Magical Sapa

We arrived in Lao Cai at about 4:50 a.m. on the train, we had slept a little on our first overnight train, but it was bumpy and every time we stopped I woke up to see if it was time to get off.  We had arranged a shuttle through our hotel from Lao Cai to Sapa and were happy to see a man holding a sign waiting for us when we exited the train station.  He led us to a van and we put or back packs inside and sat and waited while he went to collect more passengers.  Little did we know we would be waiting for over an hour.  Finally, once they had a full van load of people we headed to Sapa.  It was a cold, foggy morning and we couldn't see anything out the window except white wispy fog moving through the bamboo and masking the mountains that I knew we were climbing only because my ears kept popping. 

The van dropped us at our hotel and we were offered some coffee and breakfast until our room was ready.  After a short morning nap, a skype chat with Paul and Meredith, and much needed showers we set out to explore the town of Sapa. 

We wandered down the foggy streets and caught glimpses of the mountains surrounding us and the buildings lining the narrow streets.  The first thing we had to do was find an ATM so we could get some money for lunch as we were standing in the middle of the market street looking at our map a girl dressed in traditional tribal clothes approached us and asked us to buy something.  We told her no and continued our search for the ATM, she followed us.  I asked her name, she replied "Mae" and then she said "I follow you."  Mae is 15 years old and lives in a village about 12km from the town of Sapa and she rides a motorbike into town every day to sell the crafts that she makes to the tourists who come here.  She showed us where the ATM was and we thanked her and kept on our way, and then I turned around, she was still following.  I decided to buy something from her, a gift for someone back home.  We thanked her and said goodbye and she said "see you tomorrow."  After lunch we wandered down the foggy streets and found a coffee shop with a second floor over looking the street below and Charles worked on a painting and I sat and read and we enjoyed hot, sweet Vietnamese coffee.  A little later, while Charles continued to paint the foggy view out the cafe window, I went for a walk down the street and stopped into one of the dozens of massage store fronts and got a Red Dzao foot soak and reflexology massage.  In the evening fog we walked back to our hotel to drop Charles' painting supplies back at the hotel before finding a place for dinner.  As we walked down the street we were approached by women dressed in the different garb from each village, each one smiled and said "buy from me," and we smiled in return and said "no thank you." 

We had dinner at a restaurant called Viet Emotion, which advertises itself as a Spanish tapas restaurant, but actually serves delicious authentic Vietnamese food - we didn't try the Spanish tapas.  The restaurant was playing Mexican music, which was so familiar sounding to us, that it took us a few minutes to notice how out of place it was in Sapa, Vietnam.  When the food came out Charles' chicken with mountain herbs was served on a steaming hot skillet, we joked that maybe it is the Vietnamese version of fajitas, which made the Mexican music seem a little less out of place, in a very odd sort of way.  My stir fried mountain vegetables and herbs were with noodles were my favorite Vietnamese dish of the trip, so far at least. 

Delicious dinner at Viet Emotion

I woke up the next morning excited to go trekking to the tribal villages surrounding the town of Sapa.  We arranged our tour through a company called Sapa Sisters, which is company run by the women in the villages and therefore the profits from the business go entirely to benefit the communities you visit.  We met our guide Mao at 9:00 a.m. in front of our hotel, I was surprised when I walked out to meet her that she had her 3 month old baby strapped to her back - he is precious!  She explained that we would go to three villages today, one of them being her own.  When Charles walked out of the hotel he was just as surprised as I was that Mao had her baby strapped to her back and that he would be joining us on the trek.  So, the four of us set off down the street and made our way towards the villages, but it didn't remain four of us for very long.  As we were taking the main road out of Sapa two other women that Mao knows joined us on the trek.  We walked down the muddy road into the fog together, it was awesome. 

