SAPA

"At the end of the day your feet should be dirty, your hair messy and your eyes sparkling."  

Our trip to the rustic town of Sapa in the Hoàng Liên Mountains of northwest Vietnam began like this:

“You want me to sleep on the floor?!...of the bus?” – and then something along the lines of the bus had been overbooked but not to worry they would put down a mat, would I please try it, and I would get a $5 refund. $5? Seriously?

Not knowing exactly what to expect or how the 6 hour overnight bus ride from Hanoi to Sapa would actually go, we set off for the bus with the rest of the group.  While walking I was wondering how exactly they had picked me out as the one to sleep on the floor…

Once at the bus though it was determined that the sleeper seats were not actually assigned and therefore if they were overbooked, I was most definitely not going to be the one that waited for a mat on the floor.  So I pushed…yes, pushed, China has taught me well…or not so well…I’m hoping I don’t return to the U.S. as someone who would be perceived as an incredibly rude person.  Anyways, I pushed to the front of the line, hopped on board and into a top bunk as fast as I could.  And covered up my head.  No.  Just kidding about that part.  But I claimed my spot!  A Dutch guy from our hostel (who had heard me be told that I would get a mat on the floor) was in the bunk in front of me and he asked if I would feel guilty if someone else ended up on the floor for the 6 hour ride.  I replied “no.”  Sleep survival of those that push to the front of the line and don’t take floor mat as an option.

As it turns out, not just one, but several people ended up camped on mats strewn about the two aisles of the floor of the bus.  And, between the people on the floor, the backpacks hanging from the bunks, and the blankets dangling from people’s seats, if you needed to use the bathroom at the back of the bus you needed to have the talent of, not to mention be the size of, a spider monkey.  Peeing on a moving bus once, and if, you reached the bathroom takes a whole ‘nother kind of talent.

After 6 hours of being serenaded by a bus horn and not sleeping, we arrived in Sapa at 5 in the morning to a steady downfall of rain.  Our driver was not there.  We borrowed a phone to call our hostel back in Hanoi concerning this and we were told through broken English to wait…in the rain.  We waited a bit and then ended up getting our own taxi to the meeting spot for our trek, watching the morning sunlight light up the town as we went.  Where we went…well…it just happened to be the most disgusting hotel I have ever set foot in in my life.  I’m in no way exaggerating.  Thank goodness it was only a meeting spot and not a place to actually stay for the night because I would have gone running back to the FLOOR of the bus.  If you have ever seen the movie, Just Married, with Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy, I’m pretty sure when they filmed the scene in the dimly lit hotel in Italy that had creaky stairs, stained walls, broken furniture, and was crawling with cockroaches that they were actually at this so called hotel in Sapa, Vietnam.  I was seriously reluctant to sit on or touch anything and I was scared for my life to close the door to the bathroom for fear that the cockroaches might attack.  (For the record, cockroaches are unfortunately everywhere here due to the lovely, humid climate but I’m fairly certain that the ones in this hotel found it appealing due to its record level of filth.)

Okay! Enough of the intro and our glorious travels! Our tour guide finally collected us from our filthy hotel meeting spot and we – 3 teenagers from Montreal, a Malaysian, a Chilean, Erin and Me – headed out on our trek of the beautiful rice terraces of Sapa...

 

 Heading out of Sapa Town - the very beginning of our trek looked like this...

 And soon turned in to this.  I would say it was more strenuous and definitely more slippery than I had planned on!  No wonder we had so many guides with us.  We almost had one for per person to help us along and try and keep us from sliding down the muddy slopes.  

All of the guides were women.  In the culture of the ethnic Hmong people of Vietnam (Sapa consists mainly of Vietnamese ethnic minority groups) it is more common for women to work on the terraces harvesting rice, or nowadays, in the tourist industry and for the men to keep the children at home.  Some of our guides were very young, still in their teenage years, but were already married with children.  They told us that people our age would be viewed negatively for not having been married at the age of 26!  And at that age the chances of ever marrying and having children is greatly decreased.  They did say, though, that they are able to choose their husbands; their marriages are not arranged for them.  

Thanks to Sapa, I now have different colored tennis shoes.  It was worth it!

The beautiful rice terraces of Sapa!

 Erin, Me and Cherish!  Cherish is from Malaysia!

 

Jumping for joy in Sapa!  My life is pretty cool and I'm very grateful!

Local children that we saw along the way.  Their mother had a stand for selling water to the trekkers.

There were also instances where children (and adults) would approach you trying to sell bracelets.  They were very persistent.  I'm always torn wondering whether buying something from them is actually helping them or hurting them - does it help them because they need the money or does it hurt them by keeping them out of school?  It's hard to tell although you certainly hear about the latter. 

 Water buffalo.  But...to me it's a Vietnamese cow.

 With some of our guides!

 Couldn't resist a picture of this little goat!

  

Our group with our host family at their home.

 The little boy at our home stay...he discovered how to take a selfie!  He also played some with us!...

 Two of the three little girls at our home stay.

 The kitchen at our home stay.  It was dark and with the flash the picture isn't really great but if you can't tell, they cook on the floor.

Our mats, blankets and mosquito nets in the loft of the home stay.  I slept pretty good after 7 hours of slippery mud slopes and woke to the roosters and a cat meowing the next morning - felt kind of like home!

Start of Day Two!

 New friend, Francisca, from Chile!

 

 Nice place for dip at the end of our two day trek in Sapa!

My feet were dirty, my hair was very messy, and Sapa made my eyes sparkle!  We boarded the overnight bus back to Hanoi for our journey through the rest of Vietnam!