Sapa trekking with friends

Most of the people heading up to Sapa on the night train book their ticket with one of the many agencies in Hanoi. We circumvented this system and headed to the station. We thought a great saving had been made. And it had, but also to the cleaning of our cabin and the blankets provided. It was COLD in there. Might need to upgrade on the way back. But perhaps we're too old or too soft....

Getting a minibus from Lao Cai, where the train terminates, to Sapa was an interesting experience. All along the train bleary and tired westerners (it was 5am after all) were talking to touts about minibuses. Invariably agreeing and being taken to a bus, to be the only people on it! The driver wandering back to get some brekkie before the next train came. With a long wait in store, a few of us got together to fill one bus and get going.

The first thing you notice about Sapa is the cascading rice terraces. Then the weather. Climbing to this altitude allows you to leave the Hanoi sauna behind. The other thing you notice is the attention from the local H'mong people trying to sell you things. Questions in sequence were always '1. What's your name? 2. Where you from? 3. How old are you? 4. You buy from me?' We would give a great big smile and answer 'We no buy today, sorry'.

A homestay sounded like a good idea, so we headed out on a 2 day walk through a few of the local villages. Our guide was a 23yr old local H'mong girl Ze. Amazingly she has three children, the oldest is 5! We also had a big possie of other women keen to ingratiate themselves to us along the way, making little love hearts and animals out of foliage. The way was wet and slippery and a couple of near misses ensued (Tash did some great Kosak work!). The views were priceless and the food was really good, with Ze our own personal chef. We passed through a few villages before staying in Ta Van. Our homestay had a really good view and beer that was ice cold. The next day was also wet and we wandered through a bamboo forest and more rice terraces, before noodles for lunch and a bus back to town. It was a great walk and well worth the effort.

Morag, I'm sorry but you aren't allowed to read any more of this entry.

On our last day we decided to head out to the Silver Falls by motorbike. But this time Greg was riding and Tash was trying to keep her nervousness from showing. But it was all ok and we had a great day out. The falls themselves were ok, but a lot of blue tarps and eyesore rain shelters didn't help. We considered heading along the Tan Tom pass, but the fog closed in. Instead we headed out towards Ta Van. The sun came out and we had a great day. Tash even got to relax (so she tells me anyway).

Tonight the train back to Hanoi and then its the PDR of Lao!