Day 359
We slept until the last minute and had to hurridly pack and check out. After putting our things into storage we headed up the big hill again to the yummy sandwich shop. We were really lucky to have done our treks when we did. Sapa was once again covered in fog.
I still had a lot of blogging to do and Nicole and some internet things to do as well so we headed back to the internet cafe and worked for a couple of hours. For an early dinner we went back to the English Pub so that Nicole could have a taste of home. Afterwards we dropped by to say goodbye to Giggles for a few minutes.
In no time the bus picked us up and we were on our way to the train station. At the station there was some confusion about the tickets. Apparently we were meant the pick up the actual tickets with the recipet we had been given. Once again the dummie we had bought them from didn't bother to tell us about this and the people who knew what we needed didn't speak any English. We ended up just standing there confused for a bit before someone brought our tickets.
We lucked out once again and there weren't any smokers in our compartment. We were both pretty tired and didn't bother to talk much before the trains rocking put us to sleep.
Showing posts with label Sapa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sapa. Show all posts
Friday, March 6, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Head in the Clouds
Day 358
I was up early and had breakfast at my hotel. There really wasn't much for me to do besides wait for Nicole to come back around 2pm. I was also in desperate need of updating the blog. I ended up just heading to a nearby internet cafe and working for a few hours. I could have used the free computers at the hotel, but the connection was very slow and they kept crashing. It wasn't really conducive to getting things done.
After a few hours online I remember that I was meant to pick up our train tickets back to Hanoi. We had booked them two days before but had not yet paid for them. The woman had told us that she would remember us and that it was fine for me to come today.
Of course, today was a different story. She told me that she had no memory of me and that she had sold the tickets we had put on hold, the only ones left were twice the price. Eventually I got her to split the difference with me so we didn't have to pay quite so much extra. I was there for about 45 minutes though while I tried to do this. What irritated me so badly was that she issued the tickets right there and could have done so with the cheaper tickets two days ago, she just didn't bother. I asked her why and she couldn't give me an explanation. I headed back to the hotel pretty irritated.
When I got back Nicole was there and I told her the whole story before I could even think to ask her about how the rest of her trek went. She had had a lot of fun and even had a hot shower at the homestay. That was pretty much unheard of!
For dinner we went to a restaurant that had a buy a drink get a free beer deal. The catch was that the free beer was Lao Cai, the local beer and about the worst I have ever tasted. Still, we didn't want to leave it and even switched to straws thinking that would help it go down easier. In the end the beer defeated us and we left it.
After dinner we went to the Hmoung Sisters again and once again spent a few hours playing card games with a bartender we nicknamed giggles. I don't think I should have to explain why. I headed back before Nicole despite the fact that she had been hiking all day and I hadn't really accomplished much.
I was up early and had breakfast at my hotel. There really wasn't much for me to do besides wait for Nicole to come back around 2pm. I was also in desperate need of updating the blog. I ended up just heading to a nearby internet cafe and working for a few hours. I could have used the free computers at the hotel, but the connection was very slow and they kept crashing. It wasn't really conducive to getting things done.
After a few hours online I remember that I was meant to pick up our train tickets back to Hanoi. We had booked them two days before but had not yet paid for them. The woman had told us that she would remember us and that it was fine for me to come today.
Of course, today was a different story. She told me that she had no memory of me and that she had sold the tickets we had put on hold, the only ones left were twice the price. Eventually I got her to split the difference with me so we didn't have to pay quite so much extra. I was there for about 45 minutes though while I tried to do this. What irritated me so badly was that she issued the tickets right there and could have done so with the cheaper tickets two days ago, she just didn't bother. I asked her why and she couldn't give me an explanation. I headed back to the hotel pretty irritated.
When I got back Nicole was there and I told her the whole story before I could even think to ask her about how the rest of her trek went. She had had a lot of fun and even had a hot shower at the homestay. That was pretty much unheard of!
For dinner we went to a restaurant that had a buy a drink get a free beer deal. The catch was that the free beer was Lao Cai, the local beer and about the worst I have ever tasted. Still, we didn't want to leave it and even switched to straws thinking that would help it go down easier. In the end the beer defeated us and we left it.
After dinner we went to the Hmoung Sisters again and once again spent a few hours playing card games with a bartender we nicknamed giggles. I don't think I should have to explain why. I headed back before Nicole despite the fact that she had been hiking all day and I hadn't really accomplished much.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Walking on Clouds
Day 357
We were up early and had breakfast at our hotel. It looked like rain and I picked up a poncho on the way. My rain jacket no longer seems to keep the rain out but rather in. It was before 9 am and we were already being followed by women who wanted to sell us things.
