Vietnam: Sapa (Part 4) - A Little Bit of Everything

This morning we visited the village which is located pretty much right in Sapa (just down the hill on a dirt track).  This one is somehow less spectacular than everything I saw on the previous day though - it's a shame as this is all that the majority of people who visit this area will get to see.

Not Impressed.

By this.

Actually, it's still pretty damn cool (in a hot and sweaty kinda way) to wander around the area taking in the landscape and surrounding mountains.  We're also right next to the highest peak in Indochina called Fansipan and it's 3,142m high (10,308ft).  I think Fansipan means "Guess is tall because cannot see top through cloud".

Rambo Woz Here

Early in the afternoon we head back down the winding mountain road to Lau Cai to return our bikes.  Halfway down the mountain we turn a corner and almost run into the back of a small traffic jam.  A motorbike lies half crushed in the middle of the road, and a policeman is taking photos.  We weave through the wreckage but I don't see any bodies - the victim has already been taken away.  It's hard to tell how serious the damage was - but I don't think they would have taken them away so soon if they had died.  It looked like the bike had collied with a car going round a blind corner - it's not unusual for vehicles to overtake other cars and trucks while going round blind bends here.  That's where generous use of the horn comes in handy.  It's how you shout out "EVERYBODY - I EXIST SO WATCH OUT!!".

Schrödinger's cat disagrees.

Back in Lau Cai and it's time to return the bikes but I'll be having none of it.  I want another drive so I spend the next 20 minutes roaming around Lau Cai.  It's interesting how when on foot the motorbike traffic looks quite insane and chaotic, but when you're in amongst it all makes sense.  Just go with the flow of the river of bikes.

Humongous's ProTip: If you encounter any road warriors, kill them and steal their gasoline.

We stop in at a guest house to freshen up and have a bit of a rest, then head out for dinner and some nasty looking apple rice wine.

Looks Legit.

One bottle of rice wine later and it's time to catch the train back to Hanoi.  This time the air-con is working, and it gets freakin' cold during the night.  I must say though - this time I managed to get some sleep - I think I prefer being a bit cold to being extremely hot.  The wine probably helped a bit too.
Halfway through the journey the heavy rain starts pouring on the roof of the carriage, and is peppered with bright lighting flashes and rumbling thunder.  I feel very satisfied and cozy couped up in my rattly train, winding through the hills in the heavy storm.



More Vietnam pics here and here.

Vietnam: Sapa (Part 3) - Little Big Town

Sapa has definitely been developed into a tourist town in the last few years.  In a relatively small space it's been crammed with hotels, restaurants and stalls selling various nicknacks.

And candy floss as you can see in the background.

Luckily it's off-season and we only come across around 40 or so tourists in the entire town.  There are children and old women in traditional dress everywhere, with the women peddling their wares.  One in particular is a real pro and manages to annoy me into buying a little pursey thing that I can put my cell-phone into.  I have no problem with this, but somehow I feel I would rather buy nick nacks off of the women in the other villages.  I get a vibe from her hustle that she's doing good business here.

Pro-Advice: Now the ethnic people of Sapa are really poor and have very little, and I encourage you if you go there to at least buy a few things off of them. You can buy trinkets for less than a dollar, and they're all hand-made on ancient looking sewing machines.

After checking into a hotel we set off on the bikes again into the hills.  After about 30 minutes of riding we take a left turn into an un-signposted dirt road.  This road winds around for another 30 minutes and is more pothole than road.

And part cow.

Halfway along and we stop at an absolutely stunning piece of terraced farmland to take in the scenery.  This place really is spectacular.

Eventually we reach a small village, park our bikes and go for a stroll down the road.

More gratuitous shots of the landscape

Soon we are set upon by three old ethnic ladies trying to sell their wares.  One of them has a bag with a zip on it that I figure I can put my spare camera lens and attachments in so she gets a quick sale.  However, that doesn't give me peace from the other two women though -

"Why you buy from her?  I have nothing.  Buy from me."

It's all a bit heartbreaking for a kiwi boy and I feel extremely uncomfortable.  I give them a little money just to cure my guilt.

They see me rollin' - they hatin'

Further up the road there is a small store selling bulk bags of candy.  We buy a few bags, and sure enough a horde of children comes running down the road at us.  We are mobbed for the candy and it's all distributed out to the children.

Braaaaainnssssss

Further up the hill we pass a woman with three children in tow who invites us into their home.  The house is really just a large open plan shack that the entire family lives in - grandparents to grandchildren, brothers and sisters.  In one corner is a prayer table with small cups of [*something* - alchohol?  I haven't researched this.  Yes, I'm lazy.  What's your problem?] that one of the men is praying in front of.  An older man sits in a chair smoking on a giant pipe.

And soon after left to go find a Taco Bell.

A sewing machine that looks like it was built in 1905 sits in the middle of the room.  These are what they make their nick-nacks on - so it's practically by hand.

