Sa Pa Treking

We wanted to do some walking in the hills in the area and got a guide togther with a Dutch couple and a Canadin couple who had arranged to stay in one of the minority villages,

We trekked about 14km to the village where the candian couple were to stop. No maps, no signposts so the guide was a necessity really, and he was laugh as well.  The women in the picture above walked down to one of the villages with us, they'd already walked up to the town of Sa Pa to sell their handycrafts. 

I think the photos say it all really, totally stunning scenary, traditional agriculture.  Beautiful for us to see but very tough for those who have to live the life.

Carole swore blind this buffalo posed for her!

Bac Ha Market

We were told that on Sunday at a village called Bac Ha the minority groups came together for a market which is spectacular for the traditional costume they wear.  After a long bus ride we got there to find lots of tourists as well as beautifully dressed locals.

It was fascinating but a long bus ride to get there.  The market was interesting, the butcher’s stall an education in itself.

The handicrafts are just stunning colours and the locals really do wear the same stuff they were selling.

The water buffalo at the market go for about $700 a time so are prized possessions in an area where the minority tribes are really only just above the poverty line.

On the way back we stopped briefly at the Chinese border, just so that I could get a photo!

Mobile phones get everywhere even up here..

Sa Pa

We got the overnight sleeper train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, paying for a soft sleeper rather than a hard sleeper.  The soft sleeper was pretty hard some I dread to think what the hard sleeper would have been like, but it did save us an overnight stop in a hotel.  We shared the cabin with an Aussie/Irish couple from Melbourne and so had quite a laugh.  To be fair the cabins were clean and very good but I don’t think any of us slept much that night.

Lao Cai is only a few mile from the border with China – if we get here again I’d like to try and cross the border into China but apparently its frequently closed to westerners.

We got in to Loa Cai about 0630 and picked up a bus to the Sa Pa.  We’d sorted out a guide but the first days walk was bit of a morning amble around the valley through a village, Cat Cat, to some waterfalls and then a moped ride back. Stunning scenary though.

We managed to get to see inside a Black Hmong house; amazing, 11 people and 4 generations live here.  The dark blue tubs are full of indigo which is the traditional dye they use for their clothes.

I tried the street food from a stall by the path – grilled pork and the local Sa Pa mushrooms – tasted good but I’ll wait and see what the old stomach thinks! Managed to avoid the Immodium so far but it been a close run thing!! The tubes are bamboo stuffed with sticky rice and then sealed and cooked over the BBQ – that was excellent, served with sesame seeds

The market was fascinating, as ever, the range of local food huge, the dog meat stall was a step to far for us squeamish Brits though.

The various local minorities have different dress and dialects but all come to Sa Pa to sell their handwork to the tourists and local alike. The dark clothing is of the Black Hmong minority and the red head dress is of the Red Dhao group.

The locals must think the tourists are very strange but, as everywhere else in Vietnam, they have been very welcoming and helpful.  They love to practise their English, they see English as a way to improve their lot in life.  They have a real sense of humour and burst out laughing at the hint of a joke.

The guide said that a waiter with a little English will earn about $60/month whereas a guide with good English will earn about $10/day but working about 6 days a week in the high season.

I just hope they don’t ruin the place with too many foreigners;  you all need to get here before its spoilt - is that an oxymoron?

Sa Pa is a strange place, it was developed by the French as a hill station in the early 1900s and they built a lake and colonial villas around the area.  Most were destroyed in the various wars but recently the Vietnamese have built large houses/hotels in a similar style.  It makes Sa Pa look almost like a European ski resort in some areas but then you turn the other way and it is definitely a Vietnamese hill town.

These picture were taken 100yards apart, one facing north, the other south.

View from the hotel

Hanoi - return from Ha Long

Before leaving the hotel we went for a walk in the forest and came across two local farmers who invited us up the track to their farm,It was hidden in a secluded valley in the hills. They did offer some food but sadly we had to get back to the hotel but what loverly people.

The trip back to Hanoi was pretty uneventful, great hydrofoil boat to Ha Phong City and then a bus back.

The original hotel was full so we wandered around until we found a very nice hotel on one of the main streets Maison D’Hanoi – expensive for here but a great nights sleep!

