Our hotel
is
very
efficient
at
booking
tours
and
it
takes
only
a
few
minutes
for
us
to
be
booked
for
two-nights,
three-days
in
Sa
Pa.
Sa
Pa
is a
small
mountain
town
in
the
extreme
north
of
Vietnam.
In
fact,
it
is
less
than
20
miles
from
the
Chinese
border.
The
French
built
Sa
Pa
as a
hill
station,
where
they
could
go
during
the
summer
to
escape
the
intense
heat.
Until
about
a
year
ago,
the
only
practical
way
to
get
to
the
mountain
town
of
Sa
Pa
was
by
overnight
train
to
Lao
Cai,
but
the
brand-new
Korean-built
highway
now
whisks
us
there
by
bus
in
six
hours.
The
switchback
road
from
Lao
Cai
in
the
valley
up
to
Sa
Pa
at
1800
meters
is
the
most
spectacular
drive
we
have
ever
experienced.
Although
it
is
better
not
to
look
out
the
front
window
to
see
how
the
driver
is
handling
the
narrow
road,
the hairpin
corners,
the
scooters
and
tractor-trailers,
the
views
out
the
side
windows
are
jaw-dropping.
Across
the
valley
are
tiers
of
rice
paddy
terraces
rising
hundreds
of metres
up
the
mountainside.
How wet
rice
can
be
cultivated
on a
tiny patch
of
land
that
it
is
barely
possible
to
climb
to
is
beyond
our
understanding.
Wow! Sa Pa and the surrounding villages are amazing! It is cold, foggy and rainy but we wouldn't have missed it for the world. We visit Lao Chai, a Black Hmong traditional village and then Ta Van, a second Hmong village. The walk is uphill in all directions through acres of terraced rice fields dating back hundreds of years. We admire many gardens and fields of rice, inspect the functionality of the many water mills and chat with the colourful Black Hmong ladies who walk with us in the clear hope we will be "shopping me" before our hike is completed. "Madame, you like buy somet'ing?"
 |
| Ladies of the Black Hmong minority group |
 |
| Tho, our congenial and entertaining guide |
We do a home stay in a village house...no heat, and the temperature drops to 2 degrees during the night. We meet the hen that is invited for supper as she arrives on a scooter! Shortly thereafter, there is a "squaawwkk...." from the kitchen and we know dinner preparations underway.
 |
| The kitchen is pretty primitive |
 |
| The sink isn't very convenient |
The owners, a young couple who are planning to marry in a few weeks, have some unexpected guests from Hanoi to celebrate the impending event and it turns into quite a party. We are introduced to Happy Water! Normally, we are highly suspicious of tiny glasses of clear spirit, but we allow our arms to be twisted enough to consume several shots, without apparent harm.
 |
| The food is fine |
 |
| Happy Water flows like...well... water! |
Dinner
is
the
aforementioned chicken
--
boiled,
along
with
steamed
vegetables
and fresh
bamboo
shoots,
fried
fish
and
local
mushroom
soup
and,
of
course, rice.
The
house
is
not
just
a
"little
bit
cold"
as Tho,
our
guide, warned
-- it
is
a LOT
cold!
Fortunately,
the
bed is
warm and
we
survive
the
night,
cuddled
together
under
two
heavy
comforters
--
at
least
until
the
roosters
start
to
crow
about
4:00am.
The
setting
and
scenery
are
stunning! The
house
sits on
the
bank
of a
mountain
river,
rushing
madly
over smooth
marble
and
limestone
rocks.
The
old
and
new
bridges,
suitable
for
pedestrians
or
bikes
only,
span
the
river
and
a
mountain
waterfall
just
to
the
left,
adds
music
to
the
night! We
enjoy
a
crepe,
banana
and
local
honey
breakfast!
What
an
experience!
Our second day takes us down, down hundreds of stone steps, through the traditional village of Cat Cat, where we admire the hand-made products of talented master craftsmen and craftswomen. All the products are very beautiful and some are complex and intricate. The silver jewelry, the stone, wood and marble sculptures, as well as the many colourful scarves, handbags, skirts, blouses from local hand-spun and woven cloth are all most tempting. The treasure at the bottom is the Waterfall. It is simply beautiful!
 |
| Near the waterfall is a small hydro generating station built by the French in the 1920s. |
 |
| Inside the hydro station is a stage where we watch traditional Hmong dancing. |
We have the afternoon free and we climb under our comforters...this hotel doesn't seem to have any heat either...to read, nap, write notes and catch up with the world. At dinner time, we find a table near a heater and persuade the staff to turn it on. We invite Karen and Chris, who arrived on the morning train, to join us for wine and conversation. Very enjoyable!
We join our new guide at 9:30 for the trek up Dragonhead mountain. It is still quite foggy, so while the views are spectacular, the fog and the distance diminish the opportunities for good photos. The mountain and gardens themselves are delightful and the rock formations are intriguing. Unfortunately, the clouds obscure our view of Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam.
