Sapa Day 2

We're getting some bonus weather up here in Sapa. At this time of year we should be hoping for the temps to get to the teens with plenty of fog and drizzle, instead we had bright sunshine which brought out the shorts and tshirts this afternoon.

We spent quite a bit of time driving today, but we saw scenes that I never knew existed here. We went back to Lao Cai, which is the city that the train station is in. From there I think we trended northeast but I'm not certain. We followed the Red River for awhile, which marks the border between Vietnam abd China. The terrain that we drove through was mountainous with varied agriculture. Large pineapple fields growing on slopes that are so steep, I don't know how the workers climb up them. There were also a lot of fields of tea plants but they are just coming out of their winter season.

Our main destination for this drive was a rural town that was holding their weekly market on Thursday. There would have been several bigger markets closer to Sapa, but they did not match up with our day here. This was quite an experience to walk the street of this market area, and just see all the basic kinds of merchandise they were selling. One of the big sellers was sugar cane. They were sold in about 6 foot lengths, that you knocked into 1 foot lengths with a machete. If you wanted some, you peeled it, and chewed off a chunk. After you sucked out all the sweetness, the fibre was spit out. There was a lot of chewing and spitting going on. Our guide bought a length and shared some with us. She also bought a bag of locally grown and roasted peanuts that were really good.Eileen bought a length of fabric and a few things for some of the kids. Prices were ridiculously low. Probably about a third of the people there were ethnic women dressed in the traditional clothing. Each ethnic group, and there are many of them, dress differently. I took quite a few photos of these ladies and their outfits.

Got back in mid-afternoon, had some R&R on the deck in the sunshine, overlooking the valley and the mountains on the other side. A bit more street strolling, a little shopping, and another good dinner. Tomorrow we have a 14K trek lined up, then the night train back to Hanoi.

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