Day 40 - More rain, more trekking and goodbye to Sapa

The Sapa Squad.

Day 40 - 02nd August

It was just after seven when I actually woke up, a cat miaowing repetitively and children's cries contributing to the disturbance of my sleep.

The local church.

Around 8 am, I got up and went downstairs. It was still raining heavily and only Za and her family were awake. I stood out and looked across the valley at the mountains. What a way to wake up! After a discussion with Za, I went to look at the local village. Hearing the local church-goers singing hymns, I went to see what a mountain church looked like, and it turns out, it's not that much different. The only exceptions being the building has corrugated iron sheets for walls and roofs, the seats are plastic chairs or benches with no back and their is no alter, just a reverend standing in a space up front. Other than that, it's no different, yet it was still bizarre to see it in a different language.

When I headed back for breakfast, Jordy was next up. I told him I'd balls up (again) thinking breakfast was at 8:30 am instead of the agreed time of 9:30 am but all was forgotten quickly when those amazing pancakes came out with banana and honey. It was so much better than the crap the hotel gave me, which had been just round discs of uncooked batter, forcing me to swallow it down with large gulps of water. Everyone ate them with tea or coffee and morale in the group for the second day of hiking was good, even despite the rain.

Another great view.

We met Za's husband and I asked about the story of how they met. She said they met on New Year's Eve and were dressed in sparkly attire. They were in the same tribe, the Zi tribe but lived five hours apart. Long story short, they married and at 20 (Za) and her husband (22) they now have a bambino. Ahhhh.

This picture does it no justice!

We set off and soon saw how much it had rained as mini waterfalls gushed over pathways and roads. Dylan didn't hesitate to walk through it, and soon, the herd followed, with a few taking off shoes and socks to cross the rushing water. With a majority of wet feet and soggy socks, we made our way to the waterfall.

The waterfalls.

Rickety old bridges, talking to U.S. Zach about teaching in Korea and George jumping up and down on the crossing bridge to wobble it made it more fun to get to the waterfall but once we arrived, all the slips and chaos were worth it. It was an incredible view and we all had great opportunity to get some good shots of it.

Serious egg cooking problems in Vietnam. It's all rusty.

Another mini trek and we reached our lunch stop. We had fried eggs on a noodle broth. A strange combination but tasty all the same. The broth was followed by bananas for desserts. Dylan managed to draw the local population of child sellers (serious, bloody a huge group of 'em) and haggled with them for bracelets. Soon, the creepy, doll voices came out from the day before, 'you want a bracelet, buy one from me.' A funny experience, especially when he tried to get them to play rock, paper, scissors for them.

The crazy kids.

And that was our two days of trekking done. Gone by in a flash, as I notice everything does when you're enjoying every second. I also noticed when you're not having fun, whatever that thing is you're doing takes an eternity, and the bumpy bus back to the Sapa View Hotel was brutal. Bouncing up and down and hitting myself in the nuts with a bottle of water made it all the more harder (no joke intended!)

Za, our Tour guide.

I found the postcard for Nanna (expect in 10 days or so, Ethel darlinnn') and we boarded the bus back with boiled eggs (just imagine the smell) to Hanoi and a nice hot shower and bed. Nope, I'm not sharing with Jordy and Sèbastien. I was in a six bed dorm with three French men, a German and English woman. And we had a wet room instead of a shower! And the French men had left wet foot marks everywhere and beard trimmings. Perfect!

Another great couple of days, with glorious views, great people and memories a plenty. Thanks to all involved!