A bit of trekking in Sapa

[Deleted]

Thread created by kerouac2

In my various trips to Vietnam, I have become a great fan of the budget tours organized by Sinh Café, as well as their Open Tour bus lines running the entire length of the country.

Sinh Café is owned and operated by the Vietnamese government, which is the sort of thing that a lot of people would find questionable. On the contrary, the private companies try their best to copy Sinh Café, using its logo illegally and tricking thousands of customers. Even I was tricked last time in Hanoi, because one of the copycat companies had moved into the former address of Sinh Café and kept the same sign. It was only when I bought a bus ticket that I realized that I had been had.

Anyway, for my trip to Sapa, I went to the right place and bought my 3-day trip with two days of trekking I had severe doubts about this trekking business since I lead a rather sedentary life with few moment of great physical effort. It is also somewhat possible that I am no longer really in the age group to do such things.

However, I was quite sure that nobody would force me to trek against my will, and in any case I had read enough about Sapa to know that I wanted to see it. So maybe I would just go with a group and let the others do the trekking.

As usual with Vietnamese excursions, this one started before dawn, and one thing that I have learned about most places in Vietnam is that the street lighting is not kept on all night. I don't know what time it goes off, but one thing I do know is that when you walk through the streets before 6 a.m. it is absolutely pitch black and very similar to being blind, except for maybe one of two lanterns and a couple of street cooking fires that allow you to center yourself in the street.

In spite of being blind, or perhaps because of it, one's olfactory senses are heightened and such a walk is wonderful -- a tinge of smoke in the air, the smell of freshly baking baguettes, pho beginning to bubble in various cooking pots out on the street, the heady aroma of various unseen flowers and fruits. Scrawny cats scamper around, a couple of roosters signal the impending dawn, waking up a handful of birds.

Anyway, I found my way down to the bus rendezvous zone, and a few of us Westerners began to cluster with a bit of baggage. Young vendors had no trouble selling hot fresh baguettes, bags of pineapple pieces, bottles of water...

The bus arrived and off we went, as the sky turned from black to charcoal.

It didn't take too long to get out of town, through the usual grim suburbs and then the open road. Sapa is just a bit more than 250 km from Hanoi, but such distances are not covered quickly in such countries.

The sun rose, and it was a lovely day. Maybe around 8:30 a.m., we stopped in a mountain foothill town for breakfast, next to a river. We saw our first tribal peoples, not Hmong yet, I don't think, but one of the other tribes.

[Deleted]

Anyway, we made it to Sapa by lunchtime, passing through Lao Cai on the way. Lao Cai is the border town with China, and as we followed the river, we were told that China was just on the other bank, about 15 meters away.

Then the road turned away from the river to head back to Sapa, in the highlands of extreme northern Vietnam. The highest peak in the country is Fansipan, altitude 3143 meters. It is often covered with snow, and while I was in Sapa, the temperature dropped to freezing at night, even though it was April. The budget hotel was not well heated, and I can't say that the Vietnamese make very good blankets, but I survived. My Swiss roommate Benjamin complained more than I did. (On budget tours, single travellers do not get single rooms.)

The next morning our first trek began. A lot of it was through the rice fields, and I was enthralled.

[Deleted]

As you can see from the photos, the first trek was not so difficult, even though we did go up and down a bit, and yes, my legs were sore and I was sometimes out of breath. But most of the group was at least 20 years younger than me, and most of them were suffering as well. And I was generally in the first 2 or 3 following the guide while most of the other lagged.

We were brought back to town by lunch time -- the next trek would not be until tomorrow. I did the usual stuff I do -- I visited the market.

Two things were amazing about the main street of the town. Firstly there were the Hmong grandmothers proposing opium balls to the tourists. And secondly were the numerous Vietnamese tourists from Hanoi who had to speak ENGLISH to the Hmong market people to buy their arts and crafts. Even though we were told that Vietnamese was now obligatory in the locals schools, most of the adults did not speak it, but they spoke the languages of tourism (English, French, Japanese, German).

The food in Sapa was not very good. There was an exotic restaurant recommended to tourists that served bear, beaver, boar, dog, snake, etc., but the menu was not tempting and the prices were high. I think that Benjamin and I may have eaten pizza that night.

[Deleted]

I hope that you noticed that in photo #3 of the market, you can buy chopped mixed vegetables for your wok, just like in your local supermarket.

[Deleted]

The next morning was not exactly a trek. It was a death march, or that's what it felt like before long. I managed to stay in the front group again, but I was suffering!

First we climbed up to the ruins of the old French monastery, a grand piece of stonework.

This is where we first encounted a pack of dogs. "Everybody pick up a stick," the guide directed. "They are cowards." Indeed they were, but this encounter did not reassure us.

Our next stop was the Hmong village. I have always hated this part of a lot of tours. I do not want to see villagers like animals in a zoo, or at least not until Vietnamese or Congolese or Brazilian villagers can come to our countries and walk around our villages pointing at the farmers and their animals.

Here is our excellent guide telling us about how the Hmong are primitive and not very good Vietnamese yet, but it would be stuffed down their throats sooner or later.

Apparently the pigs are a special species, called "Sapa black pigs." They were all over the place, living in total harmony with the villagers and especially the children, until that special day that somebody decides that they are on the menu.

