Sapa - Day 1

I tried getting pictures up today, but the connection here in Sapa is not cooperating, so I finally gave up, at least for now.

We got back to Hanoi yesterday in decent time, the hotel gave us a room to shower and sort through luggage, etc. Once again, their level of service is something we've not experienced before. We got all that sorted out, and then re-checked our long term luggage and had them hold our "carry-on' while we went for supper and a final walk about in the Old Quarter. At 8:00, our guide from the Hanoi day showed up to escort us to the train station. He had a cab waiting for us, while he tagged along on his motorcycle. It was a shorter distance than I thought, so we were there in 10-15 minutes. He took our vouchers and exchanged them for tickets, lead us to the train, and said his good byes. Unbelievable at the station, you just walked out into the yard, walking across all the tracks, hunting for the right train. No agents, no security, just glad we had some help...

We had a private berth, which means the four cot room is only set up for two. Eileen walked in and saw these two skinny little mattresses set up and wondered what I'd gotten her into. But we had free beer, being in one of the privelaged berths, so we each indulged. Train pulled out right on time, and she was wondering even more. The tracks in Hanoi are a little rough, she thought she would need some safety bars to keep her from falling out of bed. One thing that was interesting; at every street crossing in Hanoi, there was someone who physically dragged out a barricade to block traffic, and there were quite a few intersections before the tracks gained some elevation and went over the streets.

The humour on the trip; the washroom was at the end of the car, our room was two doors from the end. Eileen went out for her bedtime relief, and came back quite quickly. The washroom was not funtioning so an attendant that happened to be close by told her to use the one in the next car. She came back for shoes, just spitting....there's nothing there but an open hole in the floor.... But she got her business done while I snickered. In the morning, we had an early wake up call, we actually both slept really well. Eileen stated that she was going to hold it until the train station. Coffee was deleivered and very shortly after we were at the station. As we filed out the door at the other end of the car, we saw there was another bathroom, with a flush toilet....now i did more than snicker, and she had a good laugh too.

Our guide was at the gate to meet us, Eileen found a bathroom, and off we headed to Sapa town, which is about an hours drive from the end of the tracks. It was soon obvious why the tracks end where they do. I'm not sure what the total distance is, but it is seriously uphill all the way. The weather was quite nice at the station but by the time we made it to Sapa we were up in the mist with a light drizzle. That road makes at lot of the roads in BC look like straight aways. Our room was not ready at the hotel, so we went for breakfast. Our luggage got but around the corner with a pile of others, and then we went trekking. So far we've seen Hanoi, which is the most organized chaos we've ever seen, Halong Bay which is the most surreal pace we've ever been, and then this mist filled valley filled with rice terraces, water buffalo, and women dressed in their traditional ethnic clothing. By the time we started hiking, the drizzle had stopped and the visibility quiclky improved. By noon the sun was shining. Our guide had done a trek yesterday and said they did not have much for views. It was quite pleasent in the sun by mid afternoon. In total, we did a 10 km hike, wrapping up around 1:00. We're having a blast with this guide, she and Eileen are having some very good laughs. We are going to enjoy the next two days with her.

We checked trip advisor for Sapa restaurants and found that #1 was across the street from the hotel. We went in and found a little place with five tables. Eileen was chilly and was quite happy to find that they had a tub in the middle of the floor with a nice hot charcoal fire burning away. Do not think that would meet code in Sask. When someone was cold, you just slid the tub closer to them. We had our standard appy of spring rolls, went for the cooked version tonight. They are hard to resist when it's just a couple of bucks for 5-6 of them. These were a little different than usual, finer chopped ingredients a a little bite in there somewhere, but still good. We ordered the hot pot for two, which was more appropriately for four. A pot of broth on a burner, then mushrooms, tofu, chicken, pork, beef, and vegetables dumped in. You scooped out bowlfuls and enjoyed. With two beer and a glass of wine, the total bill was just under 500,000 VND. The beer and the wine would come close to that at home. Early to bed, then an ethnic market tomorrow.

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