Finally - a trip in Vietnam! It's kind of crazy that a year in we still had traveled our new "home country" so little, so when we really needed a change of pace to take our minds off some really tough stuff, we went on a trek to the North of Vietnam to a place called Sa Pa in the Lao Cai Province.
But before I begin, I'd like to pay another tribute to our beloved Dex. We still miss him dearly. This is one of my favorite pictures of us, as an official family once we were married and when we took him on our second honeymoon to South Padre Island. He
loved the water, almost as much as us, and almost as much as we loved him; he was such an awesome dog, and he was our family, our baby. (We had and appreciated the best family snuggles.) As long as we were all together, we were always home, no matter where we were. He will always be part of our pack.
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| The Marotto Family |
The Journey There
We started our journey via night train. As most of you know, Johnny and I are both a little guarded, so we weren't interested in sharing a car with strangers that might steal our stuff as soon as we dozed off, and we'd never been on a night train before, so we opted for the private car. (Really, what good is taking the night train if you have to stay up the whole night?) At any rate, it turns out that when you rent a private car you just buy all 4 tickets for the same car! It was great though, because while it's nice, those rooms are also cramped, so we fit comfortably with just the two of us. :)
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| Getting settled in for the evening.... |
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| Our little table/play area for the evening. (And this was the deluxe car!) It was super dark so we couldn't see anything outside. |
Since we began traveling, we have started a life-long game of Rummy. We got nice and comfy and started playing; we racked up quite a few points that evening.
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I think he kicked my tail that night. That's his sandbagging, pity me face - don't let it fool you!
He was vicious and scored over 200 points on me! |
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That's me, deliriously tired, but still trying to make a comeback. I should have known when to quit....
but I just kept digging myself deeper. |
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| Crashing for the rest of the night. |
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| This is the "stop taking my picture" move. It didn't work ;-P |
The beds were better than we expected - we were actually able to get a fair bit of sleep. The only downside was that since they were very, very small, we couldn't both fit. :( We normally can cuddle up and sleep comfortably on a couch all night if need be, but this was tight even for us. Luckily, we had 4 bunks, so we each got one, as did our backpacks. It felt weird going to sleep without one another right next to each other, but the back and forth rocking of the train on the tracks had a surprisingly lulling effect.
It was about a 12 hour train ride, and we woke up around 4 or 5 a.m. and we were almost there. It was neat being able to finally see the scenery around us!
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| Still resting a bit, the scenery was pretty to watch go by. |
As much fun as we had on the Fanxipan Express, we were glad to get off. We were in Lao Cai, but we still had about an hour drive to actually reach Sa Pa. The hotel we booked picked us up and the drive was beautiful yet bumpy - very bumpy. We were with several other people in the van and dropping people at various hotels. We were peeking at all the different places we stopped, some of which we "uuhhhg"ed at and other which we gave an approving nod. When the van was about half way empty we stopped at one hotel to which Johnny and I both raised our eyebrows to each other in awing approval - it looked quite nice. Then we heard, "Sa Pa Lodge" called - the hotel we booked! We totally lucked out with an awesome pick! (You can see the places you book before hand, but you never quite know in Asia.) This was one of the first times we've ever been stoked about our hotel pull-up. We went and got settled in and showered and then came down for breakfast. (I promise, it's not a plug for the hotel, but it was a nice place to stay!)
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| Our place for the next few days.... |
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| Checking out the view.... |
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This was our view - a little foggy in this pic - but it was gorgeous!
Sometimes we'd just go stand at the window and look out at the mountains. |
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| And to keep with modern amenities - we had hot water and a western toilet. |
It's funny how our checklist has changed so drastically for accommodations. Now the first things we check for are: private room, hot water, western toilets, A/C and western mattresses. Not that we had a problem staying at a "La Qunita" before, but we never realized how much we took for granted. It seems much more glamorous after some of the places we've been to. Nonetheless, this was a very nice hotel, and talk about reasonable! Admittedly, I was a little nervous about where we'd stay in the rural areas of a small third world country - but we were pleasantly surprised with Sa Pa. It's the perfect outing to the true countryside, but with a nice little town that accommodates tourists that don't want to leave things like western bathrooms behind.
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This was the little garden right below our room - inspiration for a future garden of ours!
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After getting cleaned up and eating a quick bite, we set off on our first trek to a village called "Cat Cat." We also made our way to "Sin Chai" village down in Muong Hoa Valley. The views of the valleys and rice paddy fields were amazing - not to mention Mount Fansipan which is the highest peak in Vietnam and all of Indochina!
