Sapa: A beautiful drama

I was warned how cold it would get in Sapa... I brought my fleece jacket and scarf, and guess what, they were totally not of much use. I had to take them off bit by bit as the heat got to me!! It was a sunny morning!

After an early breakfast, all of us checked out and waited for the trek to begin. It was alarming to see the number of guides standing outside our hotel waiting to pick us up for the trek. We were separated into groups of 8-9. As the groups slowly trickled away, more and more women or girls in ethnic costumes joined in. I had about 5-7 of them following my group, I trekked with two Canadians, a German family and a Japanese. So if you're wondering why they are following us, you will soon find out. I was not with the French and Danish anymore as they were staying one more night at the homestay and were in another group.

I have to say Sapa is worth every penny and sweat, the sight is simply breathtaking.

I believe everyone had a different route but we got to the same destination. Mine wasn't the easiest, we had some slippery steep slopes to go down and my almost 100 bucks worth of trekking sandals wasn't even up for it. The tribal women were doing a better job in slippers and wellies! But I was fortunate enough a 8 year-old tribal girl seemed to be sticking to me, she was helping me all along and even got me 1-2 more assistants along the way. I found myself a bamboo climbing stick :p That said, I did owe her a big favour after the trek which I have to repay by agreeing to buy souvenirs from her. Like I mentioned, tourism is hitting this place hard, they quoted exorbitant prices for them. I bought from 3 of them after managing to push down the prices, not cheap but I guess something I would agree to for all the help offered during the trek ;)

Guess whose the real guide?? ;) The one with a hat, 3rd from the left.

After the 3-4 hours trek, a tedious one by my standard, we finally settled down for lunch. Before that, we were bugged by these people to buy souvenirs ;) Expect 2-3 times the price from Bac Ha market. After lunch, we continued a stroll down the villages, luckily, nothing down steep slope. It was an easy and relaxing walk, passing by many buffalos, pigs, chicks, stunning rice terraces and some handicraft shops. By then, my travel mates had separated from me, while me and the rest headed back to the hotel before our overnight train.

A shower and then an early dinner at 5pm. I bid farewell to the Japanese trek mate as she left to take an overnight bus. A van took us to the train station and we waited for the guide to retrieve our train tickets. At about 8pm, most of them got theirs and made their way to the station. I was stranded with 2 guys and a paranoid old lady. When it came down to just two of us, me and the German dude named Tobias, we felt something was wrong. The guide kept telling us to wait and could not give us our tickets. We were led to the ticket office but could do nothing except wait. The irresponsible guide then left us there.

Tobias got furious and started swearing at the staff, I actually was very calm. I didn't mind if we had to stay an extra night provided we did not have to sleep at the train station. But I tried to tell them they could give us a VIP cabin if our cabins were overbooked. We met an uncle (who seems Singaporean), he told us the train tickets are controlled by black market meaning the tour agencies whom had reserved a big portion of them and only to let go at the very last minute. Tobias then got impatient and started ringing his hostel and mine, which perhaps worked, and we got our tickets in Orient Express cabin, a much better one than the one I arrived in. We shared with a German couple, both very nice and spoke excellent English too. It was a dramatic night, Tobias illustrated to them. I managed to get some sleep but instead of getting cold, it was very warm in this cabin.

Then the usual, someone came knocking on the door, we had arrived. Tobias left, and I bid farewell to the German couple. I was alone again at 530am, and somehow I managed to bargain for a satisfactory motorbike ride to my new hostel, May De Ville.