"You Buy from Me?!" - Sapa -

Well, its been a while since our last post, but we have certainly been busy!

From Hanoi we caught a night train to the northwestern mountain town of Lao Cai, which is only a few kilometers from the Chinese border. We took a "deluxe" sleeper train, with four people to a cabin. While waiting for the train to depart, we were much anticipating who our fourth party member would be. Despite our fears that we might have a less than favourable fourth roommate in our cabin, we were pleased to find that it was actually a very cute little Vietnamese girl and boy. Although they were very shy at first, Candice coaxed them into the cabin with Canadian flags and pins. We had a great time playing and joking with the kids (two turned into four when their other brother and sister jumped into the room as well), until it was time to turn out the lights and doze off for our 8 hour ride to Lao Cai.

Our first Vietnamese friends!

In Lao Cai, which is a rather unappealing industrial city, we were picked up by our hotel minibus and drove for about an hour in the fog.  When we arrived at the hotel, we felt like celebrities due to the number of locals crowding around the bus waiting to meet the new tourists.  "Hello, what's your name, where you from, you buy from me?" were the only phrases we heard from the touts the entire trip...  

Touts...

Our first hike was nothing spectacular because of the copious amount of fog.  Although the fog looked mysterious, we didn't get to see the surrounding scenery very well that day.  When we got to the first village, we learned that the men get to choose their wives and the women can't refuse.  We also learned that the people play with their dogs throughout the summer, but come winter they cook them up for dinner.  This is why all of Sapa is full of puppies, and only a small amount of full grown dogs.

Candice says :(

After our hike we returned to the hotel and were rather surprised by the bathroom. The toilet and sink were normal, but the shower head came directly out of the centre of the wall, turning the entire bathroom into a large shower! We then wandered into the town of Sapa and through the market. After Candice showed interest in a handmade blanket, she was immediately swarmed by roughly 10 H'Mong touts all saying "You buy from me, you buy from me!" and shoving their blankets into her face. Seeing the incoming touts, Andrew and Chris quickly moved away, but Candice was too slow. It took about 15 minutes and some stern reprimands from Andrew to finally lose the last of the sellers. We definitely learned our lesson with that one!

A terrified Candice.

The next day we set out once again, this time for a much more interesting hike. Through the fog, we trekked up and down narrow mud paths lining the rice terraces seeing very little except what was within about 20 feet. After decending a particularly treacherous set of paths, we came below the fog and into a beautiful lush river valley.

Later that day we arrived at our homestay in a small rural village. Thankfully they had electricity and running water, but our meals were all cooked in a large wok over a wood fire inside the house. We were unsure of what to expect of the homestay, but we were very pleased to see that it was extremely well kept and tidy. Dinner was several courses, each cooked in the wok and then quickly reheated later, and was followed by a particularly potent home made rice wine that tasted more like vodka than wine. Several shots, and a few gravol later, we returned to our beds for a long and deep sleep.

We are currently in Ho Chi Minh City waiting in the lobby of our hotel for a night bus to take us to Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. 

- Andrew, Candice and Chris