Sapa

Links to other Vietnam pages
Hue
Hoi An
Nha Trang
Hanoi
Halong Bay

Thursday 4th May

Our transport to Sapa was a minibus which seemed to have seen better days. There were six westerners on the trip - a French couple, two Scandiwegian girls, a Kiwi woman and me. Our tour guide, Tuan, had brought his wife with him, and our driver had brought along a drinking companion. The minibus seemed to take ages going round Hanoi, picking up various people until finally we hit the main road.

Hills around Sapa

The trip took us all day - Sapa is a long way, and the roads aren't great. We had a couple of stops on the way and then spent the last hour slowly ascending into the cold and wet. That's right - it was cold enough to wear a sweat shirt during the day and use a full set of covers overnight, and it was drizzling. Maybe this wasn't such a bright idea after all.

We went out for a meal together, and bumped into the driver and his mate who took great delight in feeding us the local firewater. Sound blokes. We were sleeping in twin rooms, and as Tracy (the Kiwi) and I were traveling alone we were paired off.

Friday 5th May

In the morning it was still cold and still raining. Of course, almost without exception we didn't have coats, so we rushed to buy disposable raincoats from the hotel. These were just plastic bags with a vague shape - they were not very strong and after taking them off a couple of times the sleeves started to fall off. Tuan asked us if we wanted to do a shortened tour, but as that would have meant driving to a Red Zao village and only walking about 500m, it seemed a bit tame. So were unanimous that we wanted to brave the elements and do some walking. Before I'd left Switzerland I'd bought some new shoes to go walking with. They weren't full on walking shoes, they were Timberland trainers, which I assumed would suffice. Tuan took one look at them and said they would cause me problems. Sadly he was right - I was sliding all over the place.

Black Hmong kids

We headed off through the paddy fields. It wasn't the hardest trek, but the rain and the mud made it a little bit more interesting. And it was nice being in the middle of nowhere after the bustle of Hanoi. We walked for about 10Km, taking in a couple of Black Hmong settlements. We stopped at one and were invited into a house, shown where they lived and slept and it was here that someone asked Tuan how they had sex, as the entire family was in the same room. He told us that they learn to be very quiet.

Irrigation at a Red Zao village

In the afternoon we walked a little further to the Red Zao village. These villagers were reluctant to be photographed, not for any religious reason, but because they wanted to be paid first. After we'd looked around for a while and been shown some of their handicrafts, we were driven back to Sapa. I went off for a drink, and when I came back to the hotel, Tracy was sitting on the balcony talking to the couple in the next room, also called Chris and Tracy. Spooky.

Sound dudes!

We had a meal together, and afterwards we sat outside on the Balcony again drinking beer from the hotel. Chris had some dope which we smoked while the Tracy's went to bed, and which made the winding down of the day very smooth. Chris was ready for bed, while I was still up for a beer, so I went to a bar which advertised tribes people dancing. Of course by this time they'd all finished, but there was still time to get a beer. And funnily enough, the driver and his mate were there, so I joined them. They couldn't speak any English and I couldn't speak any Vietnamese, but we could all clink our bottles and toast each other.

Saturday 6th May

We had the morning free, so I decided to walk up the hill, through the gardens, partly for the view and partly for the craic. Sure enough the view was good, but halfway down it began to rain again, so I cut my trip as short as I could and headed back to the village.

Intrepid trekkers at a waterfall

Black Hmong woman at work

Back at the hotel, Tracy wasn't well, so was spending the day in bed; Chris from next door had spent most of the night throwing up; and Tuan said he wasn't feeling well, but didn't elaborate. But, trooper that he was, he still took us for a short trek in the afternoon, through another village, ending up at a waterfall. Tuan was having problems, so he had to be helped some of the way and we also got to make frequent stops so that he could catch up. Once we reached the road he took a lift on a motorbike for the last part of the journey.

