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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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