Trekking in Sapa, Vietnam

Sapa is a quiet mountain town in Northern Vietnam, and is home to many a diverse range of ethnic minorities, most of who work as farmers on the sloping mountain fields. I visited Sapa on a 3 night tour as part of my stay in Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city.

I met the rest of my group at 8pm on Thursday - Emma, Alison, Matthew, Natalie and Jen. Apart from Emma (who's Canadian) they were all American so I was the sole English representative! We got the night train to Lao Cai, which was much nicer than I had been expecting - quite roomy and plush, with quaint little lampshades and frilly curtains. I didn't get much sleep however - lots of chatting and a very bumpy ride - and was woken at 4:30am by a lady walking up and down the corridor shouting "good morning - coffee!" We got to Sapa from the train station on a very small, cramped bus which was clearly not designed for long tall Westerners such as ourselves! After 2 hours we were relived to get off the bus and were greeted by a very welcome a breakfast of bread and eggs - foodstuff which was to become quite a theme of the weekend!

After breakfast everyone bought ponchos, as the slight drizzle that had started was worrying us. I already had a rain jacket I’d borrowed from my roommate Rosie but decided to get the poncho to put over the top and keep my rucksack dry, and it turned out to be a wise decision! We met up with our tour guide Zao and he told us that the first day of the trek would be about 7km, stopping for lunch on the way before heading to our accommodation for the night. This was in a traditional mountainside village where a local family from the Red Dao tribe would put us up for the night in their home. Despite not being an experienced hiker I was as enthusiastic about the weekend as the rest of the group and we all set off in high spirits despite the slight drizzling rain.

 Looking sexy in my poncho!

Only about five minutes into our trek it started to absolutely pour with rain and we were all quickly soaked! I was wearing trainers, but they were Velcro fastening and open at the top so certainly NOT footwear appropriate for awful weather. Of course, it was very muddy too and my ridiculous shoes were soon ruined. To make matters worse they also cut my ankles (unprotected by socks – what a fool I am!) to shreds. Basically, I was cold, wet, in pain and I was trekking. All things I am not renowned for handling well. For about 2 hours the only words that came out of my mouth were four letter ones, normally in a long stream of expletives and accompanied by wails of dismay or screams of frustration. I was the stereotypical moaning English woman and I HATED Sapa. I did not want to admire the amazingly beautiful scenery, or take any photos. I wanted to go back to my room in Hanoi and get dry, and clean. I was a bitch - I was THE bitch. I couldn't even raise a smile at Matthew and Zao chucking massive rocks in an attempt at male bonding and to create stepping stones over a river that looked much better suited to white water rafting than trekking through. Then (and this could only happen to me) I took a fatally ill-advised route (which had seemed to me to be a short cut, but was actually being avoided by the others for an excellent reason) and ended up knee deep - literally - in goat poo. I even lost one of my shoes in the stuff and had to fish it out. I was swearing, wearing the least flattering poncho known to man, and covered in poo up to my knees. Everyone laughed at me, and I had to join in. It broke the ice, and my mood!

 Some of the gang with local ladies

Over lunch it stopped raining, and after more bread and eggs plus two cans of full calorie coke (or soda, as the Americans called it) I was feeling a little better and we set off for the home stay after a toilet stop in a small shack with a hole in the ground. The walk wasn't anywhere near as bad as the morning trek, and by now we were all well used to wading through deep waterfalls and muddy puddles no problem, and were able to enjoy the spectacular views of rice fields being tended by farmers and their animals, tall cloud covered mountains and waterfalls full to bursting and streaming down the mountainside. We soon arrived at the home stay and met our hosts, who provided us with green tea and the most delicious french fries known to man, as well as the use of their shower (bliss!). It was also an opportunity for the local women to sell their wares - as a total sucker completely unable to haggle I spent more than anyone else and now have many, many Sapa souvenirs.

 Matthew and Alison check out the souvinirs on offer

The traditional Vietnamese dinner prepared that night by our hostess was amazing. We all ate plenty, washed down with "happy water" - locally produced rice wine, which was lethal stuff. We laughed long and hard about the days events, particularly the rocks in the river and me in the poo incidents, as well as Zao regularly performing the splits and calling out cheerful warnings of "be careful - the man, he carry a tree" and "it's slippery" (both of which were painfully obvious) and Matthew and Emma's rice field conversation which resulted in Matt having to remind Emma that "actually, I'm NOT a rice farmer." There are many more “in jokes” - I guess you had to be there!

After a great nights sleep in amazing, mosquito net covered loft beds, and a yummy pancake breakfast (plus more bread and eggs!) we set off for the final leg of our trek. We were accompanied by several local women wearing traditional dress and bearing souvenirs. These women - all tiny - basically carried us along the slippery, treacherous 5km route and there is no doubt that we would all have fallen to our deaths without them. They were all lovely ladies, happily telling us about their lives and pointing out interesting sights. It goes without saying that we all bought plenty more Sapa "goodies" from them when we stopped for lunch - I paid Cooh (who had walked with me, saving my life on many occasions) a small Vietnamese fortune for two purses.

 Me with Cooh

Our return to Sapa town was a relief - trekking (or any sort of physical exercise!) is not something I get involved with very often and I was glad to see somewhere to rest and take a shower! The rest of the group and I swapped email addresses and thanked Zao for being such an excellent guide and keeping our spirits up during the terrible weather and then it was back onto the night train for another bumpy night back home to Hanoi.

Sapa is hard to explain in words. The scenery is some of the most beautiful I have ever seen on my travels, and the local people are all welcoming and friendly, and keen to help you in any way they can. It was totally different to anything I've ever experienced - awful and amazing in equal measures, but I wouldn’t change a second of it and will treasure my memories of this picturesque and fascinating town for a lifetime.

 Stunning

I booked my trek with Hanoi Backpackers. Check them out here: http://www.hanoibackpackershostel.com/tours