Sapa Vietnam: Had to mention this place

June 3, 2013  Monday

After two days in Ha Long Bay, I took a bus back to Hanoi arriving around midday.  I returned to the hostel that I had stayed at while visiting Hanoi knowing l that I didn't need a key to gain access to the showers, so I took advantage of this and got clean.  I had about five hours to waste until I was supposed to get picked up and brought to the train station for my overnight ride to Lao Kai, which is on the border of Yunnan Province, China.  

This hostel, and its sister hostel a few miles away, are like a transport hub for all the backpackers in Hanoi.  I ran into a few other people who I had been in Ha Long Bay with, as well as, people I met while staying in Hanoi.  It is quite a nice and comfortable place and it was at the Hue version of this hostel, with the owners, that I went on a free trip to the beach about a week later.  I wrote about that experience in my blog already if you are curious. Also if you go to Hanoi check it out.  Hanoi Backpackers Hostel.

In the evening after eating dinner, I returned to the travel agent where I booked all of my trips in northern Vietnam and hung out with the owner there.  Eventually I was taken to the train station and given a card with the name of the hotel I would be staying at in Sapa.  They told me that once in Lao Cai there would be a man who would be holding the same card waiting for me and not to accept a ride from anyone else.  Once inside the train I wandered for a minute because I couldn't find my room and asked a friendly man with his family for assistance.  He directed me to my room and which bunk of the four in the room was mine.  A few minutes later two Vietnamese women in their 40's joined my room and got into their beds.  They attempted to talk to me but after they realized I could not understand they gave up.  The empty bed in the room was occupied just as the train was about to depart by a Vietnamese man who never spoke a word to the three of us.  It was a somewhat comfortable ride and I slept well.

We arrived in Lao Cai under cloudy, rainy skies and sure enough a man holding a card with my hotel's name on it was waiting for people as we got off the train.  He directed us to a van and we made the 45 minute journey further up into the mountains to Sapa.  I booked a two day trek in Sapa which included a one night home stay with the local villagers.  We were told that the local people would guide us from the hotel to the village and we should eat breakfast and prepare to leave.  I debated about renting hiking books, but after being unable to find a pair that fit quite right, and thinking my shoes would do just fine, I decided against it.  I am glad I did because a Spanish man with the group rented a pair and later told me how uncomfortable they were.  At around noon a group of travelers accompanied by our village trek guides departed from the hotel and began our journey to the village. 

View from the hotel after breakfast and before the hike.

Setting off through town to begin the hike.

Once walking, the guides, who were all women, spent time getting to know each of us.  I was told prior to doing the trek that they do this to butter us up so they can sell us something once the trek is over.  I knew this and didn't mind if that was the case and spent the time getting to know them a little bit.  It rained for most of the first part of the trek, so we all put on our ponchos.  The rain made the hike a lot more interesting, as slipping and falling seemed like a near certainty, and I think everyone fell at least once.  The guides would hold our hands to help keep us on our feet, but they couldn't hold all of our hands the whole time. My guide had never studied English and learned just by guiding travelers like me.  She was in her 40's and eventually asked me to make sure I buy something off of her when we stop for lunch. 

The vistas during the hikes were amazing.

Here is a picture of my guide from the first part of the hike.

The modern world is invading this culture in many ways and this aqueduct is just one of the more obvious ones.  The locals did not seem to thrilled about this, but I think it was also going to be used to make hydroelectricity.

During our first break I was swarmed by little girls who were attempting to sell me bracelets they made.  At the time I did not want to buy them, but I really wish I would have now.  I think they were selling them from some really cheap price. I can't remember exactly but I think it was around 5 or 10 for 1 dollar.

Another traveler took this picture of me and sent it to me.

During lunch I did buy something from my guide and we were well fed.  There were many children there begging us to buy something from them.  They would say in unison "You buy one from me" over and over.  It was heart breaking to see these little girls begging us and it also got a little bit annoying because they wouldn't quit.  In these villages all the men and boys work in the fields and the women and girls make little bags, purses, and bracelets during their free time and then attempt to sell them to the tourists.  Tourism is really changing their way of life. 

Eventually we arrived at our "Home Stay" which was not actually authentic as advertised.  Some people did actually stay with families, but my group was just staying in a building that was converted into a place to house travelers. Our "Home Stay" was run by three women in their early 20's who live there and feed the travelers that come through.  That night they cooked us dinner and sold us beer.  After dinner the girls there relaxed inside and watched a Korean Drama on TV.  This was the first time I realized how popular these Korean shows are throughout Asia.

