Sapa: 2nd May - 7th May

We caught the overnight sleeper train to Lao Cai (no more sleeper buses for us!), the nearest railway station to Sapa. Lao Cai is in the very north of Vietnam, virtually on the border with China. The sleeper trains have compartments of either 4 or 6 bunks depending on the price of your ticket. We opted for the 4 bunk version as neither of us really fancied sleeping with our nose pressed to the roof of the train! We shared a carriage with a young Chinese couple who were in their beds with lights out by 9.30pm so it was an early night and we both managed to get quite a good nights sleep.

We arrived in Lao Cai just 30 minutes later than scheduled at 6am. At the station we negotiated the fare for a mini bus to take us to Sapa but after sitting in the bus for about 20 minutes waiting for the driver to rustle up some more customers Dan noticed a guy holding a sign with his name on it so we hoped off the bus and got on another one as instructed. It turned out our hotel had organised a transfer for us - result saves 80,000 Vnd, or so we thought.....we later found out that the hotel charged 100,000 Vnd so we ended up paying more! 20,000 Vnd is only 60p so not worth getting into a fret about!!

After 5 minutes or so waiting on the second bus on our own we were then told to transfer to a third bus which was packed full of the people who were on the first bus plus some extras. So, we moved ourselves and our luggage for the third time to the bus that would finally take us to Sapa.

The drive took approximately one hour and, notwithstanding the mist, the sun managed to break through and the scenery was beautiful. The views were of lush green rice terraces stacked in every available piece of hillside. Every square inch of land seems to be utilised to harvest rice crops irrespective of how difficult it may be to farm. Farming in these conditions is extremely hard work and time consuming but the impact the terraces have on the landscape is spectacular.

The views continued until we reached Sapa, perched on the western edge of a high plateau, facing the hazy peak of Fan Si Pan - Vietnam's highest mountain. Sapa is home to four ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, principally Black Hmong, Red Dao, Black Thai and Flower Hmong - each with its own language, cuisine and cultural beliefs.

When we reached our hotel we were greeted by a group of local ethnic women (predominantly Black Hmong) trying to sell us their wares. It was almost impossible to get off the bus as they swarmed round us like bees to honey! We managed to negotiate our way through unscathed and took refuge in the sanctuary that was Sapa Rooms - our bed and board for the next 2 days.

By now it was a mere 7.30am so we had breakfast and several pots of tea whilst waiting for our room to become available. By 11am we were checked in and had much needed showers and relaxed for a couple of hours to muster up enough energy before venturing outside again into the onslaught of ethnic women and their goods.

We finally ventured out at about 2pm to trek the 6km round trip to Cat Cat Village - a Black Hmong village and the closest to Sapa. Much to our delight the crowd of women outside our hotel had reduced significantly so venturing outside was less of a trauma than anticipated! There were a couple of women from the Black Hmong tribe who latched on to us straight away rattling off the usual questions and generally trying to engage us in conversation before the hard sell commenced. These two were very sweet though which, to be fair, is generally the case when they are not in big groups. They were quite upfront about their intentions too saying "We follow you and try to sell you stuff!" You can't really argue with that! Anyway, after 10 minutes or so we managed to escape without making any purchases, but did promise that we would perhaps buy something from them later if they could find us some smaller items.

The trek down the valley into Cat Cat was very peaceful and again the scenery was amazing. It was a beautiful sunny day, but not too hot. The villagers manage to go about their daily lives and pretty much leave the tourists to get on with it. There were men and women tending the rice terraces, chickens, dogs and pot bellied pigs running around and minding their own business and buffalo hard at work ploughing the terraces in preparation for a new crop. At the bottom of the village there was a picturesque river and waterfall which was a nice place to relax and catch your breath before the hike back up and out of the valley.

After the trek we returned to our hotel, hot and sweaty, where the two tribes women we met earlier were sat outside waiting for us with a couple of small purses for us to buy. After a bit of haggling (it's rude not too) we bought the embroidered purses then went inside for dinner and booked a longer trek for the following day. We also booked a bungalow for 3 nights at the Topas Ecolodge, 18 km outside of Sapa, so that we could get out of town, do a bit more trekking and see some of the smaller minority villages in the surrounding area.

That evening the heavens opened and it pretty much rained all night. We were woken up early the next day by the hustle and bustle of the locals opening up the market stalls and by this time the street was beginning to resemble a river and the amazing view we had from our hotel room had disappeared under a blanket of cloud. The rain was still coming down in bucket loads so we decided to cancel our trek as we knew we would have other opportunities when we were at the Topas Lodge. Our decision turned out to be the right one as it pretty much rained constantly until the late afternoon when the sun finally managed to break through. With some daylight hours left we headed out for a stroll around the streets of Sapa, successfully managing to avoid being followed by the tribes women.

The following morning we set off for the Topas Ecolodge. When we arrived we were greeted once again by a swarm of local tribes women, this time of the Red Dao tribe, with their baskets of goods to sell. We said hello, answered a few questions and politely pushed our way through the crowd, following the porter with our bags heading towards the lodge. The lodge is set back from the road, high amongst the rice terraces overlooking the valley and the river below - we could hardly see the lodge let alone the view thanks once again to the rain and mist!! When we got closer though, we were greeted by the contrasting sight of two Japanese tourists playing with their i-phones, while just feet away a local farmer was ploughing a muddy terrace with a water buffalo.

