A crazy H'mong woman and an easier trek - Sapa day 2!

22nd Feb

The sleeping pills worked wonders as I managed to get the best night’s sleep in Vietnam yet (apart from a trip to the loo at 3am out in the freezing cold, pitch-black toilet.) We all awoke around 8.45 ready for breakfast. Our cook managed to rustle up a massive pile of freshly made crepes, which we ate with honey, sugar and fresh apples (we called it apple but it was actually a local fruit that was a mix of pear and apple and we don’t have a clue what it’s called!) It was delish!

Then it was time for our walk back to a village near Sapa for our bus ride back. We had the option of the easy trek – 3km, or the harder walk – 7km, which was apparently more muddy, hard and slippery than the trek we did yesterday. I think you can guess which one we all chose – with achy muscles, painful feet and a few slips and slides yesterday it was safe to say we really didn’t want another long trek! So we set out from the village and it was a beautiful walk – the clouds had cleared for us this morning so we got to see some stunning views! It took us an hour or so to walk to the village we were to have lunch at, but we took it really slow to admire our surroundings so it probably took us a little longer, especially me and Madeline as we were stopping every few seconds to look and take pictures (well Maddie took the pictures and I admired, stupid camera!).  At one village we encountered a mad mute old lady (she must have been about 80 or 90 yrs old), who was trying to sell us stuff and when we wouldn’t buy she would scream or shout and slap you around the arm or back if you were a woman, and chased after the men slapping their asses! It really was a sight to see, she was scary yet hilarious! Poor Peter got grabbed by her and she wouldn’t leave him alone until his wife intervened and even then she kept slapping his arse! She didn’t even understand anything Chai said to her so we knew then that she was either loco, or just plain deaf and mute!

We arrived at the local restaurant for lunch 2hrs early so we took the optional trek down to the waterfall, which was a nice side-track and me and Maddie again took it really slow, chatted, took pictures of the locals and the scenery and on the way back Leila joined us and it was a really nice (if hard) trek back up to the restaurant, we saw some local kids playing and riding bikes up and down the really muddy steep rocky path too.

Once we were there lunch was ready, which was a simple vegetable noodle soup with a fried egg on top and Vietnamese coffee. Little H’mong girls were trying to sell us stuff so for 5000 dong I decided to buy two bracelets from them to add to my ‘backpacker’ collection of them slowly creeping up my arm! The others bought some things too and I also bought another purse as it was so so pretty and so cheap, plus it was helping the local community.

We then got the bus back to Sapa and all raced towards a lovely hot shower and hairdryers – woohoo! Then we waited around and chatted until dinner was served at 4pm, and said goodbye to those going by bus before we ourselves caught the bus to Lao Cai at 5.30pm ready for our overnight train. We got there around 6.15pm and then waited in a coffee shop until it was time for me to leave. I was on an earlier train, and the others were all together on the later train, which I was bummed about but turned out I didn’t need to worry as I was in a carriage with an Australian guy, and an Israeli couple. The train again was pretty decent and got a decent sleep thanks to the sleeping pills again! I phoned daddykins as it was his birthday and I wasn’t able to skype until Sunday so wanted to wish him a happy 50th – u old age pensioner! Lol

Awoke at 4.30am upon arrival in Hanoi and shared a taxi with the Israeli couple, before rocking up at the hostel and setting myself up in the movie room until the check-in desk open for me to use their showers/wifi etc . Iris joined me around 6am and we both just slept until 8.30am.