{"id":24,"date":"2008-04-20T12:27:39","date_gmt":"2008-04-20T12:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/?p=24"},"modified":"2008-04-20T12:27:39","modified_gmt":"2008-04-20T12:27:39","slug":"tuesday-8th-april-to-saturday-12-april-hanoi-and-sa-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/?p=24","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday 8th April to Saturday 12 April, Hanoi and Sa Pa"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>here’s not a huge amount to say about Tuesday really – just that I spent another day <\/span>enjoying the old\u00a0qaurter of Hanoi, eating and pottering.\u00a0 In the evening I <\/span>went to Mau’s bar with Olly and met up with Alex and a few other people f<\/span>rom his hostel prior to his returning home to Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The following day I was slightly more productive and sorted my visa for <\/span>Laos out and also booked my train ticket to Sa Pa, a small town in the <\/span>North Highland region of Vietnam from where it is possible to visit the <\/span>“ethnic minority” villages.\u00a0 I’m still really uncomfortable with that as a <\/span>term but no-one here seems to find it offensive!\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The train journey to Sa <\/span>Pa was more comfortable than my previous sleeper train.\u00a0 This time there <\/span>were only four bunks and two of them were occupied by two friendly English <\/span>girls.\u00a0 I still struggled to sleep though which was a bit of a pain, even <\/span>without a Vietnamese man grabbing my feet to offer me hard-boiled eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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When we arrived in Lao Cai on the train I got a shared mini-bus to Sa Pa.\u00a0 <\/span>It quickly became apparent that the reputation Sa Pa and the surrounding <\/span>area has for its spectacular scenery was well and truly justified.\u00a0 When I <\/span>arrived in Sa Pa I looked at three hotels.\u00a0 Although the first was lovely <\/span>and had a view over Mount Fansipang (I think that’s right I spent so long <\/span>calling it fancy pants that I may have bastardised that somewhat) I felt <\/span>obliged to sum up the competition.\u00a0 When I returned to the initial hotel <\/span>the room I had been shown was taken and the one next door had a terrace if <\/span>you looked down and out of the window.\u00a0 It transpired that this was very <\/span>handy as I managed to get the room for under $5 which was a feat <\/span>considering it had two big beds, was lovely and had a gorgeous view.\u00a0 I had <\/span>a bit of a nap, went for a wander and bumped into Vaughan, one of Olly’s <\/span>housemate’s friends.\u00a0 We decided to take two Xe Oms to a local waterfall <\/span>which was truly stunning.\u00a0 After looking round the waterfall we found that <\/span>the road was closed on the way to Tramton Pass, apparently the highest <\/span>road pass in Vietnam.\u00a0 Oh, I meant to say that Mount Fansipang (which I <\/span>could see from my hotel bedroom) is the highest mountain in Vietnam but I <\/span>got a bit carried away with it being Fancy Pants again.\u00a0 Can you see how <\/span>traveling has matured me?\u00a0 God, what’s with all these asides today?\u00a0 <\/span>Right, so the road was closed and we went through this whole rigmarole <\/span>with the drivers who wanted more money if they were going to have to wait <\/span>for the road to be cleared of boulders before taking us to the next <\/span>destination.\u00a0 Having been told it would be around an hour and <\/span>re-negotiating a price, the road mysteriously opened again.\u00a0 Typical!\u00a0 It <\/span>was worth going to the pass as the views were truly spectacular, if s<\/span>lightly misty in places.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That evening we returned to Sa Pa and went to our respective hotel rooms <\/span>to clean up.\u00a0 When I got back I was handed a candle which I presumed meant <\/span>that there was no electricity.\u00a0 I realised when I got back to the room <\/span>that I had nowhere to put the damn candle and had to make a strange <\/span>improvised candlestick using a vase and various other implements.\u00a0 I then <\/span>had a shower by candle-light which was both serene and surreal at the same <\/span>time.\u00a0 There were also some very odd naked lady soft core porn tiles in my <\/span>bathroom which added to the oddity.\u00a0 Another missed photo opportunity I’m <\/span>afraid.\u00a0 The tiles I mean, not me in a candlelit shower, I’ve had enough <\/span>comments about the website title already without needing pictures like <\/span>that!<\/span><\/p>\n

I then met up with Vaughan again, went and got some food and went for some<\/span>\u00a0drinks.\u00a0 We went to a bar in Sa Pa with locals including the Vietnamese <\/span>minority women, one of whom turned out to be a crazily good pool shark, <\/span>infact she was one of the best players I have ever encountered.\u00a0 There was<\/span>
