Victoria Hotel breakfast was alright... ended up with some beef pho to warm up before venturing out again. The hotel's main building is pretty with many fireplaces. Very cozy and comfortable.
We had to check out before the trek but we could use the facilities before leaving for the overnight train back to Hanoi.
An old army jeep, very spartan, drove us down to the 2+km of concrete road we were supposed to walk down from Sapa town to the path to the Black H'mong tribe, stopping along way to snap beautiful shots of the terraced rice fields.
As we got off our jeep, Ha said to speak Mandarin in light of the groups of Black H'mong women just outside the vehicle. There were so many, Ha had to ask them to move back to just open the jeep door. :P
Ha was right! A smattering of Mandarin ensured no touts followed you more then 3 meters.
Walking down a bumpy path, lined (often on both sides) all sorts of poo... buffalo poo, piggy poo, doggy poo, chicken poo, ducky poo... lots of poo... Then Ha told us about this plant that grows from pig poo, how appropriate...
We were also showed a plant & leaf which was used for making indigo dye, and if you look around some locals indeed had blue stained hands. There were also a houses which were drying freshly dyed fabric.
At the first school we came across, there was a bright red banner welcoming 'Pasir Ris Secondary School', a school in Singapore. And to think that only a half hour earlier, Ha said that he had a cancelled trip with a group of 40 students from Singapore, who wanted a whole BBQ black pig for their homestay in Sapa, but they had cancelled with him.
It was very interesting to see how the local people lived, that black h'mong village was home to about 3,000 people (according to Ha). The 2nd village was the Tay (pronounced: tzai).
Lunch was at a homestay, where Ha said he was going to cook. It felt that we got there really early, 'cos he had us sit in the bedroom-kitchen area (where the homestay owners lived, the main larger area was for homestayers) to watch Vietnamese dubbed televisions programs.
Note: up to 20 bed spaces, only one bathroom and only one toilet. Sounds like half of Kaleebso, but Sapa weather at this time of the year feels like in the low to mid 20 celsius in the day, dropping to maybe 10 celsius or lower in the night. The homestays do not appear to have any heating, just lots and lots of blankets :)
Ha carried the stuff for lunch in his backpack, little plastic bags of sliced carrots, sliced lemongrass, cut tomatoes, sliced chicken, sliced pork... Food was in the form of 4 steaming hot home-cooked Vietnamese dishes. :)
Chatted with an American couple, the guy is originally from Colorado, and the couple were staying in Penang for work. They also referred to Fransipans as Fancy-Pants! hahaha...
It was another short walk out of the valley to our jeep, and the same 'dancing road' back to Victoria Hotel. We used the hotel's shower at their heated pool & sauna room at the top of a hill.
Cleaned up, Ha took us to the Wild Orchid in Sapa Town to buy silk cushion covers. :P Be careful what you buy where, 'cos the same silk purses I bought the day before (14 for US$20) were also there for US$3 each :P but we didn't see the US$5 silk cushion covers anywhere else. But, if we walked around a bit more I'm sure we would've found them...
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Mountain View cafe. If only the sun was out like the day before, it was all foggy... We said out thank-yous and good-byes back at the Global Sapa cafe to Ha. With our tip, he left with a smile that went ear-to-ear. :)
Dinner was not great, again... oh well, need to fill up for the overnight train back to Hanoi...
The drive back to the Cao Lai station was in a packed medium-size bus filled with lots of very tall Europeans & Australians... good thing is wasn't a long drive :P
With over 2 hours to waste Pea and I sat at one of the local drinks stalls with a hot sandwich from a street stall.
On the train we met a pair of American ladies, one from Chicago and the other from Texas. They recommended the Water Puppet show, front seats are best. And we should try the Orient Express :)
The rest of the trip back to Hanoi was restful, no dining cabin to hang out in :P
I wonder how the 40+ students in Sapa did in the wintery cold...
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