Sapa

We've certainly had a busy first ten days here in Vietnam. The morning we returned from our Halong excursion we hopped right on another mini-bus / night train into the other-wordly Sapa, Vietnam for some trekking and cool encounters with local Hill Tribes.


This is the actual town which is quite near the border of China. Sapa is kind of scattered against the hillside among rice paddy terraces and farmland. The surrounding areas of this town are home to many minority groups including the Black and Red Hmong and the Dzao. The Hill Tribe folk use almost entirely local harvests for their daily living including tea, medicine vegetables, meat, wine, and rice. Also they use local bamboo, stone, silk, and wood to build handy crafts and even their homes.

Here's one of the local tribe girls who had just transformed some plants into hearts in order to charm some cash out of me later. Unfortunately it worked (you'll hear about it in Ty's video).











On our first day in Sapa we went on a relatively short 6K trek to a neighboring village and waterfall. We had a guide which we paid and a small crew of other companions that we didn't. The idea is these little girls follow tourists along on their treks, look adorable, and then try and sell them outrageously overpriced things they don't want. Nonetheless they were fun to chat with and made for an interesting walk.







They really do have a knack for embroidery; most of their clothes are hand made.














Trekking in Sapa was like going back in time. In the video you can check out the old fashioned rice mill in action. Our friend Mark from Samui requested we buy some Vietnamese instruments called dan mois that you play with your mouth. Our guide informed us (after the purchase of course) that they usually go for less than a buck but we paid the little charmers about 8 times that for two. You're welcome Mark. =)




It said in our guide book that the minority girls learn to embroider before they can walk. I guess the boys learn stone carving about the same age.











We were immediately captivated by how beautiful this place is.




























In this picture, you can see the loom where most of the clothing is made for local wear and for sale to tourists. We saw looms like these quite a bit in Sapa. They color the fabric using dyes that they make by deriving color from certain plants. Behind this loom, for instance, there were huge bins of indigo dye. Apparently, the fabric must soak in the dye for two weeks in order to properly absorb the color.





The livestock including boars, water buffalo, and chickens roam freely around the villages during the day and then are called home at night. Many of the farm animals live beneath houses that are positioned on stilts.










Ty and I looking beautiful after a long train journey and no sleep. Focus on the water fall!












We couldn't believe this one.

















The locals preparing the meat after their kill. We zoomed in on this about a dozen times but still can't seem to identify the animal. We're thinking a pig? What do you think?















We're guessing the fire is to start immediately smoking the meat after it's removed from the carcass. Kind of made me crave a Royale with cheese.










More snaps of the scenery.












Ty and our guide Maysun got on quite well from the beginning of the trip. Several times Maysun threatened to take Ty in as a sister and leave me to my own devices.

Most of the streets in Sapa were intimate like this one. All of the fruits, veggies, spices etc. are harvested form the surrounding intensely fertile farmland.





I'm not sure why we included this picture other than we thought it was a good representation of the town.












This was taken from our hotel room window. The hotel room didn't have heat and was so cold that we could see our breath in the room. We slept in all of our clothes and used extra thick fleece blankets and our sleeping bags. After all of these failed to warm us, we resorted to plugging in the hairdryer and holding it under the covers to sort of fill up the bed with hot air.





This video features me complaining. It's fascinating.




Our 2nd day of trekking was longer (12k) and more interesting. We descended into the valley and visited two minority villages.











There's a beautiful river that meanders there through the valley.












Taking a well earned rest after navigating some pretty slippery steep terrain.












Ty went to take a picture and our friend here jumped in at the last minute. Very, very sneaky. She joined us for the remainder of the trip to the village. Ty ended up sharing some food with her which she gladly accepted. Ty also ended up buying a pair of handmade earrings from her for a couple of bucks. This was a purchase we didn't regret. A real sweetheart she was.





Again with the sneaking into pictures. When we got home and checked out our pics, she appeared in many of them!













This is my favorite picture of the day (Ty took it of course) and has now become our new blog background. Pretty dang beautiful if you ask me.









Maysun (i'm spelling her name unforgivably wrong, but that's how it's pronounced) rocking my sunglasses. She seemed to have quite an affinity for them; I ended up gifting them to her at the conclusion of our trip.

Maysun makes 80,000 Dong a day (4 bucks U.S.) guiding people through the mountains. This payment doesn't include the 60,000 it costs for a round trip motorbike taxi from her village. To offset the cost, she often hoofs the 16k journey into Sapa in the early morning. She has a 7 month old baby at home that her mother helps her take care of. When they don't have food, she feeds her baby a kind of soup she makes from mashing rice. Her older sister was kidnapped (I don't want to imagine why) and has not been heard from for years. Despite her horrific struggles, Maysun is intelligent, energetic and quite funny; probably one of our favorite people we've met here in Vietnam. She's also the one who told us we got swindled on the dan mois which I appreciated although it was a little late. =)


A rickety bridge just outside the Black Hmong village where we had lunch.











These buffalo love to fight one another. We were privileged enough to witness an epic battle that reminded me of the Red Bull cover.













Wonderful break from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi. Oh, and the roads are easier to cross which is a bonus.











The whole place was so surreal. We felt like we are on a set for some period piece movie or something.












Best seat in the house I reckon.













Beautiful, misty, freezing cold Sapa.













Another loom, this time with a more ornate color pattern.












Here they are making incense out of bamboo and tree bark. Obviously the ones on the right are the bark-less sticks drying out in preparation to get all scented up.











Buffalo, ducks, and a fence. Yep.












This is the minority tribe that Maysun belong to. They are Red Hmong.












When you buy something from one of the girls (like the ones who kindly made us the heart-shaped foliage), the rest kindly request that "you buy something from me too!" The lady in this picture purchased an item and was consequently surrounded and undoubtedly overwhelmed from what ensued. Because it happened to us too, we thought snapping this picture was simply an exercise in empathy and not mockery.





Remember the butterfly farm in Samui? Sapa butterflies are cooler - no entrance fee required.












We left Sapa the same way we came, on a night train. The Vietnam night trains are different than the Thai trains in that they lock you in a tiny room to sleep with complete strangers. Our first experience had us locked in with two non-English speaking Vietnamese dudes, one of which was not entirely secretive about the fact that he didn't like us.

Thankfully, this trip was with a lovely mother / daughter couple who were traveling Vietnam together; I believe they liked us okay. The thing about night trains (or worse, night buses) is that you "sleep" for eight or ten hours and then you arrive more tired than when you left. You can tell from this picture that I wasn't amused at 4 in the morning after a night of rockin and rollin and bangin, and knockin, and breathing in fumes from the smokers outside our cabin. Ish.

On a tangential note, sometime during our trip to Sapa I got bit by an insect creating a giant rash that spread around my entire throat area of my neck. The hotel staff back in Hanoi (out of genuine concern) didn't like the looks of it and said I better get to a hospital right away. I think they thought it was a bacterial skin disease that can be communicable in rural areas. Not to worry though, a five minute consultation and 139 U.S. dollars later I received my prognosis: "insect bite, body don't like it, rub cream on, you'll be fine." It's good to know the medical industry isn't much different here than in the U.S.

We are currently in Hue and we have one more day here. Hue hasn't a lot to see aside from an ancient citadel and some cool tombs of old emperors. Thursday, we're off to Hoi An which is supposed to be pretty cool. I'll keep you posted!

More later!

N and T