\nalso a group of other local women sitting round a table playing cards for <\/span>money at great pace.\u00a0 It was very strange to see the almost juxtoposition <\/span>of cultures and these sweet little Vietnamese women in beautiful <\/span>traditional dress engaging in very Western games.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The local Vietnamese women were hilarious actually.\u00a0 A lot of them now <\/span>sell crafts to the tourists and have an excellent command of the English <\/span>language.\u00a0 One of them asked if Vaughan and I were boyfriend and <\/span>girlfriend, when he replied that we were just friends she said, “Now <\/span>friends, tonight girlfriend and boyfriend”, which was relatively amusing.\u00a0 <\/span>Vaughan also seemed to get some comedy attention for his long hair (it’s\u00a0<\/span>shoulder length).\u00a0 He recounted a story to me from his guesthouse when he <\/span>gave them his passport.\u00a0 Apparently the proprietor asked if it was him in <\/span>the picture, was shocked and said something like, “but you look very <\/span>handsome there”, – he had short hair in his passport photo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Actually the Vietnamese are a very blunt Nation in general, this is not <\/span>reserved to the tribal “ethnic minority people” (euuck!).\u00a0 Olly often <\/span>reports back having taught his classes of adult Vietnamese learning <\/span>English.\u00a0 In one class they were discussing crime and <\/span>one of the female class members said, “One of my friends is in prison”.\u00a0 <\/span>When Olly asked why she initially stated that he took some money over the <\/span>border.\u00a0 Olly quizzed her further thinking that this was a harsh punishment not befitting the crime and she replied that, “it was quite a <\/span>lot of money and …… he was a gangster.” which seemed to make it somewhat <\/span>clearer.\u00a0 Another of his female students had some time off as she was <\/span>having an operation on her eyes.\u00a0 Infront of the class Olly welcomed her <\/span>back and asked how the operation had gone.\u00a0 He was somewhat shocked when <\/span>she replied that it was, “terrible” upon asking why he received the reply, <\/span>“now I can see how ugly everyone in the classs is!”<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Anyway, I think that may have been another of my digressions.\u00a0 Back to Sa <\/span>Pa…..\u00a0 So the next morning I woke up, met Vaughan and we went and got <\/span>some breakfast.\u00a0 We decided to go on a walk to one of the local villages (although we kind of went the wrong way and didn’t see the village).\u00a0 <\/span>On the way back the route was all uphill and I was feeling a bit rubbish <\/span>so we got two mad xe oms back.\u00a0 En route we passed a man on a <\/span>motorbike with a snake tied to a stick still alive (the snake not the man although he was too of course) <\/span>which was relatively amusing and also slightly worrying as we got quite <\/span>close.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The minibus trip back to the station that night was amazing.\u00a0 The <\/span>mountains were all misty and mystical and I was listening to my Ipod.\u00a0 It <\/span>doesn’t get much better then Cafe del Mar in misty mountains in Vietnam <\/span>with your head out the window breathing in the fresh moist air.\u00a0 Did that<\/span>
\nsound pretentious?\u00a0 Actually I don’t really care if it did.\u00a0 If it’s any <\/span>consolation I came back from Sa Pa with a stinking cold which is yet to <\/span>go!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0The train ride home was again fine although I don’t know what it is with <\/span>people on trains and my feet.\u00a0 An Australian guy got up half-way through <\/span>the night and managed to use my foot to lower himself down to the floor!\u00a0 <\/span>I won’t complain too much though as he and his wife were lovely, I talked <\/span>to them for some time and also as I can’t remember either of their names!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I got back to\u00a0Hanoi at 5AM in the morning.\u00a0 Olly had booked a tour to <\/span>Halong Bay with the bus leaving at 8AM.\u00a0 After numerous attempts and <\/span>sitting outside his house in the street for three hours, he eventually <\/span>emerged very apologetic.\u00a0 I won’t elaborate on this here as I was slightly <\/span>frustrated to say the least and am not sure that you would all appreciate <\/span>the expletives!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s not a huge amount to say about Tuesday really – just that I spent another day enjoying the old\u00a0qaurter of Hanoi, eating and pottering.\u00a0 In the evening I went to Mau’s bar with Olly and met up with Alex and a few other people from his hostel prior to his returning home to Germany. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zelmastrip.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}