D92 -- Sleepy in Sapa

Tough night: the AC wasn't great, the train shook a lot, and we stopped frequently. I kept waking up, worried that we'd miss the Sapa stop and end up in China. Of course that would never happen, but in the wee hours of the morning when you're half asleep, you're not exactly thinking straight. We arrived exhausted at 6:30 am and boarded a crowded bus to Sapa, which is about an hour away from the train station. While we were waiting to leave we saw our driver pointing his finger and talking angrily at another man, who was being held back by several other men. Yikes! Luckily the drive to Sapa was peaceful and very pretty. The road wound its way through mountains for 38km and afforded beautiful views of the valley and terraced rice paddies. It was so pretty that we stayed away despite being dead tired. As we drove along we passed H'mong people walking along the road in their traditional dress. We noticed that almost all the women wore traditional dress, whereas only a few of the men did. There was a group of H'mong girls waiting outside the Bamboo Sapa Hotel when we checked in. They all know the bus schedules and are sure to be there to try to sell their wares as all of the foreigners arrive.

We thought we'd have to wait until check-in time for our room but they let us have it early. Awesome! We were excited to see that our room had a nice view of Mount Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam, AND was on the first floor. What a treat after the 5 floor walk-up in Hanoi. $30 will buy you so much more than $10.


We fought the urge to nap and headed to the tourist office to ask about treks to local villages. They had some information about each of the hill tribes in the area, along with a display of their traditional dress and some quotes from individual members of the tribes. There was a great exhibit there of photos taken by H'mong children. They took pictures of their families, of their homes, and of tourists, and each photo had a short narrative provided by the young photographer. One girl said that tourists like to pictures of her people because their clothes are beautiful, and that she likes to take pictures of foreigners because they are beautiful even though their clothes are not. The extent of changes (positive and negative) in H'mong life that have occurred as tourism in this remote area has taken off was a big theme. It seems we foreigners bring money, but also create so much demand for craft items that some children choose to sell in the streets rather than attend school. Some people lower the quality of their work or import look-alike items from China, which could lead to a loss of the indigenous arts.

On the way to the tourist office we met two young H'mong girls, Zao and Lam. Zao is 16 and has been coming to Sapa from her village for a year and a half. Her English was good and we were surprised to learn that she'd picked it all up from conversations with tourists. Apparently some people stay in Sapa for a week or more and Zao has made English-speaking friends from all over the world. Lam is 18 but much more shy and quiet. She smiles and laughs a lot. She's only been coming to Sapa from her village for 2 months. Both of them embroider items like blankets and pillowcases and sell them for their families. It's a tiny town so we ran into them and chitchatted a couple of times throughout the day.

I couldn't hold off sleep any longer and took a nap while Thomas researched info for our trip. Afterward we went on a futile search for an ATM and stopped by the lake,

then climbed up a hill next to the town on a trail built for tourists. It was a nice walk, but a little taxing since we were both so tired and a bit dehydrated from our recent stomach problems. Beautiful views! When we got back down to town we hung out with Zao, Lam, a Hmong woman they knew, and an American guy from Tennessee who just happened by and joined the conversation. Meeting locals has been one of our favorite parts of the trip!

-Elva