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April 20, 2005
Vietnam | Sapa – Day 2 | 8-11 March 2005
We woke in the morning to the sounds and smells of Mr Dien cooking again – this time a ‘western breakfast’ of pancakes!! Although not traditionally Vietnamese, the pancakes (with chocolate syrup, banana, sugar, lime, etc) were very tasty.
Compared to the first day, rhe second day was significantly:
- More Challenging, yet shorter and finished quicker (left at 10am, finished before 1pm)
- Less Touristy
- Less Frequented in General
- More fulfilling
- More Adventurous
- More Hilly
From our homestay, we literally went over a couple of worthy mountains before arriving at ‘the road’, where we had lunch (again, cooked by Mr Dien, using the restaurant’s facilities – this is a very interesting arrangement, especially at a local restaurant, where each of the guides prepares the food for their group).
During the hike, which I would actually consider a hike – as opposed to the previous day’s walk – there were times at which I felt real pleasure at being able to stop and take in the scenery. It was really really cool. I looked over a valley, which was just as one might imagine it centuries or even millennia ago. Local Hmong people walking their donkeys up and down windy tracks, carrying water and foodstuffs, dressed to kill in their traditional outfits, others working the hillside, ready for the next crop (slogging away, still in their hot black outfits). The paths they trod barely wide enough for the donkeys, which amazingly managed to scale very steep hills and avoid scrambling down the same paths. The only sign of modern technology being the materials used to construct the bridge – even then I could imagine it being replaced by a similarly well constructed bamboo equivalent.
It reminded me of one of my favourite old computer games – Settler – the creation and construction of villages from basic land – it was very, very cool to see it in reality.
I felt strong during this part of the hike, remembered the days of Scouts, 3 day hikes, camping, the feeling of being in touch with nature, pushing on through incredible scenery.
We went through a Red Zao village, again being guided through the house, having the differences between Zao and Hmong pointed out to us. One really impressive thing they showed us was a really worn, old Taoist Manuscript. This thing looked like it should be in museum somewhere marked as being an ‘original copy’.
After lunch, a Jeep took us back to Sapa, or tried to. We were stopped for more than 45 minutes at one stage – where there was active construction work happening on the road we were driving on. That was pretty strange. Cars, bikes and trucks stopped and just waited for them to finish that section of demolition, then slowly filed through once it was cleared. At least I got the opportunity to get some photos of the valley around us.
Once we got back to Sapa, the other guys were herded off to get back to Hanoi (they were only doing 2 days, not 3). I had the rest of the day to myself, so, not having prepared for this time and having nothing ‘to do’, I went and caught up on my web browsing – shame I didn’t have my laptop or anything else I would normally have had with me.
The evening passed with a little local food and beer, followed by some reading (So glad I brought THAT at least, The 3 TV channels were all Vietnamese!).
Posted by Dan at April 20, 2005 06:18 AM