We checked in to our bungalow and decided to head out for a walk down to the nearest village. As soon as we were off the lodge property we were once again greeted by the local tribes women. There were 13 of them this time and they all insisted on following us, again telling us that they would follow us to try and sell us something - no problem apparently! - and again asking the usual barrage of questions and swarming around us so that we could hardly move. It was mildly entertaining to start with but after 10 minutes or so we really just wanted to be left alone to enjoy to the walk and the peace and quiet of the countryside.

After a while I finally asked them to stop following us telling them we would look at their goods after our walk but they paid no attention - they just kept saying they would walk with us, it's no problem! After a few minutes more I tried again only this time being a bit more blunt! About half of them got the message and disappeared but the rest insisted on following us all the way to the village and back. They walked along side or just behind us the whole time which was extremely annoying. Every time we stopped walking they practically bumped into the back of us. We must have been quite a sight, arriving in the next settlement with our little entourage where all we accomplished was the purchase of some Choco Pies, and then walking back out the same way to head back to the lodge. We totally ignored them for the rest of the way which wasn't easy when they are walking on our heels, and as we got closer to the lodge they tried to strike up conversation with us again. A last ditch attempt to get us to buy something from them. In protest we completely refused to buy anything. They looked a bit miffed!

The following day we were booked on an 18km hike which we were determined to do, come rain or shine. Luckily the sun was out and we finally caught a glimpse of the spectacular view of the valley below from our bungalow balcony.

We met our guide (a nice guy from the Thai minority) at 10am and headed out for our trek which took us down into the valley and to the villages of Thanh Phu and My Son - 2 of the smallest minority villages in the region. We were warned that because of the rain in the last few days the trek would be a bit slippery at the start - this turned out to be the biggest understatement ever. We were sliding around in the mud for a good couple of hours whilst trekking through the terraces on a buffalo-trail. How we managed to get out the other side with our shoes still on our feet is anyone's guess as our feet disappeared under the mud on more than one occasion. There was also the obligatory mud slide which I road on my backside with dignity - no change there!! Mud aside, it was a great trek and it felt good to be away from the noise and pollution of Hanoi and breathing in some fresh country air.

The rest of our time in the hills was spent relaxing around the lodge whilst watching the local farmers plough their terraces, barefoot and up to their knees in mud using only a hand held plough pulled along by buffalo. Although vast in quantity, the terraces are so narrow they produce only a limited crop each year and as a consequence the farmers are growing rice to feed their families only - they do not sell the rice at market, instead they mainly raise pigs and chickens to earn the money to buy the other provisions they need for their families. It was a real privilege to be so close to the land and see the farmers at work using traditional methods taught to them by their forefathers.

It is a harsh reality that this part of Vietnam, like the rest of the country, is changing very quickly. Vietnam's coast line has 5 star Spa Resorts springing up at every available sandy beach with mid range villa's costing between US$500k and US$1.2m. There is one villa in Da Nang which reported sold for a staggering US$2.1m. The cities are also becoming more cosmopolitan as earnings rise and consumer demands and expectations increase.

Sapa is no exception to this "progress". The valley which formed the backdrop to the view from our bungalow is part way through an 8 year dam building project. It is difficult to visualise the impact this will have on the countryside as the project is still in infant stages and there appears to be little public information available but I have a horrible dread that the valley may be flooded wiping out small minority villages, centuries of tradition and some of the most beautiful scenery Vietnam has to offer.

After our 3 days at the Topas Lodge we headed back into Sapa to catch our bus to the train station where we were booked on the overnight train back to Hanoi. We arrived back in Sapa in plenty of time as there were a couple of purchases to be made before we left. As we were a bit early we headed to the travel agent who sold us our train tickets so that we could leave our luggage there whilst we went shopping. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to find the building had been bulldozed and all that remained was a pile of rubble being cleared away by some workmen! To make matters worse, we didn't actually have the train tickets, we had paid for them but all we had to show for our cash was a hand written receipt from the now non-existent travel agency!!! After a minute of shocked silence, before the hysterical laughter, we decided to go and do our shopping anyway and keep our fingers crossed that the bus turned up as arranged and that the driver had our train tickets. We'd heard of the fly-by-night operators that up and leave after a few days of ripping people off, but not of ones that demolish the whole building afterward!

Shopping done we headed back to Sapa Rooms for a cup of tea whilst we waited in anticipation for the bus and Dan told our sorry woe to the guy at the hotel. They both disappeared off down the street to view the damage and much to our delight spotted that the travel agent had actually relocated to another building across the street. Phew!!

So, all's well that ends well and all that. We caught the train south-east back to Hanoi to spend our last night in Vietnam before heading north east to cross the border into southern China.

Vietnam was truly an incredible experience that we will never forget and we were delighted to be able to share some of it with our dear friend The Ghost Writer. We hope he enjoyed this amazing country as much as we did.

Goodnight Vietnam.
Sue & Dan xx