Day 4

12 Dec Wed

Somewhere in London today, my brother and sister-in-law celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary.  I sent along my best wishes  because I love the magic of long distance wishes. Up till now I am still amazed at the pace of technology that has changed our lives.

Over in Sapa, we were reminded of God's goodness as the town hall's church bells tolled at 5.30am, followed by a string of dogs howling.

The same breakfast options repeats itself every day.

We had a decent rest from the rigors of the previous day, thanks to th heaters in both rooms going full blast. My single bed was lumpy and uneven, which made falling to sleep quite a bit of a problem.

Lovely breads, if you don't mind having them everyday. The fluffiest bread in Vietnam

Breakfast at 8 am was the now familiar baguette, soft fluffy on the inside and light and crispy on the outside. The only foreseeable problem would be that I would have the same menu for the rest of the stay.

Our guide, Ben, meet us at 9.30am in the lobby. For $25 per person, we have hired her for a private tour to walk south of Sapa to Lao Chai and Ta Vin, a 5 km walk. She had earlier walked 4 km from home north of Sapa, the black Hmong village, for just 1 hour.

Our driver drove us past loads of tourists trekking southwards like we did , 6 km down Cau May St, towards Lao Chai. I am ashamed to say that we sauntered instead of trekking that we were in the end left behind, even by the 'begger entourage.' Even those tribal women hoping to earn a few dollars by holding my hand gave up following because of poor business 'prospects'.

Held like a dowager lest I fall, these assistants hope to earn some tips at the end of the day.

 

A 'gift' which was reciprocated by a tip at the end.

Getting an entourage fit for a 'celebrity'. Left most is our guide, Ben, from black Hmong tribe. She lives 4km from Sapa.

Piglets in the mist

The fog prevented us from seeing much but the atmosphere was anything but gloomy.

Bridge hanging over a river looks eerie in the mist.

The entire  Sapa area was shrouded in fog and we could not see beyond 10 m. We made out vague outlines of rice terraces, were thrilled by black piglets, gigantic geese, chickens brooding under the mother hen and a couple of bored, off duty water buffaloes.

Lunch at a guest house, all part of the walk

Our lunch place

We reached Ta Vin for lunch, a bare bones guest house,  and ate at the veranda  in  fog and all. A group of Caucasian trekkers were there before us and playing with a shoe-lace starved pug. By now, my fever had gone full throttle and I lost all appetite for food. I left my noodles untouched. My difficulty at walking and eating made a dent in the enthusiasm of the other two and I suspect, my guide as well.

Misty the whole day, we could hardly make out outlines of houses in Ta Vin

The walk after lunch to the pickup point was the quaintest. We walked in between rice terraces on narrow paved paths, cobbled stones over brooks and rivulets. 

Kids going to school

Traipsing among paddies on the way back

Our driver picked us up at the end of our 'trek' where we drove in complete fog at 2pm beside the cliff back to Sapa town. I secretly wondered if any cars ever drove themselves down the ravines, seeing the crazy way they drive - overtaking motorbikes and trekkers.

These two were unaffected by the mist or cold

I spent the rest of the afternoon in bed, nursing a fever and severe chill, while the rest explored 120 channels of cable TV. P went down to Cau May St where panadol, amoxycillin and smecta can be had by just pointing at  them. Pharmacies were a plenty and well stocked with English speaking pharmacists at hand to help.

This was what we got from our 4 km ( 4 hour ) trek.

Dinner at Little Sapa, our first of two meals there.

The panadol worked wonders but not after many hours of sleep. Sunset came early at 5.30pm but the severe cold and heavy fog made going out very un-enjoyable. At 7.30pm , we dined at Little Sapa , 18 Cau May St, where we had the best and cheapest dinner of all. For $12, we had 2 huge plates of fried rice, tofu,spring rolls , beer and tea. The food was lip smacking good and at a very decent price.

Little Sapa, the rare affordable restaurant in touristy Sapa

In spite of the trek, it was a slow moving day, mainly because I was sick.  The other 2 had other forms of entertainment surfing the net and discovering, to their delight,  that their photos displayed on deviantart were purchased online.  In a sense, it was a nice compensation and a nice end to an otherwise dreary day.