a small bamboo forest to get there.
Before reaching the village, we took a brief stop at yet another waterfall before having lunch and getting a ride back to Sapa.
Despite the touristic nature of Sapa and its guided treks, I would still highly recommend it. The scenery is quite different than other places in Vietnam and the climate is a nice change from the humid cloud that perpetually drapes over most of Vietnam's north.
Even though we only spent 2 days walking around the area, there are actually hundreds of kilometers of paths and numerous minority villages that rarely receive foreign visitors, if you desire a more self-guided approach.
Another night train awaited us that evening and before we knew it, we would be leaving tranquil Sapa and would awake in chaotic Hanoi, ready for the next round of culture and drunken shenanigans, and oh what drunken shenanigans they would turn out to be...