Beginning our trek

We came to a small shop and Mao stopped and told us she wanted to buy some sugarcane.  I asked her what it was for and she responded as though it was the only possible use, that it was for eating.  So, as we continued on our way she handed us each a stick of freshly cut sugar cane to chew on as we walked.  And so, we walked through the fog and off the main road and onto a muddy trail.  The trail took us through the terraced rice paddies, still enshrouded in fog, and we hopped over fences and made our way closer to the first village.  The mud was slippery and sucked and pulled at your shoes as you walked through it.  The women who walked with us were wearing rubber boots and trudged through the mud as though it was nothing.  One of the women who joined us on the trek insisted on holding my hand as we descended on the really slippery parts of the trail.  Any time she thought that the terrain was getting a little too difficult she would grab my wrist and say "careful, eh" and then would look up at me and grin.  I just wanted to squeeze her in a big hug. 

Buying sugar cane.

Walking the rice terrace

After two and a half hours of walking through the mud down into the valley the fog began to lift and the magical of this place exposed itself, it was truly amazing.  The stair stepped terraces surrounded us and sloped down the mountains into a river in the valley below us, and we just had to stop and stare and what appeared below the fog.

The fog lifting

Me with Mao and her friends

After about three hours of walking we came to the second village, which was where we would have lunch, prepared by Mao's husband.  We crossed this bridge and made our way down into the village where we had a wonderful lunch of chicken fried rice and I had the chance to hold Mao's baby.  This was also where our other hiking companions said goodbye, of course not without trying to sell us some of their hand spun, woven, dyed, and embroidered goods.  We ended up buying one item from each woman, which made them both very happy.  Once we were finished eating we sat enjoying the beautiful view and talking about how special this experience has been, when we were surrounded by several precious faces - children of the village asking us to buy something from them.  As I've said before in my blog posts, I don't like to buy from the kids peddling, because it only encourages the trend and only benefits the parents, not the children.  Most of all it makes me sad that the children aren't in school.  One girl asked me if I wanted to buy something and I answered "no, thank you."  She stared up at me with her sweet face and replied back "yes, thank you," I couldn't help but smile, but I replied by asking her name.  She was surprised at the question but then told me her name was Sue and she was nine years old.  She was insistent that we buy something, anything, from her.  But I explained to her that we weren't buying anything and she turned to go.  She continued to watch us as we sat there and would smile and wave from the top of the stairs or glance our direction as she walked past, she was a smart sweet kid and we were immediately enchanted by her.  Before we left we met Mao's sister, who also is a guide for Sapa Sisters, she had the best laugh - it kind of burst out of her and made everyone around her smile.

Crossing the bridge to the second village

Saying goodbye to our trekking companions

The last half of our trek took us to one more village where we met more of Mao's family.  The sun came out and the sky turned bright blue and we could see the green expanse of terraced rice paddies in every direction.  Mao took us back up the mountain where we crisscrossed through the rice paddies and past small houses built into the slopes.  We met her aunt and her brother along the road.  We came across her mom helping to lay gravel into a new road.  We stopped in to see if we could find her father where he worked.  Mao took us to their family's shop where her father sells knives and her mother dyes fabric with indigo and she gave Charles a handful of the indigo paste so that he can try painting with it.

Rice terraces near Sapa

Vat of indigo dye

Stopping to chat with Mao's mother on the road.

Muddy shoes

Our trek lasted from about 9:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. and covered around 10km, we think.  It was one of the most incredible experiences we have had, and we cherished having a local guide who could take us off the beaten path and allow us to interact with her family. At the end of our hike Mao called her uncle and her brother to take us back to Sapa on their motorbikes.  While we waited I took this picture of Mao and her baby while Charles played with the family dog.  Thank you Mao for your wonderful hospitality, we loved our day trekking with you. 

Mao

Charles petting the family dog.

We got off of the motorbikes in Sapa feeling very satisfied with our day.  As we sat at a cafe perched on the side of the mountain overlooking the rest of the town we felt very lucky to have spent the day trekking in this amazing place.  Then as we sat the clouds and fog that make Sapa so mysterious and magical began to roll back into the valley to shroud the villages again until tomorrow.  Oh, Sapa - what a place!

Fog rolling in