We were allowed to trek through the villages of the Black H'mong Ethnic Minority to learn about how they live and do things like weave and embroider. It was so interesting seeing the whole process of making indigo - so much work is put into it! It's an impressive culture that is true to its roots.
We found our way, (thankfully because we kept falling behind our tour) to a beautiful waterfall. There was a small community theater there too and we even got to see some of a dance performance!
On with the pictures!
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| A small stream we found on the trek. |
The Trek to Cat Cat
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| The Ethnic Minority ladies carry these baskets all through the hills! |
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Heading off - we were not very good at staying with the group -
even at the beginning we were already trailing behind. |
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| Seriously though - how can you just walk past that?! We couldn't help but stop and take it all in! |
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| What we spent the day trekking through - not too bad of terrain - but still involved a fair bit of work. |
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| There's my handsome hubby - I just can't get enough of him! |
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| Water Buffalo at work! |
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| The rice paddies and the terraces are all tended by hand. |
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| There's Mount Fansipan! |
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| Me in Sa Pa! |
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| Locals stopping for a rest |
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| Checking out how the rice is dried. |
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| Stopping to support the community and pick up a few souvenirs. |
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| Up close on one of the terraces |
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| I found they way they run fresh water to be amazing! Simple yet effective. Once this fills the weight of the water will dump it downward to be redirected to wherever they want it to go. This isn't just an example of how it used to be done - this is how the Ethnic Minorities really still do it today! |
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I was wondering what the bench like structure in the middle was for - never found out though!
I'd imagine not for sitting because everyone was always working so hard when they were in the terraces. |
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| Inside a local home in the village of Cat Cat. |
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| Johnny trying his hand at grinding rice - just one of the many steps in the process! |
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| The kitchen area |
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| I don't want to hear anybody complaining about their kitchen anymore.... |
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| Pigs stroll around the neighborhood |
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This is where some of the material that's been dyed is drying - the whole indigo process was really interesting!
(And obviously some of the wood piles they must keep to keep warm and cook in the cold winters.) |
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| A loom and blanket. |
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| Some of the things they've made. |
This lady invited us to see inside her home too. I forget exactly how many, but somewhere between 12-16 people live here.
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| Kitchen |
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| Where they dry/store their corn |
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| Dining area - they usually all eat together, so it's tight quarters I'd imagine. |
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These are such strong, hard working women! We have great respect for the Ethnic Minorities of Vietnam!
Learning about how most women there only have 2-3 days off when they have a baby, then they strap the baby on their backs and bring them into the fields with them gives us such admiration for them! |
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| On a trail |
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| Little girl playing |
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| Learning more about the lay of the land. |
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| We found the waterfall! Kissing the love of my life <3 |
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| Some of their native attire - beautiful! |
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| We got to see the last part of the performance! |
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| Hubby getting some fresh air - it got hot in the performance hall! |
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| Chilling and watching the water fall at the waterfall :) |
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It was so cute - this elderly man came and filled up his water pitcher straight from the river!
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One last stop by the waterfall before we head back out....
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| A sweet lady we met. |
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| Lovebirds on an adventure :) |
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| He loves me :) |
Trekking back from Cat Cat
A fair bit of the trek there was downhill, so obviously a large bit of the trek back was uphill. It was long and somewhat tough, so there aren't as many pics on the way back :p
Just beautiful!
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| There were lots of these! |
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| Tackling them one set at a time! |
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| Classic Sa Pa! |
There were some interesting bridges we had to cross on the way back....Johnny (again, rightfully so,) usually pauses to check them out before blindly crossing them, but as such, I like to tease him about it....
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| I believe his words were something to the effect of "You seriously want me to walk across that?" |
They upped the anti on us the next day - I think it was about a 10k. After breakfast we headed out for another trek. We journeyed toward the Muong Hoa Valley and the scenery was breathtaking. Sprawling natural beauty manicured by hand - it was quite impressive. Then we did some downhill trekking to visit Lao Chai and Ta Van village homes of Black H'mong and Dzay people. We ended the day with a late lunch with the locals, chatting more about their lives, customs, culture and even a bit about religion!
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| Finishing up, we were tired! |
Another day, another 10k!
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| Power-breakfast before we left. |
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| Lots of smoke! |
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| They were burning the stalks today! |
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| Checking to make sure all is a go....turns out this is a tough trek, so not many people wanted to do it. |
The beginning of our hiking areas for the day....
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| More so a beat down path than a trail. |
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| Ah, the easy part! |
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| Our guide was very sweet! |
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| Spotted some indigo fabric drying - it's so dark it looks black to me from a distance. |
Everything looks so small from far away. But it all comes to life, and gets much bigger, once you get there! We made it to the tiny white bridge and the speck of a house below.
