As far as i know, SaPa is a destination for 'trekking' to see beautiful views of mountains and valleys, BOTH covered with rice fields. Even the very steep parts of the mountains are terraced for growing.
Our adventure begins:
We had to be out of our Hanoi room by noon, so our bags were all packed and we had organized smaller bags, with only the essentials for the next 2 nights. Again, George Carlin’s skit comes to mind.
At 9 PM we were picked up by another bus, and taken to a bigger ‘sleeper’ bus. You had to take your shoes off and put them in a plastic bag before getting on the sleeper bus. And the beds had a nice 'cushy' 4-5" mattress. It was way cool, and very nice actually, for the 6hr journey to SaPa. We were all pretty tired, so we slept most of the way. I was very impressed.
Weird note … there were 3 special lights in each bunk, and we even had a USB ports … but we noticed there were no toilets on the bus ! ??? We had been on the go for hours, and everyone needed it. We finally did stop along the way, and EVERYONE rushed out at the first stop. I think i was the only one that needed to ‘P’ on the second stop. Everyone else was sleeping, I was hoping they wouldn’t leave without me, so i left my shoes by the driver’s door. :)
We arrived at 5 AM, and Su, (Sue) our Homestay, hostess met us. (A Homestay is a person who opens up their home to 'strangers', who pay for a bed, food, company, and guidance.) It was VERY cold and dark, and were a bit disoriented from the ride. Her husband, Do, took us, and our bags, by motorbike (one by one) down to the town where we had breakfast and hot chocolate. Did I say we were very cold? Thankfully we had our new long pants on, several long sleeved shirts, a hoodie, and a rain jackets, …oh… and socks. We were layered up and wore them all. Again, I really had no idea what we were going to do. Shari, our organizer had done this five years ago and had kept in touch with Su. They were both very excited to see each other again. Shari had told us that we would be walking 10 KM to the Homestay where Su lived. That seemed like a long way, but we would be able to see the views, and no rush. After we were refreshed and fed, Su lead us through a large market where you could buy everything. This is the market where she shops.
Then Su started walking out of town; and we all followed like sheep. Shari wasn’t specific about the 10km walk, and we didn’t ask questions, so we were surprised when we started walking up a steep hill/rock road. It was difficult, we had to stop a lot along the way, and we started pulling off layers. As we were walking up hill a lot, Shari said that it’s just this first part that’s bad. She lied. She says she didn’t remember it being like this. But it was five years ago and she was younger. It was grueling, we literally walked up a mountain. After about an 45min, there was an option to take the “Nature Trail“ which would be longer and more difficult, but would have beautiful views; ...or continue walking on the 'easier' rocky road. I decided to take the nature trail with Su, Shari and Butch. Sylvia had opted for the rocky road. We had 2 local girls who 'adopted' us along the way out of town. I thought they just happened to be going in our direction... or were friends of Su. So Sylvia had someone along with her, i wasn't leaving her alone. The young girl had a 2mo old baby strapped to her back, also had 3 other children and a husband back at home. We would much later found out that 'this is what they do' to make money. Follow tourists and then the tourists feel 'obligated' to buy whatever they are selling. But we didn't know this. So we just enjoyed her company.
There was a very short, steep dirt path for the first climb. Here is a photo at the top of that very short climb. Beautiful view of the city.
and us 'over-achiever' hikers ..
Then, after considering the small hill i just climbed, and looking at the next one; I considered my knee, and decided it would be wise to join Sylvia and take the road instead. Shari and Butch continued on with Su to the nature walk. Sylvia and I took the Rocky road with our young mother-friend. She was very sweet, and made these hearts for us out of a fern. (I'm holding it against my pant leg).
Check out the way she is dressed ... layer and layers of clothing ... and I'm stripped down to a tank top. Plus she has a 2month old baby on her back ... who we never heard a peep out of. This great photo is from Sylvia.
But we persisted.
The walking did NOT get any easier, we walked mostly uphill for 3hours. We saw a pig and her pigglets, sheep, dogs, a cow... and occasional people passing us on a scooters. Also a few settlements and other homestays, and beautiful views, seeing the rice fields below.
We also learned more about the 'flower business'. I mentioned that in Hanoi there were beautiful flowers, orchids, flowering and fruit trees. What we learned is that the people here in the mountains grow those flowers, and then send them down to Hanoi. There was a massive truck that was loaded full of lily bulbs. These 2 were sorting them out of the shovel fulls of soil, and carefully placing them in bins, and will plant them, (or someone up here will).
I noticed that there must be several different micro-climates on these mountains. They are growing flowers, strawberries, and other cold crops …. but there were also banana trees along the road. How does that happen ?
I was fine with the uphill, lungs and heart were in good shape. Going downhill was painful for my knees. I hate being old.
