Friday 4 July 2014

The Sapa experience - loved it!

So this took awhile to add to our blog but we had the opportunity to have a few days off in a row with 2 public holidays here back in May.  We had been wanting to go to Sapa and had the chance to share the visit with Jibbo and Michelle from Mackay, Australia.  Such a lovely time...not so lovely travelling to and from though.  Sapa is 376 kms from Hanoi, you wouldn't imagine that it would take 12 hours to get there would you?  Well it did!

Because it was holiday time all of Vietnam was on the move.  The sleeping cars in trains that take 8 hours to get to Sapa were all booked out so we got a ticket on the sitting train, soft seats so what could go wrong?  At the beginning it looked ok.  We had trouble finding our platform but eventually found it.  There were people washing the outside of the train, that was nice...so we could see out.  One little detail they missed was never at any stage cleaning the inside.  The seats were broken and mouldy and the toilets were....interesting.  Nevertheless off we went......



We travelled through the night as expected, leaving at 11.30pm but what wasn't expected was that it would take 4 hours longer on the local train (12 hours in all) than the sleeper trains we had heard about.  Anyway we arrived in 1 piece and got to our hotel after a chaotic pick up at the station in Lau Cai the final station stop.

       Below is the view from the balcony outside our room...it really is beautiful there. Sapa is between 1200 and 1800 metres depending on where you are in the area.  There are 6 ethnic minorities the Mong, Dao, Kinh, Tay, Day and Xa Pho, all with their own unique and beautiful costumes.
 
                                                  
 

We made some new friends which is common practice when someone new comes into town the local people befriend you in the hope that you buy something from them or go with them to their village for the day or overnight.  They were lovely girls actually and we had a nice walk around town and chat with them that morning waiting for the Jibbo's to arrive.

 Above is the morning sales meeting (that's what we called it anyway) for the girls when they arrive for the day.

We did a deal with La to walk us to her home and make us lunch.  After deciding on the price she raced off to the market to buy the food for our lunch.  Bearing in mind she is 12 years old!                             
                           

 

Walking to La's house with her through the countryside


 All in a days work...this father and son travelled down that hill behind them to get their load to wherever they were going.

These 2 cute little girls were just taking themselves home...now more than 6 years old I thought.


So down the hill we go on what you could be described as a goat track.  La was very adept at going down since she obviously had been up and down this hill all her life...we weren't quite so used to it.  A few slips and slides were part of that little adventure, including at one point a face plant in the mud by me (Leanne) on the way home.



               And so we arrive at La's house... she very nicely also bought a yummy chocolate bread from the market when she got our food for lunch.  This was for her 2 brothers to share, such a nice thing to do for them. :)  

                                             
                                               
                                                   La's brother enjoying his gift from her.



Phil and Jibbo helped La prepare the food while Michelle and I looked around the place



The view from the front door


I couldn't believe how well our 12 yr old La lit the fire and just started cooking for 4 new guests.



That is La's bed with the pink flowered curtain around it.


And this is Mum and Dad's bed.


Both Jibbo and Michelle spent time playing with La's brothers while we were waiting for lunch



This is the shower/bathroom above


After lunch we started heading down the hill and ran into some different people going about their business above and below



It's hard to show how beautiful it is there but hopefully this gives an idea....
So that was the highlight of our trip to Sapa but there's more...we did some touring around the area to the waterfalls and another village.

 

A look out on the way to the waterfalls.  There are always lots of children selling things.



On the walk to Cat Ba village

 

One of the grandma's looking after a group of children in Cat Ba village



Some of the different styles of traditional costumes in the area 

 

This is the way down but luckily we caught a motorbike taxi back up the hill again


One of the waterfall shots with Jibbo and Phil

           One of our friends in Sapa, she is only 18,married at 16 and already has a baby, this is very usual.


A good viewing spot for the boys in the main street having coffee.


These are the steps to the local market, I remember watching a program with Luke Nguyen and seeing him walk down these steps.... 


When touring around random girls and boys want photos taken with the white tourists...it's hilarious!

Another one below





Some of the local people selling things along the street.


The city church, a lot of catholics in Vietnam


So...since the trip to Sapa was so awful on the train we decided to book the bus back



A sleeping bus, all settled in....1 hour down the road another 20 people were loaded onto an already full bus....all of the aisles were full of people sitting on the floor.  Pretty awful trip home, however, I would recommend Sapa as a lovely place to go and worth our terrible trip there and back.  That's why you don't try to go on local public holidays!  Note to self.




Goodbye Sapa, we love you!