I thought that they would eventually give up, but the first three kilometers were on the road and they pressed on. The fog was incredibly thick and we couldn't see anything. When we finally reached the trail I thought that the women would disperse, but they continued on and tried to help us to not slip on the muddy trail.
After a few hours of walking the fog began to lift and we could see our surroundings. It was just incredible. Then we had a choice, the long and hard way or the short and easy way. Nicole and I opted for the short and easy while the rest of our group wanted to do the long and hard. We split up and two Hmoung women came with us. Along the way they made us wreaths to wear from one local plant or another.
It had rained the day before and the downhill path was all mud. The women helped us down. They each had at least 15 years on me and were both very tiny. It was amazing to me how strong they both were. We couldn't have made it down without them. At one point I did slip and went straight into Nicole. Luckily she saw me coming and was able to brace herself. The Hmoung woman helping her was especially tiny and standing right behind her. She may have been strong, but I'm sure that if the two of us fell on her we would have injured her pretty badly. We stood there for a minute making sure that we wouldn't slip before moving on.
Once we were through the tricky part we were better able to focus on our surroundings. The green lushness of the rice terraces cut into the mountains was amazing. It's one of those things that make you feel truly privileged to be able to see it. I feel lucky every day that I am on this trip, but an extra reminder helps me to remember just how lucky I am.
As we crossed the last rice fields the Hmoung women asked us to buy something from them. Neither of us wanted to buy anything but instead wanted to just give them each 30,000 dong. They both asked for me. The one who had helped me wanted me to buy a purse for 50,000 that had taken about 30 hours to make. It made more sense in my book for her to take the 30,000 and keep the purse. Instead of giving them more we invited them to sit with us in the restaurant that was off limits to locals except for guides. We both them each a coke which they decided to take home to share with their families. The women who were outside seemed a bit jealous and kept calling to them.
After a soup lunch we headed down the road. The sun had dried up most of the mud and the path was much flatter now. We walked thru some villages and Nicole teased me while I took pictures of all the animals.
Around 2 pm my day was over and I said goodbye to everyone. Sapa was only 8 km's away, but it was up a winding mountain road. I told my motorbike driver to slow down at one point, but he must not have heard. This was by far the most terrifying experience I've had on a motorbike yet. I don't like them from the get go, but this made me hate them.
When I got off the bike at my hotel I felt shaken and must have looked it because some Hmoung women giggled at me and didn't even bother to try and sell me anything. I headed right up to my room for a shower and a nap.
When I woke up I got some dinner and brought my journal along. It's hard to write regularly when you are traveling as a pair. I wrote over dinner and then headed to the Hmoung Sisters bar and wrote for a few more hours. I was still tired though and headed back around 10pm. I had accomplished a lot.
We were up early and had breakfast at our hotel. It looked like rain and I picked up a poncho on the way. My rain jacket no longer seems to keep the rain out but rather in. It was before 9 am and we were already being followed by women who wanted to sell us things.
After a few hours of walking the fog began to lift and we could see our surroundings. It was just incredible. Then we had a choice, the long and hard way or the short and easy way. Nicole and I opted for the short and easy while the rest of our group wanted to do the long and hard. We split up and two Hmoung women came with us. Along the way they made us wreaths to wear from one local plant or another.
It had rained the day before and the downhill path was all mud. The women helped us down. They each had at least 15 years on me and were both very tiny. It was amazing to me how strong they both were. We couldn't have made it down without them. At one point I did slip and went straight into Nicole. Luckily she saw me coming and was able to brace herself. The Hmoung woman helping her was especially tiny and standing right behind her. She may have been strong, but I'm sure that if the two of us fell on her we would have injured her pretty badly. We stood there for a minute making sure that we wouldn't slip before moving on.
Once we were through the tricky part we were better able to focus on our surroundings. The green lushness of the rice terraces cut into the mountains was amazing. It's one of those things that make you feel truly privileged to be able to see it. I feel lucky every day that I am on this trip, but an extra reminder helps me to remember just how lucky I am.
As we crossed the last rice fields the Hmoung women asked us to buy something from them. Neither of us wanted to buy anything but instead wanted to just give them each 30,000 dong. They both asked for me. The one who had helped me wanted me to buy a purse for 50,000 that had taken about 30 hours to make. It made more sense in my book for her to take the 30,000 and keep the purse. Instead of giving them more we invited them to sit with us in the restaurant that was off limits to locals except for guides. We both them each a coke which they decided to take home to share with their families. The women who were outside seemed a bit jealous and kept calling to them.
After a soup lunch we headed down the road. The sun had dried up most of the mud and the path was much flatter now. We walked thru some villages and Nicole teased me while I took pictures of all the animals.
