Our first week or so in Vietnam has passed fairly rapidly. Luckily there were no problems with our border crossing, and after an unnecessary 2 hour wait on a bus, we were in - it seems the Vietnamese approach to time keeping is similar to that of the Spaniards!
The heat in Hanoi is stiffling, so after four steamy days and with our toes still intact - the sheer number of mopeds in Hanoi is insane, and crossing the roads is a life or death battle - we sought relief in the Northern rice paddies of Sapa. This is one amazing place.
We had been warned that the weather here can be hit or miss, but we couldn't have had more luck. After an initial misty and rainy start we were blessed with sunny spells and some more of that stifling heat - even standing in the shade makes you drip with sweat!
On our first day in Sapa we decided to head to the local minority village of Cat Cat (there are many minority groups in this area). About 100m down the road from our hostel we were both acutely aware of an addition to our expedition... A tiny local lady (55 years) had decided to become our guide, and despite many attempts to shake her off with visits to just about every shop in town, she remained 'loyal' and patiently awaited our return just outside the door of each shop. It seemed we had no option but to accept her assistance, whether we wanted it or not! It was drizzling a little and she kindly led us around the muddy paths and held her umbrella over our heads to keep us dry - well mine anyway. Tim was a bit too tall, and even I had to duck when she decided to turn around for fear of being decapitated. Our tour guide cost us a 'silver' bangle that has since bought me out in a rash, but the trip to her village was so beautiful that we signed on to a two day trek through the valleys to meet more minority groups and stay at the home of a family.
We set off on our tour and by the time we left Sapa our group of 8 tourists had transformed into 8 tourists and the entire women's population of the Lao Chai and Te Van villages (our destinations for the day). We later learned that these shrewed women each select their own victim - I mean, tourist - and shadow them to their destination, offering a helping hand when the terrain gets steep or muddy (we learnt not to underestimate their strength when it came to 90 year old women hauling big Israeli lads down a slippery cliff). En route they whip you up a heart or a horse out of bamboo as a 'gift' and you daren't reject it in case you offend them...but seriously, where are you going to put a bamboo horse for four months?! They aren't exactly flat pack-able! It turns out that these gifts are their way of marking you with an IOU - when you reach your destination you are confronted with "I help you now you help meeeeee?!", followed by a display of handy craft that they whip out from nowhere. Needless to say we ended up with some extra bags and purses, but we drove a hard bargain so it wasn't so bad. And, despite their persistence these women are very sweet and keen to tell you about their lives as well as learning more about yours. The landscape in which they live is incredible - the face of each mountain has been transformed with step-upon-step of rice paddies, and every where you look the local people are tending them to perfection.
After an interesting experience in a home stay, with the odd obligatory shot of rice wine and Tim being challenged to several more by a rather drunken member of the family, our time in Sapa came to a rapid end and we were back on a night train to Hanoi - this time to organise a trip to Halong Bay. We had been warned to bargain hard and take everything we are told with a table spoon of salt. Even our short time in Vietnam has taught us one or two things about the locals that aren't complimentary, so we went armed with our budget and a serious helping of stubborness!
After a quick whip around the manytour companies, we settled on a tour and bargained our best for it. At the time we were happy with our price, but we later learned that we probably still paid too much and were kicking ourselves for not having learnt our lesson yet. Never-the-less, we were set for a three day tour of Halong Bay and looking forward to escaping the muggy heat of Hanoi once again.
Halong Bay is beautiful and it was very relaxing to cruise around the 1969 islands on an old junk for a day or so, intermittently coming aross floating fishing villages and jumping off the boat into balmy waters here and there (avoiding the odd jelly fish of course). Our second day saw us left on a pontoon on Cat Ba island, awaiting a lift to our next destination. After a very humid climb to the top of the jungle for some awesome views and a nip across to Monkey Island (yep, full of monkeys), we were left at our next night stop - a bamboo hut perched on a beautiful beach with the waves rolling in...what more could you want?! After the few locals left for the day, we were left with a starry sky and a beach all to ourselves.
Our Halong Bay trip came to an end and we were hurtled once again from our little paradise into Vietnamese chaos. We eventually made it back to Hanoi on a very cramped bus, only to board a night bus to our next destination... Hue. I'm not sure if you are familiar with night buses but they pretty much consist of bunk beds that rattle around on very bad roads. We quickly noticed that all the westerners were given the pleasure of the top bunks, while the locals slept soundly on their positively more stable bottom bunks. At least they have no shame in descriminating over here! Needless to say, we arrived in one piece (just about) so look out for the next instalment!
