Sapa, Vietnam

From Hanoi I went with a couple people people I met in my hostel of Sapa, which is close to the Vietnam-Chinese boarder. Rachael from Iowa (with whom I would continue to travel with in Vietnam), Tim from Holland, and I took and overnight train to Lao Chi because there is not a direct route to Sapa. The most entertaining part of the bus ride was the Vietnamese guy in our sleeping compartment. His snoring was not especially loud but it sounded like the snoring equivalent of beat-boxing. It reminded me of Rahzel's If Your Mother Only Knew. It was so funny it was not even annoying.

Sapa is probably my second favorite place in Vietnam. It is famous of its rice terrace mountain range and for the various "hill tribes" the remain in the area. The scenery is stunning despite the prevalence of fog the obscured the view and pictures. Walking through the rice terraces is challenging and endlessly fun. Fortunately there are plenty of people from the local hill tribes that are there to lend a helping hand and just ask that you purchase some of their suvouniars when you get to a resting point. The locals providing assistance makes for some humorous situation such as when this 6'4" German guy we met was being helped by a woman that was no younger than 60 and also by a girl that was no older than 10. It is just a funny scene. I decided that I want to do it unassisted because it would be harder and therefore more fun and also so that I could say I did it alone. Also, in truth, falling down is part of the experience and fun and as long as you do not damage your camera there is nothing want negative that can happen other than getting dirty and/or wet. I managed to only fall a few times over the three excursions I went on and caught myself with my hands each time. So, no harm done and lots of fun. I did notice that I any time the woman who was making with me (even though I did not want her to and she was not helping me) complimented my rice-terrace-traversing skills I was considerably more prone to slipping. I attribute this to overconfidence. It was a good time.

Of the two nights that were spent in Sapa one of them was spent at what is called a homestay. It is kind of like hostel but it is basically somebody's house of which part is sectioned off for tourists to sleep in. In other words, it is a more authentic experience though not still completely and truly authentic. The homestay experience was a good one was a nice change.

The other night was spent in a hotel in more of the "city" part of Sapa (meaning not the mountains). During a free afternoon Rachael and I renting bicycles and went to Cat Cat Village. Here I witnessed people going about their daily lives of farming and tending to farm animals, plus the little kids asking for money and my OJ (not sure why they wanted my OJ). Cat Cat too provides some amazing scenery. The highlight of Cat Cat was what appeared to be a house ceased being constructed unfinished. It was on the side of a mountain near the top and allowed for some truly stunning views. The house was nothing but its cement frame so in the places where windows are likely intended instead is nothing but open air. This not only meant there was not glare on the pictures but meant that you could feel the strong winds at occur at that altitude. Very cool place. I kind of want to buy it.