My Favourite Thing

If you have only time to do one thing in Vietnam and the money to just do one activity then I can only suggest that you get on the next train out of Hanoi and get yourself to Sapa. Mind you, that could be easier said than done as we were delayed for rather a long time the other night. Along with EVERY other person on the train, we had made a plan that involved getting the night train and arriving ten hours later in the morning to have a full day in Sapa and the surrounding area. As I mentioned before, our plan was to go to Bac Ha and buy a buffalo. We had even worked out how we were going to get it back to Hanoi- I don't want to go into too much detail here but it involved butter and some rollerskates.....

We got on the train a little early and found our soft sleepers. What we hadn't factored in was the seven hour delay. Which was due to reasons never announced on the train but later rumoured to be caused by a landslide. Everytime we tried to find out when we were leaving we were confronted with a woman shaking her head, waving her hand and saying 'no, no'. Worse still was that we hadn't bought any food- reasoning that we would be sleeping for most of the ten hours overnight. We had to go and find the dining car the next morning but the staff seemed reluctant to give us any food. Not sure why. They started to serve us- put some pot noodles down in front of us but took them away when we asked for hot water to go with them. Things nearly turned nasty and I nearly did someone a damage with a chopstick, fortunately we managed to get some food in the end.

Arriving into Lao Cai station after lunch had ruled out going to buy any kind of a bovine so we got straight onto a bus to Sapa. Which is what it is all about after all. Sapa is 38km away from the border with China (we had talked about going to China for dinner but alas it was not to be) and way up in the mountains, surrounded by rice terraces carved into the side of all the mountains. Small villages dot the landscape and are occupied by various hill tribes, including the Black H'mong, Flower H'mong, Dzao and Dzae.

There really is only one thing to do when you get to Sapa and that is leave. That is because everyone comes here to trek through the mountains and stay in a village for the night. We spent a night in Sapa (and had dinner at an English tea room, no less) then set off on our two day trek on Monday. We walked 12km yesterday to get to Tu Van village where we stayed for the night. It rained all night and was still raining this morning so we were a little dubious about continuing the trek today but found out that a lot of it was walking along the main road so decided to go for it.

Sapa is one of the most beautiful places that I have EVER seen, ever, ever. It is now knocking Lesotho into second place on my favourite place I have been to with mountains chart. It is breathtaking, outstanding (insert own superlative here)..... Mountains swoop down into valleys, water rushes down the rocks in big gushes before being gently diverted into the rice terraces which have changed the shape of the mountains into giant steps. Buffalo frolick in the pools while ducks chase each other around the villages. Small children run up dressed in traditional Black H'mong outfits and try to sell you stuff. Once you relent and buy something they become your friends for the rest of the day while they grab your hand and drag you down to the river or clamber on your back awaiting a piggyback or quietly braid your hair or massage your shoulders for a bit. They are adorable.

But they do get bigger and the bigger ones are trying to sell stuff too. In fact, it feels like all the H'mong women are trying to sell you cushion covers, bracelts, necklaces, shirts, jackets, bags, blankets, bangles.. pretty much everything and anything in fact. While you might get a better deal off the mums (kids are told the price that they must sell at while the mums can pick and choose) they are much pushier and liable to follow you all the way up the mountains, waving things in your face the whole way, even as you fall into a rice paddy or sink up to your knees in mud, crying 'you buy me one blanket/necklace/bracelet/you get the picture'.

While the hawkers can bit a little overwhelming at times it is mainly their tendency to stand in front of the scenery that gets annoying. But there is scenery to spare here and all of it luscious and green. It truly is fabulous here, it is only the fact that it is raining that has me sitting in an internet cafe writing this rather than drinking it all in.

Off to Bac Ha tomorrow to see the Flower H'mong people then the night train (wish us luck) back to Hanoi. Flying to Saigon on Friday night and then onto Perth on Sunday! I am going to be very sad to be leaving Vietnam (in answer to your questions, James) and I am a little worried that I might find Oz a little quiet after here. But I am excited about the next step too.

(Liz, can I mail a box of stuff to your house for safe keeping, please? I appear to have rather caught the shopping bug here in Sapa!!!! Will pop something in the box for you too- cushion cover do?)