Sapa - Wednesday 4th

Let alone there not being a shower in the deluxe cabin, there was not one on board at all and, unless you fancied washing in the basin in the corridor, then you had to go smelly.There was the usual chaos outside the station as everyone was trying to work out where they should be to ensure they got the right bus up to take us to the village at Sapa.On the 30km steep drive up the mountain dawn was breaking and through our sleep deprived eyes we could see that the light was revealing a fantastic landscape.The early morning mist hung heavy in the valleys below and the tiered rice paddies were cut out on many of the hillsides.We passed many huts at the side of the road and at 5.15am the families were already up going about their daily chores.The scenery was a stunning sight and made the journey here seem worthwhile.Our room would not be ready until noon, so we had breakfast and then had to wait a couple of hours for the guide to take us on our walking trip.Outside the hotel there were a dozen or so girls of school age dressed in their tradition colourful Black H'Mong tribal clothes with lots of embroidered bags and belts to sell. Sadly, it's obviously more beneficial to the family to keep them away from school and out earning money.We were split up into groups and were taken on our trek by a 17-year old local girl named Linh, followed by a dozen of the locals, who apparently like nothing more to follow groups of Westerners on these hikes.We descended down in to the valley passing small villages and so many children happily running around in the dirt.We were taken through handicraft villages and watched the village people make their various crafts including embroidery, wood and stone carving. Cat Cat is a traditional village displaying the very crude tools they would use to mill flower and crush the rice to remove the husks.There were large plastic jars containing 'medicine', which to us looked more like reptiles and very ugly looking bugs floating around in some yellow liquid! The people here live such simple lives and live in such simple homes and it makes the western world seem very materialistic.We continued our walk down past tall bamboo trees to the waterfall where there were more vendors.We rested there before making our way back up to Sapa.It was a constant climb for about an hour, which would have been great if the sun wasn't beating down and we could keep our eyes open through lack of sleep.We reached the hotel and after being given a room at the back of the hotel overlooking the car park and builders rubble we asked to change so that we are overlooking the beautiful valley and mountains instead.We were told we would have to pay more, the grand sum of £2.50.Hmmm, bit steep…. but we splashed out and were so happy with the change.We went into town in the evening for a couple of quick drinks, as we have a long trek ahead of us tomorrow.We stopped at the market and bought another embroidered bag and then the Latin music drew us to a bar called the Bebop bar.After a couple of cocktails and a game of pool, we sat at the bar and chatted with the friendly bar staff, and offered to buy them a drink.Unfortunately in return they bought us about six back, which included Flaming Lamborghini's, B52's, B53's, 4's and 5's (different as each one contains a different white spirit). It then turned into a lock in and a pool competition followed with the bar staff, a French waiter from the local Italian restaurant, a funny character from Delhi and the two other French tourists.Why do all our great nights out end up happening when we have a big day ahead of us!