After dinner we walked down the small road to a place where many foreigners were drinking and I ran into a group I had met at Ha Long Bay and we had some drinks and laughs together.  At around 11 PM my group, which consisted of myself, two British guys and a British girl between 19 and 21 years old, their Canadian friend, another Canadian guy of about 20, and a Spaniard who was about 40, returned to the "Home Stay" house.  The girls running the "Home Stay" requested we not stay out too late and we didn't want to disrespect them so we returned and continued to drink under the stars outside the house.  We got pretty drunk and really enjoyed the true darkness of the village because we could see so many stars.  A local who was a driver for one of the other houses stopped by and I talked with him for a while.  He told me how he had never been outside of this valley except back and forth to Lao Cai and had never been to Hanoi.  One of the guides during the day told me the same thing and I could not imagine living my whole life in the same few miles without ever leaving this valley.  Especially when they always meet travelers from all over the World.  He too had never studied English and learned just from conversations like the one he was having with me.  The villagers we were staying with were not even Vietnamese.  They were from Mongolia, but were forced to flee their homeland because they were being oppressed and settled in this area of Northern Vietnam.  There were 5 different villages in these mountains and all of the other ones were originally from this region except for the one we were staying with.  They told me that they cannot speak Vietnamese that well either and just speak there local language.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast and prepared to hike back to the hotel in Sapa where we began our hike the day before.  During the hike back my guide was a 19 year old woman who had a tiny baby attached to her back.  At one point she asked us if we wanted to do the hard or easy way, and we all said the hard way was fine.  After a short hike through a forest we ended up at a terraced rice patty and she told us we would cross via the ledge rice patty.  None of us seemed to keen to do this, but what choice did we have at this point?  The Spaniard attempted this first and sunk in immediately.  Next I tried and the ledge collapsed and I sunk into the mud all the way to my knee.  I had to be pulled out by two people.  Only the small Canadian guy who weighed about 120 pounds could run across without any issues and the rest of us required the help of a guide to make this crossing.

Here is the Canadian in the distance almost all the way across as the rest of us look on.

The 19 year old woman with the baby on her back held my hand the entire walk across the mud ledge.  My foot was larger than the ledge itself and every step was a very unsure one.  Several times I nearly lost my balance completely and fell off the into the water.  I only made it because she was holding my hand and steadying me.  I didn't really care about falling into the mud, although it would have been wet and dirty.  I was concerned that if I did suddenly fall I would pull her and the baby with me.  She told me not to worry and just keep going.  All the guys felt a bit foolish having these tiny women helping us across, but in all fairness they do this everyday, weigh a lot less then us and have tiny feet so they didn't disturb the mud ledge as much when they stepped.  I wished I had practiced my balance more during those moments, but most of the time it didn't matter how well I balanced because the mud would just give way under my feet.

Here is the ledge looking back afterward.  (At one point during the crossing the woman helping me took my water bottle from me so I could use my hands to balance better and she dropped it into the water.  After we were safely across she went back with the baby still on her back and got it for me despite me telling her not to.) Interesting note: I didn't hear this baby cry once during the entire day.  It must make this journey every day also.

Here is my guide and the baby.

These rice patties are really an amazing engineering feat.  I wondered how the farmers felt about us walking across their terraces and leaving quite a few damaged spots.  The guides did not seem to really care about the patties we were disturbing.  I think because the villagers get a lot of revenue from the tours that come through there it is worth the damage to their operation which they can fix without to much trouble.  Also they are all part of the same families, so they know whose farm they can walk across.

Tonight's dinner.

Once back in Sapa I took a shower and ventured into town to locate some of the locals in traditional clothing like the ones who guided us.   I wanted to purchase some more of the little purses that they make by hand.  After I had bought a few during the trek from my guides, I realized that these would make really nice gifts for my family back home.  So I walked into town and located a group of three women and told them I was in the market to buy 12.  The next thing I knew I was surrounded by about 15 of these women and they were all shoving their bags in my face.  As I was deciding which ones I liked, and testing the quality of the zippers, two of the women told me I should leave and pointed behind me.  There was a crazy little guy around my age lurking behind me.  They told me that he was going to try and pick picket me and I should leave and walk up the street and they would follow me.  I began to walk and he followed me.  Feeling that I may be in danger of being robbed, I felt adrenaline rush through my body and I turned to him and told him to go away very forcefully using my hands to suggest this.  But he was out of his mind and fearing I may punch this guy in my defensive state I walked away.  As I was walking up the street I saw a policeman and pointed at the guy following me and he shook his head as if to say "What do you want me to do?  He's crazy and he's here everyday".  So I just walked up the street and the women waited for a few minutes and then began to follow me.  They met me after the crazy guy was gone and I bought 12 more of these little purses.  The women who didn't sell me anything followed me all the way back to my hotel, and I felt bad but I knew they would get a chance to make a sale to some other traveler later.

With a backpack full of gifts for my family, and my shoes covered with a fresh coat of mud, I boarded a van back to Lao Cai to catch another overnight train back to Hanoi.  I felt the trip to Sapa was very enriching and eye opening.  I got to see and learn about a world that still exists the way it has for centuries, but may disappear as the modern world continues to encroach on their way of life.

