Sapa trekking

Immediately after returning to Hanoi from Ha Long Bay I caught a sleeper train to Sapa in northern Vietnam. I really like the idea of turning travel time into sleep time so you don't miss anything, but it can be very difficult to sleep on a moving train, even with a bed. While I didn't have the best sleep of my life, the train was a fun new experience.  There was even a snack cart coming by all the cabins. I felt like I was on the train to Hogwarts.

Once we reached our hotel we were given breakfast and introduced to our guide for the trek. "So" was a 28 year old native who spoke relatively good english. She was married with three children, 1 girl and twin boys. She was dressed in traditional Sapa clothing, which involves a lot of layers, embroidery and bright patterns.

It was really cold in Sapa, much colder than Hanoi, which had been chilly. It was nice for trekking, because it wasn't unbearably hot. We ended up hiking about 10 km the first day. The path was along the mountain an passed by villages. There was a beautiful texture to the land from all the rice paddies. Sadly, it was very misty, so the visibility was not the best. However, I thought the mist added a nice mystical quality to the photos.

We had a break for lunch at the first village which was pho. During this break we were completely accosted by natives wanting us to buy something, anything. And if you did buy something, someone else would come up and ask "Why you not buy from meeeeeeee." The me was really dragged out, almost like they were singing.

A main crop grown among the rice paddies in indigo, a plant that makes a dark blue dye. Most of their fabrics are dyed this color.

As part of the tour, we were given the opportunity to stay with a local family. We were given mattresses in the loft of their house and played with their absolutely adorable 4 year old little girl, "My." She was not shy at all, had a winning personality and loved to have her picture taken.

We watched So and our host, Him, make dinner. Even My helped out with rolling the spring rolls. Dinner was the best food I had eaten in Vietnam. As you can imagine, I am pretty cautious after the pho incident. I stuffed myself.

After we were given happy wine, which is made from fermented rice. They served it in shot glasses and it tasted like pure alcohol. It definitely warmed us up. The night was cold, but I was comfortable wrapped in mulitple layers under 2 blankets. It started to rain and thunder. The sound of the raindrops on the roof was very soothing, but did not bode well for hiking conditions the next day.

The second day of hiking was ridiculously muddy. I slipped and fell multiple times and by the end of the day was caked in mud. We had women following us again and they were really good at helping us along. Considering they had rubber boots with no grips, I have no idea how they stayed upright.

All in all, even with the mud and the cold, I had a lot of fun trekking through Sapa. I'd highly recommend a homestay if you have the chance. It was a great experience and the area is gorgeous, even with all the clouds.