Sapa Day 3

This is more like Sapa weather, cool and very foggy. We had our breakfast and got our bags packed up before Huong met us at 9:30. We took off on foot straight from the hotel and left Sapa town on a trail north through a couple of villages inhabited by H'mong and Dzao people. Due to the heavy fog the site seeing was somewhat restricted, but it was still quite an interesting walk. It's a real jolt of reality to see all of this subsistence living and all of the happy looking people. Every once in awhile we would be joined by one or more of the ethnic women, who would walk alondside, try to engage in some small talk, and sell you some of their handicrafts. One or two or more No's would eventually discourage them and they would drop off. We passed numerous schools along the way, which was nice to see. One of them was very rudimentary looking but several others were good structures. We stopped by one playground at recess time, looked just like one of our school recesses.

One thing the people here take seriously is the Tet holiday. It's weeks away yet but preparations are underway. Huong has tomorrow off and she going to spend some of it at her cousins place making sausage for the holidays. In one spot today we saw bundles of tree branches cut off about 8 feet long which the trunks submerged in water. We thought they were trying to get them rooted but Huong said they were trying to hasten the blossoms so they would be flowering for Tet. Instead of our Christmas trees, people here will have a blossoming branch from a peach tree, which symbolizes good luck or good fortune. There were also many yards that had large potted plants sitting out on top of posts. She said that they were orchids and that many people bought them for the Tet holiday. We saw one man really fixing one up by tieing up all the stems with the flower buds. He told Huong that it would sell for $100US. Huong told us that city people would have that kind of money to buy orchids with.

By the time we finished the hike (14K), Eileens legs were about finished. Our driver was waiting for us and took us back to Sapa and the hotel. They gave us a room to change and clean up, and then Eileen went for a foot and leg massage at one of the many shops on the street. $6 for 45 minutes. She said it was not the best massage she's ever had but it was certainly the least expensive. We then went down the street and had a beer at a bar with a second floor balcony. It got us away from the ladies selling crafts and also gave an opportunity for more discrete photos of them without being too blatant about it. That didn't seem to bother the Japanese tourists that seemed to have shown up by the bus load today.

Our driver and Huong picked us up at 5:00, they swung past a newly opened market area that I didn't know anything about. Too bad we did not have a hour ot two to stroll though there. It's newly opened and when up in full swing, will be a major attraction to Sapa. We had a good supper at a restaurant right next to the train station, Huong got out tickets, and shortly after were boarded and are right now rolling down the tracks back towards Hanoi.

The Sapa segment of the trip was the one part of the itinerary that I was hesitant about. The potential for cold and wet weather, the persistent ethnic women selling their handicrafts, and the two overnight trains being the main reasons. However, the weather was great, the women were a part of the ambiance, and Eileen had no trouble with the train. When I told Eileen about my doubts about Sapa this afternoon and then ended by saying that I was glad that we had done it, she said that she thinks it might end up being the highlight of her trip. So that kind of sums up how this part of our Vietnam adventure has gone.

Tomorrow we have a few hours in Hanoi, collect our luggage, and then a short flight to Hue, where we'll be for two nights.

 

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