To China

October 3, 2013  11 PM

I landed in Beijing after an eleven and a half hour flight from Seattle.  I then collected my bags and after a confused moment wondering why no one was waiting for me near the baggage carousel, I realized that I needed to walk to the next room.  I gave myself a pass on my stupidity because I was extremely tired after over twenty hours traveling from my home in New Jersey.  In the next room I spotted a small Chinese man holding a sign with my name on it.  This was already better than my arrival in South Korea where there was no one to pick me up for over 30 minutes.  The man could not speak English, but he led me outside to his car and then said "140 KM".  I acknowledged that I knew Tianjin was a bit of a drive and we were off.

Once on the highway I immediately noticed how bad the air quality was.  Since arriving in China I would say that this night was one of the worst I have seen.  The man driving also had a really bad cough and I began to wonder what I was doing in China.  I realized later that he was sick, but looking at the air outside and hearing his cough did not make me feel good about being there.  Also the driver did not know the way to Tianjin and parked to look at his GPS between turn off ramps and the highway about five times.

Eventually we arrived in the city and he pulled onto what appeared to be a sidewalk (I now know that these "sidewalks" in China are part of the road).  He got out and walked around as I was dazing in and out of sleep, but it was clear to me that he had no idea where we were going.  He then got in the car and pulled up a few hundred feet and got out and disappeared behind some buildings.  At this point, I looked outside and it was clear that we were in a busy part of the city, but there were no cars or people to be see because it was nearly 2 am on a Thursday night.  Soon after, he got back in and appeared to have figured out where we were going and we pulled up into an apartment complex and he signaled to get out.  I got out and we removed my bags from the trunk and I looked around.  My first impression of this place was quite negative as it seemed dirty and there were old bicycles everywhere.  We approached the entrance of the building and he pointed up and said "seven, no lift".  I realized that this meant that I would be carrying my 60 pound bulky bag with wheels up seven flights of stairs.  I took a deep breath and summoned some strength in my sleepiness and made the climb without stopping.

Once inside the room he handed me a note from my school with instructions for the next day and gave me a bag with a comforter and small pillow in it.  He also showed me how to use the water heater, gave me my key and then left.  Once alone I went to sit down on the bed to breath a sign of relief to finally be at my final destination.  I sat down quickly expecting a soft bed, but my rear was greeted by the hardest bed I have ever felt.  In the moment when I expected the familiar and comforting feeling of a soft bed I instead met a truly unwelcoming feeling.  As I sat there with my butt hurting and beyond tired, I felt a sense of loneliness and uncertainty and an instant that bordered on panic.   There I was alone in this unfamiliar, seemingly dirty place with almost no idea of where I was and no way of contacting anyone since I had no phone or internet connection.  I sat in silence for a few minutes and wondered if I had made a grave mistake.

I knew I needed a way to cope with this anxiety on my own since I had no one to talk to about it.  So I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and imagined the way my apartment and surroundings seemed to me the night I arrived in South Korea.  I imagined the cold, dark hallway outside my room in Gimhae with the winter air blowing from one opened end of the corridor to the other.  I remembered the unwelcome feeling of the chilly air of my room because of the previous tenant leaving the back door open. I remembered how, on that first night, my apartment felt so foreign and not like home at all.  I thought of the empty roads of Gimhae at midnight and how they appeared to me in my sleepiness that early morning of December 1st. Then I remembered what happened on my second day in Korea.  I thought of how when the sun came up, and the city came to life it all seemed far less foreboding. I remembered how my apartment was transformed into my home and how saying goodbye to it was a sad day for me.  I thought of how the strangers in the city eventually became people that I knew and was welcomed by.  I was comforted by this wisdom and knew that this experience in China would turn out the same way.  My life in Korea turned out to be the most rewarding thing that I had ever done, but it too started out with a few moments of fear and uncertainty.

With my new sense of calm, I began to unpack my things. First, I took out the comforter that the school had purchased for me and put it on my bed only to notice that it was about the size of half of my bed.  I didn't really care too much because this was a huge bed and I would only need half of it anyway.  I then unpacked my bags and put my things in the two huge dressers next to my bed.  At about 3 am, I laid down for the first time in my bed in Tianjin, turned out the light, and fell asleep calm and relaxed.

The reason I am reflecting on the anxiety I felt is because many people tell me that I must be brave to go across the world to a completely different place where I cannot speak the language.  The truth is that it scares me a little bit also, but I don't allow myself to think about that too much before I leave.  I focus on the adventure that I am about to embark on and I know that there will be moments of fear and anxiety. But I like not knowing exactly what will happen to me because it makes me excited about my life.  I look forward to the challenges and uncertainty that this life abroad brings and will continue to bring me.  It keeps me curious about what is next and constantly optimistic about where I am going and what I can do if I allow myself to come face to face with something that scares me and move past it.


Connecting flight from Minneapolis to Seattle.  This is somewhere over the Dakotas during a thunderstorm.

Outside my apartment during the day.  It is far nicer during the day!

Here are some pictures of my apartment my second week.

Notice that the sheets don't cover my bed completely.