Thursday 5th

Despite the big night out we were not feeling too rough.We started our trek through the town and as we passed the bar one of the guys came running out offering us espresso's to help us on our trek. We declined, and it probably would have come with a shot of some demon liquid or other, and we could hardly keep the rest of the group waiting while we chatted over espressos. Similar to yesterday, the entourage of local women with their baskets of goods, or babies strapped to their backs and young kids (who should be at school!) followed us closely, and every now and then one of them would ask our name or where we from, but that was the limit of the conversation.We shared the roadside with trucks and mopeds and were constantly having to step aside to let them pass.There are lots of tall bamboo trees growing and it was a very lush landscape. After stopping off for a drink and a break we bought more friendship bands off of a girl of about four, whose shoes were just about hanging on her feet.We then had the option of continuing along the gently sloping tarmac road or going through the countryside, which is a little steeper.We all agreed to take the country route, as this meant no big trucks to deal with and, of course, how much better it is to go off the beaten track.Little did we know this would include walking down steep loose rock covered slopes, climbing over boulders, jumping over streams, sliding down muddy hills and, even worse, trying to climb up steep, almost vertical, muddy hills.Our specially engineering walking boots were no match for the cheap plastic sandals that the locals wore and if it wasn't for the 50-year old woman holding Suz's hand for the most part it could have been broken arm no.5.It was a treacherous two-hour hike down, but worth every stumble and slip to see the fantastic un-obscured views of the tiered rice paddies, the water buffalo and the local people passing in the other direction hiking up like mountain goats despite the heavy loads strapped to their backs!Every turn was another photo opportunity as the scenery unfolded. We stopped for lunch and it was only then, after all the effort and pain of the journey, that the women following us started to try and sell us their goods.'Maybe later' seems to be quite a constant in our vocabulary lately.While we ate lunch, we watched children fishing in the river and the many local people crossing the suspension bridge, hurrying like locusts ready to swarm in on us.On leaving the restaurant (of sorts) we were surrounded by them with all sorts of embroidered goodies being shoved in our faces. We thought that trying to find the lady who had helped Suz would prove a bit difficult as they all looked so alike, but of course, she managed to hone in on us very easily and Suz had her third bag in less than 24 hours and another friendship band or two.We went on through the next village, which was inhabited by the Zay Minorities, who have a strong Chinese culture.Tripping over lazy dogs and dodging huge potholes we noticed that it's quite an active village with lots of children running around, families working in the fields, or sitting around in their small huts cooking or sewing.As many haven't even left their villages, they don't know any different and they must wonder why we go around taking so many photos of their everyday lives.Linh is a very sweet, friendly girl and is one of ten siblings.She enjoyed telling us stories of her family and giggling about her friends' love lives. Her command of English is very good, but as the Vietnamese language doesn't include all letters we had to do your best to decipher every now and then.We paused at a shop where they had a sample of all the styles of tribal dresses for the various tribes in the Sapa mountain region, mainly black linen, but brightened up with coloured braided sashes and trims.We had a final climb to the road where the van was waiting to collect us.Driving back to the village made us appreciate the height of the mountains and the long descent we had down to the valley. No doubt these women who follow the hikers do the return trip up the mountain with a load on their back most days.We didn't understand why they didn't they try and sell us their goods in Sapa, but we suppose that during a long arduous walk there's nothing more welcome than the chance to purchase handicrafts, rather something unnecessary and frivolous like a bottle of water or a cool wet face towel.After a shower and change at the hotel we headed on the bus back down the mountain to the train station to leave all this beauty behind.It was becoming dark and the bright fluorescent bulbs inside the houses revealing the furnishings which typically include a low table, small plastic chairs, an armchair, TV, a shrine and three mopeds!On arriving somewhere near the train station, we were left at the side of the road to wait while the guide went off to collect our tickets.He came back with about half of them and marched those people to the station, asking us to continue to wait.After waiting somewhere close to an hour, he returned with our tickets for the 9pm train, rather than the 8.10pm that we should have been booked on. As we have to get to the airport quite swiftly at the other end to catch our flight to Laos we were a little bit concerned.When asking him, he mentioned that all trains go at 9pm, which was not actually true, and he had obviously got us on the wrong train.To bide our time we went to a bar on the square and had a drink.Suz asked for a Sapa wine and ended up with a tumbler filled to the brim of very sweet sherry.At least that might have been a good sleep-inducer for the train journey back!Our hearts sank as we boarded the train to find there were already four people in our four-sleeper carriage.We were double checking our tickets when luckily the Vietnamese man there said goodbye to his wife and small child and left the train.Mother and daughter were sharing the bed, so all was fine.We sat talking to the English lady, who was in her late 50's and spending her voluntary redundancy travelling the world and enjoying every minute of it.Stephen gave her his exciting 'Fabric of the Cosmos' in exchange for 'The Boy in Stripped Pyjamas' to send her into a coma and we settled down for another sleepless night aboard the night train.After we stopped a few times for the staff to have their fag and noodle breaks we eventually pulled in to Hanoi to find the taxi that should have been waiting for us - wasn't!We were too tired to worry about it so jumped in to one in the rank (it isn't a rank at all just some cars randomly parked and loads of drivers trying to entice you in).