So we are now back in Hanoi after a busy few days with the hill tribes in Sapa. We prebooked our tour, but when we went back to pay, realised that it was only for a 5km trek - we figured that we are decidedly more hardcore than that, so changed it to an 'intermediate trek' - without the luxury of a support car in case we get too tired(!!) We arrived at the travel agent in Hanoi in the evening, to discover that actually the intermediate tour involves staying at a homestay in the village, and so we needed to trek with all our luggage - we hadn't realised this, so had packed all our big backpacks up for the trip - a panicked repack later and we were ready to go! We had a cabin on the sleeper train on the 'Pumpkin express' carriage - which excited Caz quite a lot, as she thought it might take us to Hogwarts!
We were taken onto the train by a guide, and got settled in our twin bunk bed cabin for the night. A few minutes later, we heard a banging and shouting at our door. Despite trying to lock the door, it was promptly flung open by a very stern looking Vietnamese train guard. She proceeded to pick up our luggage, and physically throw us out of the carriage. We protested, and tried to show her our tickets, but she ignored us, and then pushed us off the train, onto the dark, wet platform, throwing our luggage behind us, with some hissing and angry vietnamese gestures to boot. We tried to get back onto the train (to see our 'friends' - other people from the tour group that we'd just met!) but she slammed the door in our face with a 'tsk'. We had no idea what was going on, but eventually managed to figure out that our oh so helpful tour guide had put us on the wrong train, on the wrong platform. There was no sign of any English speaking guides, so we traipsed around showing our ticket to several non English speaking train guards, who kept pointing, so we followed the directions and eventually arrived at a different train.
We finally got settled, and bought ourselves some consolatory Oreos (they love Oreos here - they even seemed to be the most popular offering to the gods in the temples of Hanoi!!) We were then joined by our cabin mates for the night - an English couple. They initially seemed quite pleasant, although she was a little odd, and conversation didn't flow quite as we hoped, and so we opted for an early night. Unfortunately, our loved up cabin mates had not seen each other for 6 weeks, and decided to climb into one of the top bunks together. I have no idea what they were up to, but there was a lot of banging and they seemed to feel the need to smoke regularly throughout the night!!
After a sleepless night, we arrived in the hilltown of Lao Cai, and were taken by bus up the windy roads to Sapa. It was raining very heavily, and we realised that we were wholly unprepared for such conditions. After a quick breakfast, we set about trying to buy waterproof trousers from the many trekking shops in Sapa. We were unsuccessful, so opted for the long poncho/cape option - in red and green - we looked quite the part! We set off on our 'intermediate' trek with our new group consisting of two Dutch, one Swiss, a French and German. A very European troop. The trek started off fairly well along the roads - we were accompanied by a large group of H'mong tribal women in traditional dress and headbands carrying various goods to sell to tourists in the villages.
The tracks became steeper and muddier but still manageable - however we were helped along by the tribespeople. My handholder was a 7 year old girl, and Marrten, the 6'6" Dutch man, was helped down by a very elderly 3 foot tribal elder! It was a sight to behold!
We trekked through the tiered paddy fields, past buffalo, through (yes, through!) rivers, and met many tribespeople along the way. It was good fun, and after a lunch of banana sandwiches, and a bit more trekking, we arrived at our homestay. Now, unless the tribal people of Vietnam live in large lodges, with pool tables, hot showers, french fries and TV, I'm thinking this was not a genuine homestay! But a very welcome hot shower nonetheless!Caz and I decided that we'd not had enough exercise for the day, so went for quick hill run, past barking rabid dogs and children who kicked at us. So far, we are not finding the Vietnamese the friendliest of people - what with the kicking children, angry train guards and many more examples to come!
It was still fairly early in the day, so we decided to kill a bit of time with some pool - there was either something wrong with the table, the cue or the balls (most certainly not the players!!) but the first game lasted 2 hours (honestly!!) with every nearly potted ball veering away from the pocket!
Dinner was a lovely Vietnamese meal of 'pho', a traditional beef and noodle soup, various stir fries and the obligatory rice, complete with chips - an unusual combination that we are finding fairly common place here. It was freezing cold up in the hills, still raining and the wind was picking up but the turning point of the evening had to be when a couple of the villagers appeared with 2 large bottles of 'happy water', the local liqueur. It's pretty strong stuff, but warms you up fast - 8 bottles later, with various European and Asian toasts, we were warm, and, as it says in the name, very happy! Much chat, friendly European banter and attempted card games ensued and we all went to bed warm and happy to listen to the torrential rainfall, all night.
Th next morning it turned out that we had requested a delayed start and a shorter trek than planned! Given the immense amount of water that had added to the mud overnight, this would probably have been sensible, but we decided to stick to our guns and do the longer trek.
We put our wet and muddy clothes back on and set out, this time through a farm yard and out onto the hill slopes. Then we hit the mud slide. I can't even begin to describe the amount of mud and water that we were attempting to trek through, up extremely steep and treacherous slopes. There was frequently a sheer drop to one or both sides of us, and we were sliding over wet clay with nothing to grip onto. Needless to say, the tribespeople were there to help again - this time, my lady was in fact an adult, however, she had a 8 month old baby strapped to her back!! I have genuinely never been so terrified for someone else's life!! Half a foot wrong and all three of us would have been plummeting to our deaths! Luckily, the tribespeople have very sure footing, and they pointed out every safe foot placing, and when our feet slid, they stopped us sliding with bamboo sticks and their own feet. Nevertheless we slipped and slid most of the way.
The views at the top of the trek were well worth it though - there were waterfalls all around us, and the tiered rice paddies make for a stunning backdrop.
A few hours later, we sat down to a well deserved lunch of....well, we are not entirely sure. It was a noodle soup similar to pho, but the 'beef' didn't look or taste like beef. Given their love for 'Thit cho' (dog), in this part of the world (and I don't mean they love their pets!) we were more than a little concerned!
The short trek up to the road to get our bus back to Sapa was arguably the most interesting of the lot.
The heavy rainfall overnight had caused a huge mudslide, and the main road in and out of the villages had been blocked. The locals had dug most of the cars and bikes out, but a thick, deep, flowing river of mud was left. We struggled along, clinging on to electricity cables for support, it felt like we were trying to escape a natural disaster zone. We were all covered from head to toe in mud, wet, cold and aching from correcting out slips all day!
We eventually made it onto the bus and back to Sapa for a icy cold shower - just what we needed, and a cup of tea!
The return night train was much less eventful, and we travelled with an English/Chinese couple who made it much more pleasant experience than our previous journey. Now back in Hanoi, about to set off on our Halong Bay trip - haven't got high hopes for the weather, but it surely has to be better than the rain and mud in Sapa!!
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