Back down to Sa Pa for lunch, then we board the bus about 2:30 for Hanoi! The weather is starting to clear and the views as we switchback down the mountain, are spectacular. It also seems to be butcher day! There are men chopping meat into hunks, large whole water buffalo carcasses and a couple of fresh kills, all on the shoulder of the road. We also note groups of men eating and drinking beer on the roadside while their women work the rice paddies below!
Back
in
Hanoi,
we
return
to
our
hotel
room,
which
is
beginning
to
feel
like
home
and
go
out
for
supper
at a
nearby
restaurant.
What an absolutely idyllic place to spend a couple of days! The waters are a rich, deep green and the scenery: hundreds of limestone rock formations, rising sheer from the water, is breathtaking. We board our boat and are shown our cabin, then to the dining room. While our boat casts off and motors into the bay, we enjoy our excellent lunch and get to know our travelling companions. We have a family of three from Korea, a young Japanese man, three Italian men, and three other couples originating from Scotland, Chile and Canada.
 |
| Our boat is the one on the right |
O
ur first activity is kayaking. Neither of us have ever been in a kayak, but we decide we are game to try. Shortly, we are helped aboard and are on our way. Other than the cool water dripping off the paddle down our arms and into our laps, we decide we like it. We give a strong showing, keeping up with the leaders: Javier and Francesca from Chile and Aaron and Ishbel from Scotland. Aaron is an experienced kayaker and has participated in competitions in Europe. He is kind enough not to show us up. We make our way across the bay and through a broad limestone tunnel before winding through a narrow darker one to emerge into another beautiful bay. The tunnels are awesome! My camera is not waterproof so I did not bring it but Aaron and Ishbel kindly promise to send us a couple of their photos. Back at the dock, Francesca and Javier are interviewed for a Vietnamese promotional video and then a handful of us brave the chilly waters for a swim. Susan is the only female in the water.
Back on board we clean up and get warm and then enjoy a small Sunset Welcome Party! Fresh fruit, shrimp crisps and Da Lat wine! We learn how to toast each other the Vietnamese way: Mot! Hai! Ba! -- Zao! (One! Two! Three! -- Go!). It is loud and enthusiastic, just as it was while drinking Happy Water at the homestay in Sa Pa. This was followed by an excellent and prettily-presented dinner, after which some had massages, some tried jigging for squid and some of us went to bed!
We are up and on our way to the Surprise Cave very early this morning! It is a surprise indeed! This is by far the largest cave system we have ever been in, with three large chambers, one of which could rival a football field, though it is full of stalactites and stalagmites! We wind our way around as our tour guide, Hieu, highlights every rock formation that slightly resembles a hawk, or a dragon, or a Buddha, or a turtle; in fact anything to do with Buddhist religious beliefs. I notice all the other tour guides doing the same. We think they have overactive imaginations!
 |
| Some very strange rock formations. You don't need much imagination for this one! |
After the cave visit, we transfer to a smaller day boat, since we are staying out to enjoy a second night on the bay. The big boat returns to shore to exchange passengers, who are on a two-day, one-night itinerary. As we are the only ones on the two-night cruise, we have the entire boat to ourselves along with our own personal guide. It feels a bit strange to be the only passengers and we wonder how the company is making any money with this business model.
 |
| Our own personal tour boat for the day |
We are taken to a Pearl Farm and spend an interesting hour or two learning about the production of cultured pearls.
It is quite fascinating, as we watch oysters precisely implanted with a base particle. They are then carefully tended until the pearls should be ready: eighteen months for an Akoya Pearl oyster (white pearls), 3 years for a Lipped Pearl oyster (gold or silver pearls) and 6 years for the Black Pearl oyster. Of the oysters that are implanted, only 50 percent will survive; only 30 percent will make a pearl. Of these, only 10 percent will be jewellery grade.
 |
| Implanting the base particle with the skill of a surgeon |
We are presented with a tray-full of mature Akoya oysters and asked to choose one to see if it contains a pearl or not. We figure the chances are slim, but play along. To our delight, our choice has a beautifully-formed and quite sizeable jewellery-grade pearl.
 |
| A beautiful, jewellery-grade pearl |
 |
| Sadly, we don't get to keep it -- even though we "found" it! |
We admire the many pieces of beautiful (and breath-takingly expensive) pearl jewellery for sale in the shop before we depart. The afternoon is spent kayaking and soaking in the bits of sun that poke through the clouds. There is a light wind today and it is too cold to swim...plus there is, sadly, a fair bit of garbage in the water.
Unfortunately for us, the morning activity on our third day is the same visit to Surprise Cave as the day before, since it is Day 2 for the second group. It is suggested that we "relax on the boat" instead. While it doesn't spoil the trip, we do express our disappointment and wonder if our choice of the two-night itinerary was worthwhile. Despite that, we spend the time sitting in the sun and chatting with Regina and Badroon from Germany. They are a delightful and interesting couple and their company makes the time pass quickly.
While the boat is taking us back to harbour, we have a lovely lunch. Our bus is waiting to take us on the three-hour ride back to Ha Noi.