Keepin' it real yo

Down the other end of the house is the kitchen and washroom - all very traditional style.  We give them a tip for inviting us into their home and we head back for the bikes as the sun has set.


It's hard having to be face to face with what can only be described as begging.  I don't know how so many people in some countries can parade their Audis and their Mercedes Benzes in front of extremely poor people living next door.  That must take an extreme lack of empathy or desensitization.


We ride back up the bumpy dirt road in the dark (which has a surprising amount of motorbike traffic on it), and half way back to the main road I tap the driver (Ha) on the shoulder as I haven't seen the headlights from the bike behind us for a while.  We stop and wait for them to catch up.

Nothing.




Still nothing.




We head back up the hill to see where they've gotten to.  I get worried as the headlights illuminate a motorbike lying in the middle of the road.  Thankfully I see the two girls [aka tough c*nts] sitting down in the road so they must be OK.  They've badly grazed their ankles (that's an understatement) but other than that are they are fine.  The bigger problem is that when they hit the large pothole and took a tumble, the key fell out of the ignition somewhere and can't be found.  We spend the next 10 minutes trying to find the key in the country dark and eventually give up.  Ha manages to start the bike manually without the key and then we're off again.

Back in Sapa again and it's hot pot for dinner, rice wine and karaoke, followed by tea on the balcony in the rain.

Life is good.

Being in a group of Vietnamese people, accommodation is handled Vietnamese style.  We've rented two rooms in the hotel for all of us - which means 5 girls in two beds in one room, and 4 guys in two beds in the other.  One of the beds in my room is a small double bed, the other a single.  I insist on sleeping on the floor on a blanket to make room - I could quite happily sleep there as I am exhausted from having zero sleep on the train the night before followed by a full day of bike riding.
They would have none of it though and forced me to take the single bed for myself while the other three guys shared the double bed.

I was out like a light.

Vietnam: Sapa (Part 2) - Motorbikes

We arrive a mere 5 hours late at our destination, bleary eyed and hungry so we grab some Bun Cha for breakfast.  God I love that stuff...

One of the guys in my entourage calls his cousin who lives in Lau Cai to try and rent some motorbikes.   Apparently it's not too easy to hire 4 motorbikes in Lau Cai and so we have to wait for a while for the bikes to arrive.  While waiting under an umbrella drinking coffee the skies opened up and the rain started pouring down.

Slightly better than sideways rain.

We buy some cheap plastic rain coats to go over the top and we're off with me riding shotgun on the back of a bike.  Everybody else took off their shoes and went barefoot - they recommended that I do the same.  Ha ha.  Fools.  I'll wear my shoes thank you very much.


ProTip:  When riding a motorbike in the pouring rain, go barefoot or wear your bathroom slippers otherwise your shoes, feet and socks will get rather wet.  And shoes are hard to dry.  Damn.


Four minutes later and I can't help myself - "Can I have a go?"

"OK".

Ha.  Sucker.

We pull over in the middle of a busy bridge over a river and swap seats.  I've picked a good time for my first motorbike ride:  Vietnam.  A small city.  Heavy rain.  Instructor can't speak english.  Check.
I do manage to learn how to honk the horn, that my break is on the right trigger, and that I can change up a gear by pressing down with my left toe.  Other information that would have been rather useful at the time is that down on the right foot is the rear brake, and down on the left heel changes down a gear - but I wouldn't find that out until some time later.
Anyway - we head off through the outskirts of Lau Cai, then into the countryside.  I'm loving the feeling of wind and rain in my face - though every now and then you get a massive drop right in the middle of your eye and it hurts a bit and makes your eyes go red.

Ten kilometers later and we're climbing up the bottom of the mountains of Sapa getting slower and slower as I'm stuck in a high gear from when I was driving fast on the flat roads.  I'm trying to ask the chap on the back how to change down a gear but he can't understand a word.  Eventually we pull over, and he jumps on the front.  I've been relegated to the back.

Bastard.


Winding up the hills, I'm greeted with the most spectacular terraced scenery I have ever seen.  The road winds up through a mountain valley, and on the opposite side are just miles and miles of terraces, splayed out in front of you, the odd waterfall piercing through the ridges.

Stunning.

[Sorry I don't have any pictures at this point - my camera doesn't like getting soaked.]

This is the Jianglin Hills times one hundred.  We round a bend and come face to face with ten rather large oxen coming down the middle of the road.  We weave through the bulls and can see some native Sapa people herding them along with long sticks.  They look immediately different to the usual Vietnamese folk with darker skin and a different shaped face.  They also tend to have an amazing stare.  I'm not sure what they're thinking when they do it but it doesn't come across as friendly to me.  Perhaps that's how they roll - even most of the children do the blank faced asian stare of death.  The occasional child will break it and wave and smile which makes me feel happy.

Eventually we reach Sapa...

ProTip:  It's about an hour's ride from Lau Cai to Sapa at a fast pace.