After a bumpy six hour bus ride further south from Yuangyang we came to the Chinese border town of Hekou on the Red River. On the opposite side sits the Vietnamese town of Lao Cai. We walked across the bridge and using the visas we obtained in Kunming we stepped into Vietnam. First priority was to get some Vietnamese cash and we emerged from an ATM booth feeling rather financially robust with two million Dong in our pockets. We walked up and down the street in the drizzle until we found a minibus to take us the 40km up into the mountains to the south west to the town of Sapa.Sapa was established as a hill station by the French colonialists in 1922. A picturesque town, it overlooks a sweeping mist-shrouded valley and is surrounded by peaks including Vietnam’s highest, Fansipan at over 10,000 feet. The region is home to many different ethnically distinct hill communities including the Hmong, Dzao, Dzay, Giay and Phula.
When we arrived late in the afternoon Sapa was blanketed in a thick fog and the air was wet and chilly. We checked out a few hotels before settling on the Thuy Family Guest House at the end of a touristy but attractive street and with an excellent view down the valley from the balcony off our room. After a dinner of Beef Pho (Vietnamese beef noodle soup), we adjourned for dessert to the Highland Bakery where we ordered coffees and a piece of brownie each. The two million Dong in our pockets didn’t seem quite so substantial after we settled the Highland’s bill for 100,000.
We got really lucky yesterday after only one night in Sapa. In the morning the fog and mist that had obscured the town for days lifted, revealing a bright blue sky and the great valley views for which Sapa is renowned. What’s more, we discovered that a major New Year’s festival was to be held that day in the village of Ta’van 11km down the valley and would be attracting people from across the region. By 9am there was a stream of motor bikes, buses and people heading down the valley road out of Sapa towards Ta’van. We found two seats on a minibus and were in Ta’van a few minutes later. The hills’ villagers were out in force in their finest clothing, with the people of each community easily distinguishable by their distinctive dress. Within each community all members wore identical outfits, even carrying identical umbrellas to provide protection from the sun.
The festival was informal with a number of group games held in a central arena. The occasion appeared to be largely an opportunity for everyone to dress up, to gather and to talk with their friends. We strolled around the festival ground a couple of times before lunch and then enjoying a bottle of beer in the shade while we chatted with a couple from California on their first visit to Asia. There were many other tourists at the festival and in Sapa, mainly Europeans. Mid afternoon we decided to beat the crowd that would later stream out of Ta’van, but with no buses running at this time, we jumped onto the back of a motorbike each, asked the drivers not to speed, and swept back up the valley road to Sapa for our second and final night in this great little town.
We plan to saunter around the attractive streets of Sapa today and return to Lao Cai tonight. Right now we're ensconced in the warm, accurately named Friendly Hotel sipping coffee, watching the activity on the street and tapping away on our laptop using the Hotel’s broadband wireless internet connection. It’s almost lunchtime and we're thinking of ordering the fresh transparent Vietnamese spring rolls or possibly the pork and mint salad with sauteed eggplant. There’s just no getting away from having to make the tough decisions, not even in Sapa.
