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| On the way to the minority village |
But maybe first things first :) Getting away from Cat Ba island was the same tough going as getting there. The buses, boat, crazy drivers... definitely the craziest bus drive I have ever had! Even though the final bus was one of the big air conditioned and luxurious ones, the bus driver was effectively spoiling the experience with blowing the horn all the time.
I probably have not mentioned the special ways of street communication in Vietnam. The rules are simple, actually there is only one, who is bigger gets the right to go. So a bus would go before a car, a car would go before a motorbike, a motorbike would go before a bicycle and a bicycle would go before a pedestrian... Because everyone is familiar with this one rule everything seems to be running smoothly and without disturbances. For pedestrians it is important to remember that they should try to avoid stopping on the road, if they move steadily forward they will get passed by vehicles without a problem. Stopping or hesitating when crossing a street creates confusion and uncertainty and they can lead to an accident. If you are scared, close your eyes and keep walking, drivers will do the job for you :).
A way of communicating with other traffic participants is... blowing a horn. One blows a horn to express or communicate that you are coming, communicate that you are bypassing, communicate that you are coming close, get other cars to move away etc. etc....
This particular bus driver was worse than all the rest. He was a real horn-maniac. While in the city the horn was bearable, it was annoying but you could at least hear your own thought. When we entered an open road he switched to the full-blow-horn which was so disturbing that it was impossible to focus your thoughts on anything else. On top of that the driver was pushing and holding it full on for really long periods of time. But Vietnamese crew and other passengers didn't seem disturbed. Anyway it was the worst two hours from all the travelling in Vietnam!
Then just a short stop in Hanoi to get organized for going farther North and hopping on a train in the evening. An overnight train to Lao Cai and then a bus to Sa Pa. This journey was very pleasant. The train was comfortable and luxurious I would say. It is nice to get lucky like that from time to time. It was very clean and well organized. I must say Polish railways could leran few things ;).
I got lazy with organization so I took an easy way and I booked the train and the whole trip back in Hanoi. I could have just gotten a train ticket and try to organize the entry to the mountains from Lao Cai, but as I had a good recommendation for a decent agent, I trusted it and booked part of the journey back in Cat Ba island, to arrive at the agent's desk in Hanoi and pay for the rest. This is convenient as often you might get overcharged trying to organize things locally at the major tourist spots. The handy thins was also that they took care of transportation to the train station (so I avoided getting ripped off by a taxi driver, which is a standard in Hanoi).
Lao Cai is the last town on the train line and from there you must catch a bus to go to Sa Pa. From Sa Pa you cab organize many interesting trekking and get to spend few days at a home stay with ethnic minorities there.
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| Sa Pa - a French colonial style town, stylish buildings somehow survived the war times in this far-out place |
Sa Pa is also good for a unique Vietnamese baths and massages. It is said to be famous and very much one-of-the-kind experience. The only reason why I have not tried it, was the price... Travelling with tight budget does not always give you all the freedom you want. Instead I bought few pieces of North Face brand cloths for a fractions of its price at home. Oh yes, Vietnam is the manufacturing spot for some of the most famous outdoor brands and this is the kind of shopping you can get the best value for money.
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| Women from Black Hmong ethnic minority. The woman with a baby was assigned to me. She was following me on the trail but as I do not hike like most of tourist the woman was having a hard time with following me around ;). |
Women from various minorities (mostly Black and Blue Hmongs) seem to have a sort of agreement with the local guides. Each guide is leading his group of tourist to the central square and leaves them there for a quarter of an hours. The minority people come and start their sales pitch. Even if you manage to refuse this time they will follow the group all the way to the village. Because usually each group is following a specific trail leading to one of the minority villages in the mountains.
This is their way of making their leaving. They do not earn much money, only for what they manage to sell. They make all sorts of handcraft things, being it jewellery, clothing, pictures, home decoration...They follow the group but each of them takes care of a specific person, it is like they arrange between each other and make pairs of tourist-and local minority. They carry baskets on their back, sometimes with little babies, sometimes with groceries. They wear heavy dark coloured woolen clothes and each of them carries a sun umbrella. While for me it was being hot, they were wearing long sleeved tops and warm tights. It is amazing how the same weather conditions can be perceived differently, isn't it?
The trek was most enjoyable. It was going down and up. Sometimes very steep and very wet. I was lucky to be getting the best weather since few months. It was hot and sunny whilst usually it can be quite misty and cool. I guess I was getting a pay back for all the rainy days in central Vietnam!
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| Local minority school with children dancing outside. |
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| View from the trek path. |
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| At the vailleg - a Hmong woman getting the rice dried. |
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| Rice bitting, father and son. |
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