Tracy was still not well when I got back - in fact she was still asleep in bed. I went to read my book and have a beer in the balcony restaurant of the hotel next door. I was deeply engrossed when someone stood next to my table and said, inquiringly, "Chris?". It was Savannakhet Andy. I'd thought he was on his way to Cambodia when we parted several weeks earlier, but he hadn't. Instead he'd gone further south in Laos and then done the bus trip from hell. We had a bit of a chat about where we'd been and what we'd seen, and he introduced me to the people he was traveling with, who included Sam, the Australian woman who I'd met first in Vang Vieng, and her mother.

We arranged to meet up later for some beers. I arrived, and so did Andy, but everyone else was still doing stuff. No-one was really up for anything just then, and as they had some opium they thought it would be a good idea to smoke it. Sam's mum had already gone to bed, so we went to one of the other rooms and smoked there - carefully locking the door in case Sam's mum got curious.

Making good use of a buffalo

There wasn't much of it, so pretty soon we needed some more entertainment. We decided to try the bar I'd been to the night before, this time hopefully to see the show. The girls would join us later, so it was just Andy, Brendan, Claus and I. On the way there we were approached by a tribesman trying to sell us dope. Someone asked him if he had any opium, and he motioned to us to follow him. I thought we would just be going to find someone else who had some, but instead we went out of the village and took a path into the hills.

This was quite a steep path, still slippery from the rain and occasionally with sheer drops next to it - not very big drops, but big enough to hurt. Our guide had a torch, so the first person behind him could see where they were going, but the other three just had to follow the person in front and hope they didn't trip. I think we all lost our footing somewhere on that path, but while we got muddy we were otherwise fine. After about 15 minutes or so we were in the middle of nowhere, Sapa out of view behind the curve of the hill, standing outside a hut about the size and shape of a traditional two man tent.

Sales conference

Inside were two youths, who were summarily ejected, along with the planks of wood they had been using as beds. Our guide took up residence in the corner, and we squeezed in as best we could. We took to playing a silent version of musical chairs - the smoker would lie on the floor with his head near the pipe while the rest squatted or sat at the other end of the hut.

I've no idea how long we were there for. We took it in turns to smoke, with our guide providing expert advice on how to gain maximum effect, particularly for me as the only non smoker present. Andy and Brendan were really up for it. Claus and I were smoking less, but still enough to get well out of it.

Once we decided we'd had enough, we paid and scrabbled around in the dark for our shoes, which we'd removed before going in. We then had a precarious trip back down again. Going down a slippery path is always harder than going up. Balancing when you're stoned is usually harder than when you're sober. This was an interesting journey. But the stars were out, we were out in the open and feeling mellow. Even tripping over was no big deal.

Working the hills

Brendan had asked the man if had any opium to sell, and near Sapa he motioned us to wait while he went off, presumably to the village itself. We waited for a few minutes and someone carrying a torch approached us. We assumed it was out guide, but as he got close realised it was someone else. Then another torch bearer appeared, again not our guide. I think he had got them along to make sure we could see for the last, trickiest, part of the journey.

Back on the main road again none of us were ready to go home. It was about 1am, so all the bars we knew of were shut. We wandered through the village, not really expecting to find anything. At the far end we met some tribes people and asked them where we could get a drink. They motioned us towards the market. In the back of the market in a covered area well hidden from the road was a hive of activity. First there was a stall acting as a canteen for the tribes people - most of whom were teenage or younger girls. I'd been told that it was common for them to come to Sapa for a few days at a time and sleep in a big hall. I guess this was the hall. Behind this stall was another, and this one had beer. So we ordered four and watched the world go past while we chatted. This was a side of Sapa most people never saw and one which I'd never dreamed existed.

Eventually we were ready to crash, even though we were still buzzing.

Sunday 7th May

Flower Hmong kids

Flower Hmong woman

At 5.30 it was time to get up again. I'm not sure if I slept at all my head was so wired. But I made up for it on the long journey back, doing a very fine nodding dog impression from the back seat. We stopped on the way back at a town where there were many flower Hmong women (left). It was obvious from the stares we were getting that they weren't very used to westerners. Again the trip took all day, so we arrived back in Hanoi in late afternoon.

Links to other Vietnam pages
Hue
Hoi An
Nha Trang
Hanoi
Halong Bay

Last modified on 22nd December 2007 3:31 PM EST

Back to photos