Around 2 pm my day was over and I said goodbye to everyone. Sapa was only 8 km's away, but it was up a winding mountain road. I told my motorbike driver to slow down at one point, but he must not have heard. This was by far the most terrifying experience I've had on a motorbike yet. I don't like them from the get go, but this made me hate them.
When I got off the bike at my hotel I felt shaken and must have looked it because some Hmoung women giggled at me and didn't even bother to try and sell me anything. I headed right up to my room for a shower and a nap.
When I woke up I got some dinner and brought my journal along. It's hard to write regularly when you are traveling as a pair. I wrote over dinner and then headed to the Hmoung Sisters bar and wrote for a few more hours. I was still tired though and headed back around 10pm. I had accomplished a lot.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Foggy Days
Day 356
I woke up a bit before the train stopped, but didn't bother to grab my things until after it had arrived. As soon as we stepped off the train we had several guys hovering around us wanting us to go in their mini van. They wouldn't even leave us alone while we checked out our guidebooks and picked a hotel.
Eventually we did just go wit one of the guys. The road was winding and soon it was evident that we had picked wrong. Our minibus started to overheat every few minutes causing the hour long trip to take about twice as long.
When we got to Sapa we were surrounded in a fog like I had never seen before. It didn't take us long though to find our way to our hotel of choice. Our room was on the top floor. If there hadn't been so much fog we would have had a great view. We really wanted food more than anything else and headed right back out. While we walked up a huge hill we were followed by several Hmoung women trying to sell us things. We managed to convince them that we would think about buying things after breakfast.
When we left the restaurant the women were waiting. They were really quite smart about they way they did things. They asked us loads of questions about our lives before even trying to sell us anything. There were six of them and we both felt that we couldn't just buy from one person. We ended up buying one small thing from each person. I felt like I had been taken until we visited a small museum about the Hmoung people. The money we spent would be enough for them to buy meat for their children's dinners that night. We only spent about $3 each. That wasn't a problem. I just have no idea what to do with the bracelet, whistle or wallet that I have now.
We ended up speaking to one of the woman a bit longer. Her name was Pie and she was 23. She had four children, but one had died about a year ago due to an accident. She had been married at 16 and her husband was apparently not very nice to her. She already had gray hairs despite how young she was.
The plan for Sapa was to do a trek, but all the offices were shutting down for lunch at this point. We ended up going back to our hotel and take a nap for a bit. When the shops were open we headed out. After a few places we found just what we wanted. I only wanted to do a day trip and Nicole wanted an overnight one. We found one where I would just leave and she would carry on.
That evening we had dinner at an English pub and then a couple drinks at the one bar in town worth going to. We called it an early night though, due to the early morning start.
I woke up a bit before the train stopped, but didn't bother to grab my things until after it had arrived. As soon as we stepped off the train we had several guys hovering around us wanting us to go in their mini van. They wouldn't even leave us alone while we checked out our guidebooks and picked a hotel.
Eventually we did just go wit one of the guys. The road was winding and soon it was evident that we had picked wrong. Our minibus started to overheat every few minutes causing the hour long trip to take about twice as long.
When we got to Sapa we were surrounded in a fog like I had never seen before. It didn't take us long though to find our way to our hotel of choice. Our room was on the top floor. If there hadn't been so much fog we would have had a great view. We really wanted food more than anything else and headed right back out. While we walked up a huge hill we were followed by several Hmoung women trying to sell us things. We managed to convince them that we would think about buying things after breakfast.
When we left the restaurant the women were waiting. They were really quite smart about they way they did things. They asked us loads of questions about our lives before even trying to sell us anything. There were six of them and we both felt that we couldn't just buy from one person. We ended up buying one small thing from each person. I felt like I had been taken until we visited a small museum about the Hmoung people. The money we spent would be enough for them to buy meat for their children's dinners that night. We only spent about $3 each. That wasn't a problem. I just have no idea what to do with the bracelet, whistle or wallet that I have now.
We ended up speaking to one of the woman a bit longer. Her name was Pie and she was 23. She had four children, but one had died about a year ago due to an accident. She had been married at 16 and her husband was apparently not very nice to her. She already had gray hairs despite how young she was.
The plan for Sapa was to do a trek, but all the offices were shutting down for lunch at this point. We ended up going back to our hotel and take a nap for a bit. When the shops were open we headed out. After a few places we found just what we wanted. I only wanted to do a day trip and Nicole wanted an overnight one. We found one where I would just leave and she would carry on.
That evening we had dinner at an English pub and then a couple drinks at the one bar in town worth going to. We called it an early night though, due to the early morning start.
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