Sapa

After a transfer from our hotel to the train station, we got hurried onto a train in a big rush, went to the wrong cabin, rushed to the next. We then sat in our cabin for about 20 minutes before leaving so not sure what the rush was about. We were sharing a cabin with two American girls who are teaching English in Hanoi and we ended up drinking with them and playing cards for a few hours before bed. Before the train left there were people trying to sell food and wine from outside the window, not sure how you are supposed to get the food unless you get off the train, and considering we thought we were leaving straight away we thought it was silly. There were people on board the train selling food and drink as well which is when we bought some beer (AUD$1 each, same price as the orange juice). The American girls had pre-bought two small bottles of straight vodka with them. The cabin was pretty cosy, beds weren't too bad, they had a warm blanket and weren't too hard. The only problem was the train was very rocky. Woke up at about 5am and we arrived soon after that. We walked down to the station to try and find our guide (for some reason he didn't have the sign up nor was showing a card of any kind so it was lucky we stumbled upon him. He later put up the sign when we were waiting for 2 more people, not sure why he didn't do it sooner though). We ended up waiting for about half an hour for the later train anyway, making us wonder further again why we were in such a rush to leave in the first place. We then had to wait another half hour for our bus to arrive. It was cold but not as cold as expected. There was a loud bang while we were waiting too which scared the crap out of me, it was apparently a bus backfiring. Finally our bus arrived and we left for an hours drive to Sapa. We were in a mini-van which was good and I fell asleep most of the way.

We arrived at our hotel (Sapa Summit Hotel) at about 6-6:30am and it was freezing outside. We then went down for a buffet breakfast on the basement level which has lovely views but all we could see were clouds. Breakfast was pretty good but then we had to wait around until 9am to leave for a short trek with our guides. We waited in the lobby very cold until 9am and we met our guide Mai shortly after, however we had to wait even longer as our group (of 7) was missing two people. So while every other group left we were still stuck freezing our butts off in the lobby with the doors wide open to outside. Eventually we got to leave and we made our way down to Cat Cat Village with a number of the kids from there. They were nice and friendly until we got to where they had to go a different way and they harassed us to buy things off them. The walk down was pretty good as it was all downhill and the views were amazing after the clouds had cleared. The sun eventually came out too making it a little warmer. We walked through a lot of little houses and huts and were shown how they make clothes with the indigo tree and hemp. We got to a waterfall and took a break there and got even more harassed by about six 6 year olds, half with babies strapped to their backs. They'd come up to you and whinge "buy something from me" over and over again and follow you around (at least they did this to most people, for some reason after we said no three-five times they left us alone, but some others weren't so lucky). We then kept walking through the villages with just our guide. We walked passed a small shack of a building which was the village hospital. Here Mai told us that if someone gets a headache they come here and they burn part of a buffalo horn and place it on the forehead and then a big red circle forms for about a week. I think I'd much rather not tell anyone I had a headache there and very glad we use drugs for that. We started the trek back which was up many stairs. We wandered past lots of pigs and chickens and saw a bison along the way as well as plenty of dogs. One of the pigs was slaughtered shortly after we walked passed it, I was glad I was unaware. Apparently every family kills a large pig for the new year. The trek back up was pretty difficult on me as it was all uphill and up stairs and it was getting pretty hot. There were many a man trying to convince people to take a motorbike back but I didn't see the point in paying for it, even though my legs were struggling. Finally made it back to the hotel and had lunch. Took about 20 minutes just to decide what to have as we had a choice of 16 set menus as well as sandwiches, burgers, and noodles. I ended up getting fried chicken and vegetables with rice, pumpkin soup, french fries in garlic and butter, a lemon juice, and a plate of fruit. The fries weren't very nice as they were very oily but everything else was good. Especially liked the fruit which was like the nashi pears back home. I almost didn't have one as the American girls said they tried it in Hanoi and it tasted like bland potato pieces. After I had one and said how delicious it was they decided to try it again in case it was something different (it was the same but apparently the flavour was much better so I think the ones they had weren't ripe or something). After lunch we went to our room (finally) and decided to have a nap which turned into a 4 hour sleep. Our room is very nice with a double and single bed, excellent blankets and pillows and a very clean bathroom. We woke up at 6:30, had a shower and went down to the basement again for dinner (with the same options as lunch). I decided to try the boiled vegetables, rice, tofu in tomato sauce and vegetable spring rolls. I didn't think much of the vegetables or tofu but everything else was good and I got more fruit. Afterward we went into town with the American girls and into a bar ("Misty's" I think it was called) which had Western music and a billiards table. There were a lot of people from our tour groups there already as well. We shared 4 Tiger beers (at AUD$1.50 each) and played cards with the Americans and Norwegians for a few hours. Here you don't pay for your drinks when you get them, the staff remember what you have and write the bill just before you leave, so I guess it's always good to also remember how many drinks you have just in case. We then went to bed (after fixing our television).

