After taking in some more propaganda in Hanoi - my favourite was 'the Americans want to kill your children', no wonder there are no McDonald's here - we travelled up to Sapa on the night train. Hard class was not hard at all, and we shared a cabin with a Vietnamese family from Sapa. Eight people in 6 bunks overall, but all smaller than Lou, so not a bad ratio. I managed to get a wash and spare them the smell of my hot feet before bed time so it was quite sociable. We crossed 'lovers bridge' on the way out of Hanoi over the Red River where local couples go to get bitten by mosquitos and each other, then we slept soundly.
We had an early start in Lau Cai and took the bus to Sapa, found breakfast and somewhere to stay and then did a small walk around local villages. These are inhabited by different hill tribes, the first of which was the Black Hmong. They try to sell you clothes dyed in indigo, which they grow between the rice paddies. Lou fought through a persistant group of wrist band sellers and by the middle of the day we had outwalked any other tourists to get to a village called 'Xin Chay' - which is probably not it's real name as it's Vietnamese for 'hello', but never mind. We were proud of the fact that people didn't expect us to be there. Lou and I argued about who took the best photo, so here are some samples.
In order to go anywhere interesting in the valley, you need a guide, so we hired one and took a soviet jeep down the valley. The guide dressed in his authentic local costume - Nike tracksuit - and we got a chance to ponce around in our walking boots pretending we were trekking remotely like Ray Mears amongst traffic jams of other guided tourists. At the top of a beautiful waterfall Lou haggled with a Black Hmong woman for a pair of cushion covers and both parties went away grinning, although Lou had a few more teeth.
We stayed overnight in a house with a Tay family - notable for their cloth which is like tartan but with more imaginative colours - we have a picture of them making this around their stilt houses. After a massive supper of 8 dishes we drank fermented rice wine and smoked the host's big bamboo bong. Despite all this food I managed not to fall through his thin bamboo slatted floor which Lou was genuinely concerned about. The amazingly loud local cricket also shut up at about 9.
After quick trip to a local waterfall this morning, which I was the only one stupid enough to swim in, we headed for Sapa via lunch. It was a steep walk out of the valley to the road, then by jeep - the road doesn't need any signs saying 'fallen rocks' as you have to concentrate on avoiding them in today's mountain fog. So, back to Hanoi tonight in posh class on the train.
We had an early start in Lau Cai and took the bus to Sapa, found breakfast and somewhere to stay and then did a small walk around local villages. These are inhabited by different hill tribes, the first of which was the Black Hmong. They try to sell you clothes dyed in indigo, which they grow between the rice paddies. Lou fought through a persistant group of wrist band sellers and by the middle of the day we had outwalked any other tourists to get to a village called 'Xin Chay' - which is probably not it's real name as it's Vietnamese for 'hello', but never mind. We were proud of the fact that people didn't expect us to be there. Lou and I argued about who took the best photo, so here are some samples.
In order to go anywhere interesting in the valley, you need a guide, so we hired one and took a soviet jeep down the valley. The guide dressed in his authentic local costume - Nike tracksuit - and we got a chance to ponce around in our walking boots pretending we were trekking remotely like Ray Mears amongst traffic jams of other guided tourists. At the top of a beautiful waterfall Lou haggled with a Black Hmong woman for a pair of cushion covers and both parties went away grinning, although Lou had a few more teeth.
We stayed overnight in a house with a Tay family - notable for their cloth which is like tartan but with more imaginative colours - we have a picture of them making this around their stilt houses. After a massive supper of 8 dishes we drank fermented rice wine and smoked the host's big bamboo bong. Despite all this food I managed not to fall through his thin bamboo slatted floor which Lou was genuinely concerned about. The amazingly loud local cricket also shut up at about 9.
After quick trip to a local waterfall this morning, which I was the only one stupid enough to swim in, we headed for Sapa via lunch. It was a steep walk out of the valley to the road, then by jeep - the road doesn't need any signs saying 'fallen rocks' as you have to concentrate on avoiding them in today's mountain fog. So, back to Hanoi tonight in posh class on the train.
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