LAO CAI to SAPA-Of The Overland Trip: HK-Shenzhen-Yunnan-Vietnam Feb/Mar06

Lao Cai to Sapa

(Edited from an email to M at the Lao Cai Railway Station on 7th Mar 2006)

Once over the Vietnam side, i can tell the diff in the efficiency n quality of the service, esp where transport is concerned. The Chinese r definitely a shade ahead. i had an exasperating time waiting for the bus to set off from Lao Cai to Sapa. i got on the minibus (12seater) at 2.45pm,(Vietnamese time) the bus moved off to all over Lao Cai to collect passengers before returning back to the original spot again to wait for some more passengers! Finally, we only get to really set off for Sapa at 5.15pm! i was already developing a headache after no water n no food for the whole day thru the ardous journey YuanYang to Hekou that i told myself i should hv just remained in Yunnan and not come over to Vietnam at all !

Sapa

When i arrived in Sapa, it was already sunset and as expected, foggy all over.The saving grace was The Auberge where i stayed. It's really got some class, its boss n staff, except the manager(the boss' son) r really nice, warm and welcoming, the rooms are built in a French villa style building with mini gardens along the corridors, the USD15 rooms came with real fire places but i decided to take the USD10 room which was already v spacious, with a bathtub, an electric Ariston water heater n TV. Had a good night's rest, though the damp and cold was as bad as Yuan Yang's. Could really do with a cozy fireplace...:)

Early morning view of Sapa town from The Auberge:


Sapa Bac Ha Sunday Market

(Markets in the villages around supposed to be a social place for the young men and women from various villages in the mountains to meet up and get to know each other and hence start a relationship, hence the weekend market in Bac Ha used to be called 'love market' but due to the influx of curious and nosy tourists, you hardly see any 'action' at this 'touristy' market between the young men and women but apparently, the 'love markets' are still quite prevalent in the more remote parts of the mountains.)

The next day was a rainy day in Sapa, still i went to Bac Ha (USD10) with a very lovely Swiss couple n their very very adorable 4yr old girl, another elderlyFrench couple with their Vietnamese friend who speaks French and is the boss of a hotel in Hanoi. He invited me to stay at his place when i return to Hanoi. Bac Ha was not raining, but the weather was rather gloomy and somehow the market wasn't quite as interesting as the last time we were there, some stalls were missing. Come to think of it, it's very similar to the ShengCun（ 胜村）Market over the China Yuan Yang side. Maybe, due to the proximity of the two places which are near the border, the people have similar culture, might even be from the same origin. Took a lot of pics of the Flower H'mong with the digi as well as the film camera.

When the market buzz died down, we went on a shorter trek (compared to the last time you were here), this time into the village very close by.

We had a little time left due to the shortened trek and were lead on a stroll along the Vietnam-Chinese border which i found a waste of time since i had walked over from the other side the day before.

That night i shifted to The Queen 'cos they had a room with fireplace that only cost 4USD, but room was right at the top and it's definitely no joke climbing up and down the steep stairways of Vietnamese houses esp. when u keep forgetting something u want to say to the staff downstairs at the lobby and there's no intercom. i had a good taste of that when i was abt to take a bath and found out the heater didn't seem to be working, had to put on all my clothes again, run down to the lobby, asked the staff to come fix it and then run up again. After she's 'fixed' it, (actually the switch was in off position lah but no indication of it mah), i attempted to take a bath again to find that it's still NOT working, this time i just put on the towel, ran down 4 storeys again to tell her. She said i would have to wait for 30mins for the water to get heated, well, she could have told me earlier b4 she went down , right? i was freezing in my towel and quickly ran up again. Finally after the bath, i still felt cold and decided to have the fireplace lit. Afterall, the fireplace was the main reason i shifted over. Well, i've never have to start a fire in a fireplace or keep it going in my life so that was quite an experience, not one i would like to relive again. It wasn't quite like a BBQ fire, somehow the papers and the damp wood that was supplied to me by the staff didn't burn too well and i had to keep on restarting and fanning the fire to keep it going, else it died quickly. Can u imagine me, getting in and out of bed the whole night, trying to fan and keep the fire going cos it was really really cold, think most of the cold air come in from the chimney, and the hotel didn't supply thick blankets like those in China.