I’d just returned from Mai Chau to Hanoi and was about to set off again. I was due to board a night train to the mountainous north, near the Chinese border, to a town called Sapa.
Sapa is one of those iconic, picture-postcard, views most people have of the Vietnam countryside. Terraced rice paddies cradled in valleys and bracketed by mountains on all sides It’s no wonder why it’s one of the biggest tourist destinations outside of Hanoi, next to Halong Bay.
I boarded the late night train from Hanoi. My room was a four share with a young Chinese couple and a girl from a place I no longer recall. The four of us exchanged anecdotes of our travels and I shared some of my adventures through China.
Upon waking in the morning I found that we were running a few hours late. A smiling Vietnamese taxi driver met us at the platform and gathered myself, four Belgians, and an Italian into a bus to take us into town.
The mountain village of Sapa is reminiscent of a European ski resort. Large, stone-and-wood buildings with steep, sloped roofs lined the streets. A crisp, clean and cold freshness hung in the air.
Breakfast and a shower were available to us and we changed into our hiking gear and packed an overnight bag to leave for the wild and out of town.
In the town we met up with a tour guide and some local women. The guides job was to take us to our home-stay and share with us stories of the area. The local women were there as escorts to help us on the difficult paths - and, in the end, try to make some money off us.
We made our way across grassy fields and zigzagged around rice paddies. We scrambled across rocks, slipped down muddy paths and made our way up and down hills to reach the village where we’d spend the night.
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When we arrived the women departed after we bough some low quality souvenirs. The money goes to supporting the local communities so you don’t mind buying the odd item as a thanks for their help on the slippery track.
Tired, we found a small bar where we could get hot chocolates topped up with booze whilst we awaited our evening meal. We toasted the day away with rice wine, known by the locals as happy water, and went off to bed.
The next day we said goodbye to our hosts and continued our hike. Up and down more hills and passing waterfalls to finally reach the end of our hike, and the end of our stay in Sapa.
After dinner a bus took us into town and then on to the train station for another sleeper back to Hanoi.
When the train arrived in Hanoi I disembarked to look for the Belgians, to say my goodbyes. I was wondering where they had gone, I looked about for them and finally peered into their room to see if they had left the train. I banged on their window to see four sets of sleepy eyes open in confusion, then panic, as they came to a realisation that they had overslept. With haste they grabbed their stuff and left the train. We said our farewells and I agreed to meet them later in the evening for beers, tequila, Jägermeister and missing memories.
I made my way back to the hostel, checked into my dorm, and relaxed for the rest of the day - my parents would be coming tomorrow!