We rolled into the station at Lao Cai Town at about 6am? Was drowsy and it was chilly & foggy... Ha, (hahatrekking@gmail.com) our Sapa tour guide, met us with a smile.
We rolled over to a beef pho breakfast with Vietnamese tea (a strong green tea) at a local cafe.
After, Ha located our driver & van, we drove to Coc Ly (pronounced: cock-lee) Market of the Flower H'Mong tribe. It was super crowded with lots of people. There was even a small buffalo market on the side. Ha even gave us a quick lesson in selecting buffalo. He said to look at the lick on the buffalo's head, I think he means where the swirly part of the fur. If the lick in in the middle, the buffalo is naughty, not a good worker. And the hooves, the two nails should bend inwards, towards each other, so that the buffalo will have better grip in soft soil & not slip = better worker :) a young buffalo could cost US$150 & up. A mature one, maybe US$700? Anyone wants a buffalo? He also joked that 10 buffaloes = 1 car? :P The trip to Coc Ly was fun, but it only on Tuesdays. There are markets almost everyday of the week, but I heard that the largest one is on Sunday.
At the market, Ha bought ground nuts. Dry ones and steamed ones, he said that they were for the boat ride later. Amidst the commotion it was easy to spot a guy carrying to bags of peanuts. Pea said that it like how some tour guides will carry a flag or an umbrella. our guide was carrying 2 bags of nuts! :P
A short drive from Coc Ly Market, was a ride down a beautiful river in a metal long-tail boat, just, Pea, me, Ha & the boatman. But the tramps down to the boat was a bit far and a wee bit steep. (I'm so out of shape!) The scenery was gorgeous... high slopes with... slow meandering river...
Along the boat ride we stop for a quick village walkabout. We saw people drying corn and casava. Casava, Ha said was some kind of root / tube. Which is fed to buffalo, & the stuff make the animals high... :P so that the buffalo will know their way home. On the way to the boat, Ha bout steamed corn. He said in the village it's 10,000 dong for 5 cobs, in Sapa town it's 1 cob for the same price, and he really likes the stuff.
A piping hot local lunch was at a street side restaurant at the end of the boat ride. Followed by the drive up to Sapa to check into Victoria Hotel, Sapa. The room we had was on the ground floor, with a view of the internal garden. Ha said that he used to work for Victoria Hotel, and it showed. Most people he passed said 'hi'. He said that he had worked his way up to department head, but he left for better prospects elsewhere.
10 minutes to get to our room & freshen up, Ha took us to buy a pair of shoes for me. The pair of 4/5 year-old Salomon boots had part of the base already slipping off, (no amount of elastic bands will keep that part of the sole to the boot) and Ha said that they will not last the walking the next day. After about 20 minutes of hopping shop to shop, with no luck, we also failed at locating the shoe-repair-person. When all seemed lost, Ha took us to Fransipans Hotel to rent a pair of Asics runner for US$2 for a day.
Crisis averted, we were led down another short cut to the lake in Sapa Town. Beautiful, plus we were really lucky to have the sun out with a luxurious blue sky. I felt like I was somewhere in northern Europe. Nice :)
Ha told us about the Fransipans (the tallest mountain in Sapa), he said that the champion did the return route in 1h5m, he did it once in 9 hours with 1 hour of rest in the middle, regular fit people will take 20 hours, but I will take 40 hours... hhhmmm... not impressed... He also said that ChauLong Hotel's really good too, and way less pricey as Victoria Hotel.
With the lay of the land in mind, Ha left us to our own devices. Pea & I wandered around and ended up at one of the cafes along the lake. Then we strolled around the town and I bought 14 silk purses (flat, about hand length with zip) for US$20. Those purses are meant for most of the women in my life :P
We also walked around the few streets and the center market of local tribal-ware. The sun was out so we had great views of the surrounding moutains. Really pretty...
Dinner was at Sapa Global Hotel ('cos our Sapa-based tour was arranged with out Hanoi co-ordinator Minh Tien [Michael]. Not great, but the soup was hot and the rice was hot. :) Ha gave us the rundown of the group trek the next day, we were supposed to walk a total of 12km, starting at 730am and finishing at 430pm.
Uh... I don't think so... We opted to pay him an extra US$40 to drive us part of the way there and back, and trek easy routes to visit 2 tribes (instead of 3). The black h'mong and the tay tribes.
Back at out hotel, we turned in early 'cos we didn't much sleep on the train & we were supposed to start our stroll at 9am.
Before I forget to mention this, Ha was learning Mandarin, so we used bits of it with him, it was fun. PLUS! he said when approached by tribes-people selling their wares, just speak Mandarin, they will back off 'cos they don't understand the language. Ha said that most tribes-people can speak fluent French and English, so Mandarin was our line of defense :) We saw tourists swarmed by 6-8 people at a time and we didn't want to get caught in such a situation.
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