Sapa

Hello all!

I'm currently in Rome, but this post will be about Sapa... hence the title. I landed in Rome last night and am staying one night in a hostel then moving over near the Colosseum to a room that I found on AirBnB with a girl named Alice! Should be cool!

Anyways, Sapa. Oh my goodness. What a beautiful, serene place. I wish I had stayed more days there, but I had booked a three day Halong Bay trip and did not really have time to stay longer. I probably could end up staying a week in Sapa. I loved it.

First, it was in the mountains, so a TEENY bit cooler than the busy, crazy streets of Hanoi. Second, it wasn't as crazy or busy as the streets of Hanoi. Thirdly, I met the nicest (nicestnicestnicest!) people there.

Georgia, Cinthia, and I took a day train (never.again.) to Sapa on Tuesday. It was ten hours. It wasn't that bad, but I definitely will not be doing it again. We were the only foreigners in our car, which was pretty cool actually. We got to witness the interactions between the Vietnamese families first hand. I'm pretty sure most of the families were not traveling together, but whenever a family had some sort of food, be it cookies or fruit, they shared it with everyone. It was quite an experience.

So we got to Lao Cai and had to take a bus up into the hills. It was really windy, but I didn't get sick, whew! Once we got to Sapa, I knew I was going to love it. Cinthia and I went to our hostel which was a bit of a walk from the main part of the town, but it was great because it wasn't too nosy or anything. We met up with Georgia after showers for dinner and walked around a bit. It was definitely great.

Our first full day, Cinthia and I went to a place that we read really great reviews about called Baguette and Chocolat, or something to that effect. (Because Vietnam was settled by the French, you can find a bunch of French stuff, like architecture and food there, pretty swell) Anyways we got there and ran into Georgia! Neat-o! We spent a good amount of time there and decided that we'd walk the 3 km to a H'mong village by the name of Cat Cat in the valley. It was mainly all downhill but we saw the most spectacular sites. Rice paddies and waterfalls and streams and just green green green, EVERYWHERE!

That night we went to the night market and ran into two H'mong women, Tu and Lily. This happens quite often, as they are roaming the streets selling their crafts, but even if you don't want to buy anything, they just want to sit there and chat with you! SO NICE! I love it! Anyways, that's what happened with Tu and Lily, we just sat around and talked for a while. We found out that they were taking some people on a trek the next day and we asked if we could join up! They said yes! YAY!

So, on Thursday, we set off in search of Tu and Lily. We found them. Oh man, the cutest cutest women! I love 'em. So we set off towards Tu's home. She walks 3 hours to Sapa almost everyday and three hours home the next morning. She has 7 kids at 32 years old. She's so nice. We asked a lot of questions and got all the answers, it was so neat!! On our way, we saw many many rice paddies! I asked Tu if it would be okay if I planted some rice and she said totes (but not really). So, when we ran into some people planting rice, she asked. I promptly took off my shoes and socks and walked into the rice paddy. It was super squishy and muddy. They handed me a handful of rice plants and I got to work! I was smiling and giggling the ENTIRE time because I was so giddy. I kept saying "This is awesome!" over and over. They were so nice to me. When I finished with my first handful, they gave me another! Great times. Afterwards, I sort of washed myself with more dirty water and put my shoes back on and went off again.

Tu's little compound type of thing has a bunch of animals: ducks, chickens, pigs, and she said they even have a water buffalo, but I didn't see it. She started making lunch for us and we played around (sorta) with her seven kids. It was pretty neat. I was so happy. She and Lily fixed a magnificent meal! It was so delicious, but I couldn't finish it. I tried my hardest, because I didn't want them to think I didn't like it, but I failed miserably. After lunch, we bought a couple of their crafts and they shoved free stuff into our hands.

So, smiling big, we started off back towards Sapa. We got a bridge and ordered mototaxis to take us back to the town. My mototaxi decided to break down halfway there, but I got another one easy. Super.

Once back in town, we said our goodbyes to Tu and Georgia, and Cinthia and I went back to our hostel to wait for them to take us to the bus station. That night Cinthia and I returned to Hanoi. It was about an 11 hour drive, but the bus was a sleeper bus! Literally! They had seats, but they were laid down allllllll the way, so they were practically beds. Excellent.

I loved Sapa. Really. What a wonderful place filled with the nicest people. I would totally go back in a heartbeat.

Peace, love & (oh how I miss it!) KIMCHI!