Walked up to Ho Chi Mins mausoleum but found it was shut.  This man really is the hero of the nation, much like Gandhi in India.  They still refer to him as though he was still alive.  After reading the history section of the guide book about the birth of Vietnam though the centuries and the struggles with the  Chinese, French and Americans in the 20^th century you can see why.

We got chatted up by a local, Mr Doan, who said he was a guide and after some negotiation – limited as we’re not very good at it, we ended up on a tour of the city by moped – it was an absolute hoot! We rode close enough to pass the camera to each other and also close enough to hear Mr Doan commentary whenever we rode past a place of interest. The junctions were not for the fainthearted - knees and elbows in to avoid a collision!

We visited several museums and artisan workshops before going a a very “local” lunch before being dropped back off in the city centre. Don carries a little notebook of recommendations that the tourists have written about him and he deserved the praise. We never did find out what his mate was called.  What a great afternoon.

Now waiting to catch the night train up to Sa Pa the mountainous northern area which is apparently inhabited by lots of different ethnic Vietnamese.

Ha Long Bay

We sorted out a trip to Ha long Bay by coach and then and overnight stop on a big junk boat in the famous Ha Long Bay area – now nominated as one of the top 7 natural wonders of the world by UNESCO.

Of all the places and things we’ve seen so far, this tops the list, it is the most surreal area possible.  Think James Bond, Goldfinger and the islands with vertical sides covered in vegetation – that’s Ha Long Bay - but there are over 1600 of these islands.

We kind of expected an isolated area but the Vietnamese are not holding back on tourism any more.  There are 400 Junks converted to hotels – from rough to luxurious.  It first looked like it was going to be too touristy for us but the place is huge and so the junks spread out, with about 30 coming together at an anchorage near to some spectacular caves.

The surreal nature of the area wasn't spolit by the number of boats and in the morning they sailed off in different direstions again.

Carole tried her hand at night fishing – normal result.

We’d got up at 0530 to watch the sunrise over the islands, typically it was misty, though still very beautiful.  The mist remained for the rest of the day but the views were still stunning and in some ways made the place seem more special.

 The area is known for its boat people who on floating platforms and grow mussels and oysters.  Large bays were full of these floating villages.

We went canoeing for an hour after the caves from one of the floating villages.  This was a bit tricky due to the shoulder problem of mine.  We’d been canoeing on the Wye earlier this year with Steve and Elise and puppy sat John and Shirley’s lab at the same time.  This left me to paddle most of the 22 miles whilst Carole puppy sat(played)  in the front of the canoe.  This time I couldn’t help much with the paddling but was able to proffer timely advice – a bit harder on the left, dear, more on the right – which I’m sure Carole appreciated. What is it they say about revenge and time…

After a cruise round some of the islands and a trip to a fish market, Carole loved it, and she found some very large jars of Vietnamese Viagra – or so we were told!  I’m not too sure; looked like a jar of snakes, lizards, seahorses etc in rice wine to me.

 

The agriculture in the area is still really traditional but the Vietnamese are very proud of the traditions.

We stayed overnight on Cat Ba island about 25 km off the mainland at an Eco hotel.  All wooden “huts” on stilts; but with all mod cons.  Just idyllic.

 It was set a couple of miles down a dirt track and we really didn’t know what to expect but its another top place.  I’m writing this sat on the first floor veranda surrounded by semi tropical(?) forest listening to weird animal sounds from the forest.  Not another sound other than the Vietnamese staff chattering –its like something off a film.

We are the only people stopping tonight and the service level is fantastic!  For dinner they set a table up on a raised patio tucked away into the forest.  The food is amazing, a little like Thai but not as hot.

We cycled to a private beach from the hotel so that we could go for a swim in the South China Sea.  The hotel arranged for part of the beach to be swept of stones for us - how Hollywood is that! 

View from the window.

And the best bit is that all of this Ha Long trip has been extremely cheap!

(Weirdly, whilst we were on the boat last night we met a great couple from Windermere, Barry and Margaret, who knew some of the people we do in the area!)

Bob and Jan's tenner having  drink on Cat Ba island.