BootsnAll Travel Network



Sapa – The hills are alive

I was really looking forward to getting up to Sapa, in the mountainous north-west of Vietnam.  It was gaining almost ‘The Beach’ – like mysticism about it – I’d never met anyone else who’d been, but almost everyone knew someone who knew someone who’d been, and by all accounts it was beautiful.  It’s where a lot of indigenous hill tribes live, so was promising to be very interesting indeed.

Because my foot was still ridiculously sore for an injury that happened a few weeks ago, any walks around the area was off limits – I couldn’t wait, though, to get there and soak up the views and the peace.  After just one day in bustling Hanoi – albeit with no sleep – my batteries were well overdue a recharge. 

Our first stop after getting off the train was the train station ticket office to book our ticket back.  That sounds really negative but actually it’s necessary, being Vietnamese holidays at the moment, to book tickets as soon as possible.  We were extra-wary as well, having met a couple who were in our (hard sleeper) carriage who paid $70 each return for soft sleeper.  They’d obviously been scammed by their travel agents, so we wanted to cut out the middle man and the chance of a scam, and book direct through the train station.  However, the mean woman behind the counter was having none of it.  “No”, she kept snapping at me, “no”.  “You must book in Sapa”.  I told her this was crazy, why couldn’t we book here, but she just kept replying “no”, and shaking her head at me viciously.  Hmmm.  Despite smelling a very large, less than fragrant rat, we had no option but to head to Sapa, one hour away by bus, and try to book when we got there.

Even though it was early, we managed to get a room with a view – and how – overlooking the beautiful Sapa hills and terraces for the bargain price of $5 a night.  Our balcony was spectacular, and we couldn’t believe our luck.  We needed fortifying before we headed out (or before Doireann headed out, and before I sat and read – listen, it’s a tiring business), so we mosied through the small town (uphill – everywhere in Sapa is uphill) to a place we’d read about and fallen in love with even before we graced its hallowed portals.  Called Baguette et Chocolate (how authentically Vietnamese!), it’s run by a French NGO with a view to helping disadvantaged young people get training and a foothold in the catering industry.  Two hefty sarnies, plates of chips, hot chocolates and cakes later, we were just about done.  We lounged about in there for longer than was decent – it was just impossible to leave. 

Doireann finally dragged herself away though (she’s a better woman than I am), and went up a walk to the nearby radio tower – although she never actually found it, due to a severely confusing map, I’m assured that there were plenty of other distractions on the way up.  I would take her word for it.

We had an enforced early night – trying to get something to eat after 9pm was nigh on impossible, we were looked at like a couple of hedonists – and so were up bright and early the next morning, determined to make the most of our last day in Sapa.  But first, maybe a spot of breakfast?  We got talking to Kenny (fae Glasgow) in our hotel, and told him all about Baguette et Chocolate.  He showed an interest in going, and well… we couldn’t leave the poor guy there by himself, could we?  Like the pure troopers we are, we accompanied him, and proceeded to stuff ourselves silly again.  Sapa was turning out to be my kind of place indeed.

Looking guiltily at each other over the crumbs, we determined a plan.  We would rent three motos and three moto drivers, and head out into the hills.  Wow, was that the best thing to do.  The first stop was a waterfall, and as we sped up the hill, overtaking each other on the way, my breath was taken away – and not because of the high speeds, but because of the spectacular views.  It was completely stunning, like the opening scene from ‘The Sound of Music’ or something.  (And as an aside, fact fans, did you know that because they used a helicopter to film the opening scene, St Julie Andrews kept getting knocked over from the wind, but like the consumate star she is, she just picked herself up time after time.  And don’t worry, there’s plenty more facts where that one came from).  We kept stopping for numerous photos, literally drinking in the amazing clean air and stunning views.

The waterfall was in fact one of the best ones I have seen so far – about 100 feet tall I reckon (though I’m an appalling judge of heights and distances, so be warned – it might have been about 6 feet).  We were amused at the start when we tried to go up the wrong staircase, and had a whistle blown at us for breaking the rules.  Such rebels!

Our second stop was Cat Cat village, where one of the hill tribes live.  Just 3km away from Sapa, it was nevertheless down a very steep road, and my foot and I gave thanks for the moto drivers who dropped us off at the top and collected us at the bottom.  Cat Cat is beautiful, and incredibly interesting to see, but I’m afraid to say it has a touch of the Disneylands about it.  I took a photo of a girl, and was strongarmed into buying a bracelet because of it.  All the people open up their homes for tourists to wander in to (we didn’t).  I suppose they are just incredibly poor, compared to the tourists, that they are prepared to go to such lengths.  I don’t know, it just didn’t sit quite right.  Nevertheless, it was beautiful and interesting and peaceful.

It was then time for us to return back, as Doireann and I had to get the minibus to the train station.  All the way there I was apprehensive, I’d envisioned a scam like the couple on the way up – we’d managed to buy soft sleeper beds but for $18, which was a bit of a leap of faith.  Our couple of days were finished off beautifully though, when we got to our lovely plush carriage, truly an airconditioned soft sleeper, shared with a lovely Irish couple, and we even got free water! 

I had no problem dropping off on this journey at all, refreshed completely by the soothing mountain air and the gentle, rhythmic noise of the train on its tracks heading back for further adventures in Hanoi.  This time I was more than ready to take on the city.



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3 responses to “Sapa – The hills are alive”

  1. Michael says:

    Glad to see you’re back travelling in comfort again. I was expecting you to have been duped into buying tickets for steerage, with the pigs and chickens!

    Baguette et Chocolate sounds like my kind of place. Although at first it did conjour up an image of some hybrid type of pain au chocolate made from a baguette… which may not be an alltogether bad thing.

    ttfn,
    Michael

  2. Mum says:

    Hi Suze, Sapa seems to be a wonderful place to be. I bet your travelling companians had to listen to you singing songs from the Sound of Music all day long. I hope you did the actions as well as singing the words!!!

    Love you lots.
    Mum

  3. Doireann says:

    I did find the radio tower….it just happened to take a little longer (like about 2 hours longer!) than the 20 minutes I was expecting!!