We woke up nice and early at 7:30am because we had to have breakfast, checkout and then leave at 9:00am. Tried a crepe this time which was really good. At 9:00am we left with the same group and tour guide as the previous day. We walked for 2.5 hours for the first leg, stopping quite a bit. The weather was warmer than yesterday and the clouds have disappeared early (whereas yesterday when you were in the clouds and off the cliff face there was nothing but clouds so it looked like the world disappeared. The scenery on the walk was excellent, not very green though, I think this is not the best time of year to visit (after the rainy season would be good). We walked along the dirt tracks and down steep hills and over little rivers. Once we reached a particular village we sat down for lunch (rice, chicken, omelette, and vegetables). The only problem is we had a lot of waiting around. We then walked for another hour through two more villages until we got to a small store across a suspension bridge where we had to wait an hour for our bus to pick us up. The trek was very easy as it was all downhill and the mini van took you up the hills on the half hour drive back. We are going to have dinner at 4:00pm because we leave for the train at 5:00pm and our train leaves at 6:00pm which is not ideal since we will arrive in Hanoi at about 2:30am and then have to find our own way back (even though our tour said all transfers were included). Very tired and I am predicting very little sleep on the train.

So after dinner we got on the bus for the hour drive to the train station. 20 minutes in I was busting to go to the toilet so the last 40 minutes was absolute hell and I was very ready to run into the train station toilet with some money but we ended up parking elsewhere, not at the station. When I got off I asked where the toilet was and the driver pointed up some stairs...but the doors were locked. So I asked the shop next door and they just pointed me down the street to nowhere. I went into what I hope was also a restaurant and not just someone's house and asked for the toilet but they didn't speak any English so he ran to get a dictionary and frantically flipped through to find the word then he finally showed me to a toilet and I hurried so my group wouldn't leave without me. When I got back no-one had moved and the buses had gone and apparently we had to wait half an hour in the cold for the drivers to organise our tickets. After that we had another 2 hour wait until our train left so we went into a cafe across the road and played cards. When we boarded the train we were with an older asian couple and so everyone in our cabin pretty much went straight to sleep and I actually got a really good sleep. We arrived in Hanoi at about 5am and had to find our own way back to our hotel. We ran into the Israeli girls while waiting for a taxi and apparently they had had a terrible night - in Sapa they gave their train ticket vouchers to someone in Sapa who said they would organise it, then when they got on the train someone told them the tickets were fake, so they asked at the train station and ended up buying two more tickets...which also turned out to be fake. Needless to say they wanted out of Vietnam. A lot of people were getting ripped off. At the taxi area at the station it was near impossible to get a taxi even though there were about 7 just waiting around. We ended up getting one and paying extra because we didn't have any change and he didn't speak English. Once we got to our hotel it was closed and we couldn't see a doorbell. At about 6:10am the lovely lady next door walked up to us and rang the doorbell...oops. We then had to wait inside for another 3 hours for our Halong Bay tour (which was running late).

Summary:
-visit during the middle-end of the year
-gets very cold but also very warm when you are trekking
-buying things off the villagers is quite expensive (and toilets almost always cost at least 2000 dong)
-the fruit is delicious
-the children trying to sell things get very annoying and frustrating