Thursday, January 04, 2007
Trekking in Sapa, northern Vietnam
While I hadn't originally planned to visit Sapa and the hilltribes of northern Vietnam located on the border with China, so many fellow travellers recommended it (and my colleague, Kitty) that I changed my plans. I took the overnight Tulico train from Hanoi and arrived in Lao Cai this morning at 7 a.m.
I then experienced one of the most hair-raising drives of my entire trip. The weather is cold and overcast here. Sapa is located high in the mountains (you can see Vietnam's highest mountain, Phan Xi Păng). The road to Sapa is full of sharp turns and the higher you ascend, the more mist you encounter, to the point that you can't see much in front of you. Motorbikes and scooters are plying the highways, often without their front lights turned on. My knuckles were blue after that ride and I almost kissed the earth when I was dropped off at my hotel. I was blessedly relieved when the porter swung open my hotel room door and there in the middle of the room was a big-ass heater spewing delicious heat throughout the room. Which is what I clearly stipulated when booking the hotel at least five times!
I ended up hiring a private guide to take me trekking and to visit a Hmong village. The Hmong are one of Vietnam's many ethnic minorities. They are famous for their black clothing which they make by producing indigo dye and dying the hemp they weave. They are gorgeous, friendly people: incredibly petite.The older girls and women wear their hair wrapped around their heads with a black, pillbox-like hat on top and large silver hoop earrings. They wear black velvet wrapped around their legs below the knee but either brightly-coloured rubber boots or plastic sandals on their feet. I was shocked as it's freezing here. I'm wearing a rainproof, lined jacket, a fleece and a long-sleeved shirt, trekking pants and hiking boots, plus gloves and a hat.
The Hmong women carry their babies either directly tied to their backs or in woven baskets strapped to their backs. Usually, they marry between ages 15 and 18 and have up to six children each. Most of the year, they work in the fields growing rice and indigo but in the winter, very little grows this far north so they embroider and weave their famous cloth to sell to tourists in the Sapa area as well as in the big cities like Hanoi and Saigon. Curiously, there were no men around the village. My guide told me that they are in the fields with the animals preparing the ground for the spring or doing odd jobs in Sapa City.
I had the opportunity to visit the inside of a Hmong house which was quite big. It had a dirt floor and two places where a fire was roaring. The kitchen itself and a sort of sitting room. Three generations of a family live together in the house (11 people) and the children were grouped around a colour TV running off of a generator. Some of the children were wearing short pants and had bare feet which I couldn't believe. We then had lunch at a Dai home. The Dai have taller, larger houses and appear to be more modern.
One middle-aged Hmong lady proceeded to follow us miles as we made our way back to the point where a car was waiting to take us back to my hotel. It was quite slippery as it was raining. She took my hand in hers (she is literally half my size) and guided me over the rocks and mud in her plastic sandals. She was so agile, like a little pixie. At the end, she pulled out some cushion covers and asked me to buy them. I didn't but did give her a small tip for guiding me so well. She seemed a bit shocked (I debated whether or not to do this) but I thought she deserved something for her act of kindness. The Hmong are poor so I knew my tip would help her out.
Right now, I'm preparing for a long soak in my hotel room's bathtub. I plan to head out for a pizza (I can only do so much Vietnamese food) and watch TV. Tomorrow, I will trek again for 15 km to another minority village before catching the night train back to Hanoi. I can't believe I will be returning to Amsterdam in four days!
I then experienced one of the most hair-raising drives of my entire trip. The weather is cold and overcast here. Sapa is located high in the mountains (you can see Vietnam's highest mountain, Phan Xi Păng). The road to Sapa is full of sharp turns and the higher you ascend, the more mist you encounter, to the point that you can't see much in front of you. Motorbikes and scooters are plying the highways, often without their front lights turned on. My knuckles were blue after that ride and I almost kissed the earth when I was dropped off at my hotel. I was blessedly relieved when the porter swung open my hotel room door and there in the middle of the room was a big-ass heater spewing delicious heat throughout the room. Which is what I clearly stipulated when booking the hotel at least five times!
I ended up hiring a private guide to take me trekking and to visit a Hmong village. The Hmong are one of Vietnam's many ethnic minorities. They are famous for their black clothing which they make by producing indigo dye and dying the hemp they weave. They are gorgeous, friendly people: incredibly petite.The older girls and women wear their hair wrapped around their heads with a black, pillbox-like hat on top and large silver hoop earrings. They wear black velvet wrapped around their legs below the knee but either brightly-coloured rubber boots or plastic sandals on their feet. I was shocked as it's freezing here. I'm wearing a rainproof, lined jacket, a fleece and a long-sleeved shirt, trekking pants and hiking boots, plus gloves and a hat.
The Hmong women carry their babies either directly tied to their backs or in woven baskets strapped to their backs. Usually, they marry between ages 15 and 18 and have up to six children each. Most of the year, they work in the fields growing rice and indigo but in the winter, very little grows this far north so they embroider and weave their famous cloth to sell to tourists in the Sapa area as well as in the big cities like Hanoi and Saigon. Curiously, there were no men around the village. My guide told me that they are in the fields with the animals preparing the ground for the spring or doing odd jobs in Sapa City.
I had the opportunity to visit the inside of a Hmong house which was quite big. It had a dirt floor and two places where a fire was roaring. The kitchen itself and a sort of sitting room. Three generations of a family live together in the house (11 people) and the children were grouped around a colour TV running off of a generator. Some of the children were wearing short pants and had bare feet which I couldn't believe. We then had lunch at a Dai home. The Dai have taller, larger houses and appear to be more modern.
One middle-aged Hmong lady proceeded to follow us miles as we made our way back to the point where a car was waiting to take us back to my hotel. It was quite slippery as it was raining. She took my hand in hers (she is literally half my size) and guided me over the rocks and mud in her plastic sandals. She was so agile, like a little pixie. At the end, she pulled out some cushion covers and asked me to buy them. I didn't but did give her a small tip for guiding me so well. She seemed a bit shocked (I debated whether or not to do this) but I thought she deserved something for her act of kindness. The Hmong are poor so I knew my tip would help her out.
Right now, I'm preparing for a long soak in my hotel room's bathtub. I plan to head out for a pizza (I can only do so much Vietnamese food) and watch TV. Tomorrow, I will trek again for 15 km to another minority village before catching the night train back to Hanoi. I can't believe I will be returning to Amsterdam in four days!
