We werent 100% sure about visiting Sapa as we hadnt heard too much about it but we had a few days spare and felt we'd done everything we wanted to in North Vietnam. It turned out to be a good decision, a beautiful mountain town with rice growing on stepped plateaus built into the side of the mountains, waterfalls everywhere and a wide river cutting its way through the valley. We hired mountain bikes one day and biked up to the Silver Waterfall about 20km north of Sapa. Unfortunately it was also 20km uphill which hurt after pretty much no exercise in 4 weeks. The waterfall was pretty cool but to be honest i was more eager to get back on the bike to do the downhill section...which was awesome. very little traffic and lots of bendy mountain roads to whizz down. Great fun.2 hours uphill and about 20 minutes back down it.
The next day we hired a scooter and decided to travel a bit further afield to some of the surrounding villages. We werent exactly banking on having to navigate rivers running across the road, the road turning into a boggy mess and dogs,chickens and geese that wanted to taste my ankles at each corner. At almost every village we passed people waved and shouted hello at us too, i also lost count of how many times i had to tell people that i wasnt Daniel Craig. They seemed quite disappointed that i wasnt in the new James Bond movie.
After 2 days in Sapa we had to make the decision about how we would get over the border into Laos. It is possible to do it directly from Sapa but the crossing in the very north has only been open 18 months so they are still feeling their way with the procedures and diplomacy. We'd also read a number of horror stories online about this crossing requiring 3 days in a minibus along some of the worst roads (and most ill equipped buses) in Vietnam...so in the end we decided to do it anyway. You only live once right and a story about being stranded in the jungle between Vietnam and Laos would be a pretty good one to tell.
In the end, the trip probably wasnt as bad as we were expecting but the conditions were fairly gruesome. I counted 27 people on a minibus that had 18 seats at one point. Every time the driver pulled over to let someone else on the travellers all groaned with disappointment at the prospect of losing yet another inch of seat space. Perhaps not quite as loud as the suspension was groaning though as the bus heaved its way from one pothole to the next. Unfortunately the best parts of the road were nearest to the edges which brought us ever closer to the sheer drop into the valley...i did actually wonder on a number of occasions whether the tragic deaths of 2 British travelers, a Korean family of nine (now thats brave) and 16 Vietnamese would make the front page of any newspaper. Probably page 3 of The Mirror i decided (Papa would no doubt skip straight to the Sudoku and only get to the article about the death of his grandson around mid-morning.)
Border crossing was fine, not sure what all the fuss was about...my visa and all passport details carefully transcribed by pen into a small exercise book by a Laos border officer. My only advice would be dont use the toilet at the border crossing, Tash is still having nightmares.
Another three buses and 3 days on the Laos side of the border brought us to where we actually wanted to spend some time. We now have a fantastic air conditioned room in a place called Luang NamTha in North Laos quite close to the Chinese border. Plan to do some biking/trekking/kayaking here for the next few days.
Books: 'First they killed my father' by Luong Ung. A true story about a little girl growing up in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge (Pol Pot) during the 1970s. Amazing story, pretty harrowing in parts and incredible to think about the things that happened to a 6 year old girl and her family.
Most drastic action in the name of food: The Korean family we met on the Laos border crossing had shipped boxes of food from Korea to Vietnam so they didnt have to eat any of the foreign muck (most of which were piled high on top of the minibus in the pouring rain). The way the 3 teenage korean boys kicked and pulled the boxes up the hill after the final boat ride into Laos showed how pleased they were with the idea
Most flagrant breach of health and safety regulations:
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