We finally made it! ... a small village where we found 'the stairway to heaven'.
We were rewarded with Mango Shakes and lunch. As many other 'trekker' came in for lunch also. Su, Butch and Shari arrived about an hour later...their climb was much harder than ours. But that's ok. We are proud of what we did.
After lunch, Su asked us if we wanted to continue to her home walking for another 2 1/2 hours, mostly downhill ….or ... did we want to pay for a motorcycle or car to take us there? I was positive she was joking. I asked her twice …. 2 1/2 hours?, … but she was being serious. That was a no-brainer for Sylvia and I whose knees were sore, and also for Butch, who had just had enough. I actually was not very comfortable with the thought of being on a motor scooter on those roads and those hills, so I was very thankful that the three of us got a car, Su and Shari walked to Su’s home. And, the three of us were very very happy with our decision, even if we may have looked like woosies. We did not need to prove anything, we were very proud of our accomplishment that day.
However, what an eye-opening realization. Su actually makes that walk, to town and back, 2-3 times a week. For them, walking 5hrs is nothing. It’s an 8hr walk to see her Mother, who lives in another village … on another mountain!
I had to do some research. Su’s home is at 3,000 ft, and the highest mountain top is 10,000 ft. So, yes, we’re talking mountains.
The ‘tourist thing’ is called ‘trekking’, and it’s a huge. People (mostly young) come here to trek up and down mountains, and stay with a family that has set up a ‘HomeStay’. And what are we doing here?
The 3 of us got in the car for a 20min winding road to our home for 2 nights. They have a beautiful piece of property. Shari fixed this photo showing the home, down in the valley, with a river right out front.
And out front is the rice field, now dry, but used for the Water Buffalo to graze, and a respectable-sized river beyond that.
We settled into our rooms, beds with nice warm big blankets, it gets cold here. Shari and Su arrived an hour or so later … so it wasn’t 2.5hr… but it probably would have been for us :) The original plan was to 'trek' each day, up mountains and visit other villiages. Only Shari was interested in doing this. The rest of us were happy to just chill. I know that Su was disappointed and wanted to show us 'her life'. I tried to explain to her that we had been on the go-go-go for days and really appreciated a time to chill. We ate a lot, and often. Breakfast or lunch in the 'porch'
The evening meals were inside, and usually ended with some 'happy water', ... local 'rice wine',... it like fire water. And, sometimes a game.
I would call this almost 'primitive' living. This is their 'kitchen' and they way they cooked our food. haha, ....that's a BIG bottle of Happy Water on the left that Su is holding.
This was definitely an education on how other people live, ... and very happily !
Do (husband), brought in 2 large sugar canes, and began slicing off the outer skin. Then cut it into chunks. You chew the chunks, and it is pure sugar; until all the moisture is gone, then discard the stringy fibers. It was amazingly sweet, obviously. The scraps are fed to the Water Buffalo.
Sylvia and I wanted to go down by the river. Su wanted to escort us, and it's a good thing she did, because it was more difficult than we thought. We needed to walk on the 'ridges' that separated the rice field sections, because they were dry and we would have sunk to our knees in the fields. And we had walking sticks, very helpful.
I had underestimated the size of some of the 'ridges' ... they are really quite significant, as you can see in this photo.
We took some photos on our journey to the river.
and climbed on some big rocks
On the way back we stopped at a garden and Su picked some Indigo plant, and crushed it in our palms, and said to keep squeezing it; it was supposed to turn purple. Then it would normally be mixed with water and dried and used to dye things. We were never able to get to the purple, but we had green palms for 3 days.
This is the 'gang', Su, Do, and 2 children, ...and including Su's Mother who surprised her with a visit. Su's mother and I are the same age ....
It was happy-sad goodbye's, especially for Shari and Su, who were able to continue their friendship in person, after 5 years.
We hired a car to take us into town, instead of the original plan, ....to walk there early in the morning for 3-4hrs. On our ride down the mountain(s), we went through a SaPa that we didn't know existed. The town of SaPa has been built up as a tourist destination with nice
hotels and shopping. We had only seen a small portion of the 'old' SaPa
market area when we arrived. Had we not driven through the 'new SaPa', we would have
never known it existed. It would have been fun to spend a day walking around the new SaPa... next time.
We got on our 'sleeper bus' at around 4pm. I was disappointed that the beds were not as 'cushy' as the previous bus. They were more like the back seat of a car, not a mattress. The sun was setting over the mountains and rivers as we traveled home.
The ride home was not as comfortable, probably because it wasn't night, and we really weren't tired, ... and the beds... And the road was terribly bumpy, i think the driver looked for all the road construction and potholes he could find.
We were very happy to get off the bus and return to Trang Trang Boutique and our nice rooms and beds.
That was quite an education .... and work out !