I'm sure they were also on the menu of that restaurant where I had not eaten the night before.



The next stop, climbing climbing climbing was the location of the old French hydroelectric station, still in service.

We encountered more dogs and were glad to still have our sticks. I didn't take any photos of the dog packs, because I felt that pointing a camera might set them off for some reason.

We continued along a narrow path bordering a cliff, and then there was a miraculous bridge to take us over to a real road.

That's Benjamin in the Nike shirt. For some reason, a lot of people in our group had trouble believing that he was really Swiss, but I can attest that his Lausanne accent was one of the thickest that I had ever heard. You could even hear the Swissness in his voice when he would shout out "sin chao!" ("Hello!") as we passed local people on the trek. Frankly, he was a delightful travel companion, and I was sorry that he was continuing on to China after Sapa rather than returning to Hanoi.

After the bridge, they said that we would find motorbikes waiting if anybody was tired of walking and wanted to ride back to town. Indeed, quite a few sleazy teens were waiting for us, and I saw them laughing as they looked at me, dripping with sweat and completely red. They were sure that I would require their services, and maybe die and drop off the bike on the way back.

So of course I walked down to Sapa with most of the others (some of them did ride into town for about 50,000 dong). It took about an hour, but it was mostly downhill.

It was a magnificent experience.

[fumobici]

I have two brothers who are both drawn to this Vietnam-China border region and extol its virtues, but I've resisted thus far.

[frenchmystiquetour]

I share your distaste for visiting indigenous cultures the way people visit animals in a zoo but I am still glad to see your pictures of the Hmong. Your experience is very similar to the way I felt seeing Native Americans performing their sacred dances for tourists at The Grand Canyon last year. Nonetheless, when the exhausted dancer finished and the tribal announcer proclaimed "That was some powerful medicine", I was fully in agreement. This is sad to say but maybe your tourist money might do something to change the governments mind about obliterating these peoples culture.

[bixaorellana]

Kerouac, if I'd had an inkling you had all of this stashed, I would have bought you a scanner myself!

It's all so interesting and so beautiful, but I am blown away by the rice fields. How can something that utilitarian and the cause of so much labor be so perfectly exquisite?

The hydroelectric station photo could have been taken in Switzerland. In Paul Theroux's The Great Railway Bazaar and in his recent follow-up book, he repeatedly comments on the buildings and infrastructure left by the French in Vietnam.

Gad, the tour of the Hmong village does look horribly awkward.

If you could, would you go back to the same region now, or do you prefer to remember it as it was when you visited?

[Deleted]

I don't think that Sapa will have changed all that much, except for more hotels. I would enjoy a return trip some day, although I probably would not do a trek like that again. I would also like to stop in Lao Cai, the town on the Chinese border.

[hwinpp]

I've been to Sapa twice and never did the treks, mostly because of laziness.
I once overnighted in a village between Dien Bien Phu and Sapa and one of the people at the guest house asked me to join him on a free trek up Fansipan! I declined saying it was too tiring...

Most border regions are terribly interesting, and for me one of the more interesting ones are the borders that separate China from Vietnam, Laos and Burma.

I didn't like Lao Cai that much, it's a modern town from the 60s and it got banged up by the Chinese in 78 or 79 so there's nothing 'old' left there. Hekou, on the Chinese side is much nicer.

BTW, the hill tribe people in your first pics are Hmong, Striped Hmong. The hill tribe village later on is a Red Zhao village. Sorry for being so picky, just wanted to show off a bit. ;D ;D ;D

Very nice thread, Jack, I just wish I had time to go up that way again.

[Deleted]

I came across a few more photos of Sapa -- the town, the market, the rice fields...

Seen from a distance, here is the Hmong village that I visited.

[hwinpp]

Those veggies in pic5, reply#10 look interesting. I don't think I've ever seen them before. The ones with the long shoots and the big leaves right in the middle.

[Mn Mom]

Are there other trips to Sapa offered by the company you mention that are a little lighter on the trekking?

[Deleted]

Mn Mom, there are dozens of trekking agencies. Actually, the one I chose was supposedly one of the easiest, because there were also real treks in the mountains, sleeping in villages. My "trekking" was just a few hours on two different days. I'm sure that there must also be some one day treks available.

It was also possible to turn around and go back at various places.

[Sharon]

Thank you for your wonderful travelogue and pictures. I am planning a similar journey to yours this summer, and your description helps greatly. How was the weather during the day? Was it raining constantly?
Thank you, once again
Sharon

[Deleted]

No, it mostly rained at night. Even though the ground was often wet, we never trekked in the rain (but of course we would have, if necessary!).

[hwinpp]

I've had occasional rain in summer in the mountains but much more often the sun shines.

It can be refreshing, I don't mind it.

[mossie]

Another fascinating thread about a place of which I know less than damn all. Those rice paddies make wonderful patterns, full marks for attempting those treks.

[Deleted]

Here, let me situate it on a map...

[htmb]

A very interesting report! Maybe I missed it, but what year was this?

[Deleted]

Let's see -- I went to Vietnam 3 times -- the first time was in 1996 and the last time was in 2005 (my very last trip before family responsibilities stopped almost all travel). My Sapa trip was sometime between those two years. Probably around 2002-2003.

[htmb]

Thank you. I must plan to read the other reports, too,