Around Sapa on a Hongda

08.16.2007 - 08.21.2007 0 °F
View The Big Trip on tommydavis's travel map.

To view full size photos and captions click here:
http://www.travellerspoint.com/photos/gallery/users/tommydavis/

I took a night train from Hanoi to the mountain town of Sapa and was immediately greeted by smiling Hmong people and reasonable temperature. Actually, I think this is the first time in over two months that I have not sweat buckets just sitting down. (Some of my friends here claim I should see a doctor about how much I sweat, no joke.) I originally tried to put together a motorcycle tour of North Vietnam on a 125cc Russian Minsk, but the logistical support proved too expensive, so I settled for a three day, self-guided tour on a Chinese piece-of-shit.

Day one I spent most of the time with Claire and Anna, enjoying a bit of mountainous motorbiking until the girls had a low-speed accident on a flooded part of the road. Neither of them suffered more than a few ankle scratches and ass bruises: very fortunately, but their brand new bike was a bit scratched, and had a broken mirror. I stood beside Anna as she returned it, expecting to haggle down extortionate repair fees, but the shop didn't seem to notice right away so we walked away very quickly, running when we hit the corner. The girls skipped town a few minutes later (off to China) so I have to give a final farewell to Claire, Nicola, and Anna: great travel companions through Cambodia and Vietnam.

About an hour before sunset, I rode in a small Dao Tribe village called Ban Ho. Of course their were no English speakers here (but strangely a few Spanish speakers) and people looked at me quite confused as to why big white guy just rolled up on a piece-of-shit Chinese motorbike. I managed to find a home-stay for $2 and met up with a couple of Canadian sisters (Mei and Mei Ling) that I had met the day before, doing a similar motorbike adventure. Dinner with the family included about 15-20 shots of various homemade rice wine / bath-tub gin concoctions that had to be preceded by loudly shouting, "Mot, Hai, Ba, YO!!!" I think we also finished all the beer in the village that night.

Day two was spent hiking to a tiny mountain-top village called Ta Trung Ho where we were greeted with a reaction more bizarre than I could imagine. Imagine some big, sweaty white guy and two Asian (but very much Canadian) girls showing up, pointing to their empty water bottles. Everyone just looked at us strangely and shook their heads no, even when I pulled out a few thousand Dong to demonstrate that we would pay for water. When an old women with two teeth kept staring at us and a drunk old man started chasing the girls, we decided we would rather hit the road and risk dehydration than stick around. We made it back okay.

Anyway, the next few days were as follows: saw some amazing scenery, motorbiked some awesome roads, got sick on the night train to Sapa, and went on a 30-hour, eight-vehicle marathon bus ride with a high fever and puking until I got into Vientiane, Laos.

As a final note on Vietnam: I am counting my blessings for being the hell out of this country. The South was a bit more mellow, but simply existing in the North permeates your soul with stress and I think I aged two years in the last two weeks. As a tourist, you must be on your toes every step of the way here to avoid being ripped off or scammed by someone on the street, guesthouse owner, or "reputable" travel agent. Also, I am not exactly sure, but I think the locals out here despise me and all other tourists (I did not get this feeling in the South.) Oh yeah, and Hmong guys have legs like Tom Platz.

Anyway, Laos is awesome and way more mellow. I'll get another update out in a couple of weeks.

Tom

Scene from Sapa