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| One of the villages we went through. |
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| Peeking at where we were heading. |
Checking out some naturally occurring berries and these hard nut-like things.
Our guide told us it was strong, but safe to try. Johnny was, rightfully so as it turns out, raising an uncertain eyebrow.
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| Doesn't look like much does it? |
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| It was incredibly bitter and sour tasting! I'm not including the pics Johnny snapped of me scrapping my tongue! |
A little bit further on, once the bad taste passed, we found a small waterfall. (Okay, I could actually still taste the bitterness, but it eventually went away.)
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| Yay - another bridge - Johnny's favorite! (Teasing my husband again. :p ) |
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| Johnny on a trek through SaPa Vietnam. |
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| Look how sturdy that bridge looks! No wonder why he loves bridges ;) |
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| Actually it wasn't that bad, just missing a few planks mostly. |
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| We spent a few minutes here - I really liked this place. |
We went with this guy named Ben. He was nice. He was there with his sister, but she wasn't up for the trek, so we hung out with him that day. Here's Johnny snapping his photo.
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| He looks like a pro-photographer doesn't he? |
Next valley, Suio Ho I think it was, here we come!
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| As per his usual, Johnny bought a goofy hat. Hey, I have no qualms with it, I like that he keeps himself safe from the sun! |
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| It was very peaceful and pretty. |
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| Some areas were tougher than others.... |
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| But I did it! Check out my handy-dandy water bottle holder I picked up one day while we were there. It's super convenient - I have no idea why we don't have these back home. |
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| I made it, AND I found some chickens! |
If I remember correctly, this is a peek into Ma Cha Village which is inhabited by the Black H'mong.
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| Garden |
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| That's the school house for these kids. Things are so different in different places. |
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| Continuing on.... |
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| Terraced rice fields |
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| She was waiting on us, she makes this trek like a trooper! |
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| Johnny and Ben passing some kids, and Johnny humoring them with his Vietnamese. |
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| Hey look - another bridge! |
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| I hope this one is built to support foreigners! |
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| I don't know why he worries about things like bridges.... |
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| It's funny, because I packed mostly warmer clothes. I figured going to the mountains in October would be chilly. I sure am glad my hubby nudged me to bring a pair or two of shorts just in case, because by the second day it was quite warm! That's why many of my outfit choices look a little funky, it was more so necessity over fashion. But then we saw these kids wearing jackets and looking chilly while we were steadily sweating! |
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| A couple more piglets, we came across lots of them! |
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| Me asking, "Watch out for what....?" |
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| Sure would stink to roll an ankle or anything out here....don't worry Mom, I'm always cautious :) |
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| Look at those hot chicks playing in the mud! |
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| Ben and I both thought being up close and inside the rice terraces was so neat! |
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| little river |
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| Little piggies! I think the piglets were Johnny's favorite part. He LOVES these things - it's really adorable. |
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| Big, mama piggy |
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| Looking back....crazy we trekked through all of that! |
Heading off to Ta Phin Village....
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| The Red Dzao live here. This Red Dzao lady walked with us for a large part of the trek. |
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| My Vietnamese is lacking, but we managed to chat a bit. She is about 50 years old, and she thinks it is beautiful there. She was interested in where we were from, and had some sweet things to say about me. :) |
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| Water buffalo - many of these are used to do farm work here. |
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| We were a little slower than the guys.... |
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| Holding up a massive rock ;) |
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| Tiny little waterfalls trickle through these terraces. |
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We came across some cows.
It's funny, they're not startled by humans, yet so few come through, so it's seemed odd.
It's interesting, and kind of ironic. |
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| My hubby is so sweet. He thought my sunscreen was wearing off, so he stuck his hat on me for the last bit of the trek. |
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| So pretty! |
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| Panoramic shot of Sa Pa |
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| More big piggies, nursing from their big mama. |
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| Drying rice at a little house at the end of our trek. |
We went around the town at night at bit....we were tired from the treks so not too many pictures of the town, but it was a charming, old fashioned town! It was neat seeing so many of the ladies with their indigo goods being sold in the streets in the evening. Somewhere in-between the days we enjoyed the local food, bought a beautiful blanket from the family of one of our tour guides, picked up some great winter jackets, and strolled around the town. I wish we'd taken pics of the town so we could share those too, but really the treks were the most fascinating parts. Mom, you'd have loved this town - so quaint with rolling hills! Oh well, live and learn, next time I won't be lazy and I'll bring a camera at night too. Who'd of thought I'd be saying that one day?! Here are a few pics from one night.
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| We found the Catholic Church. |
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It was interesting that they left the tree alone,
and built up the sidewalk around it :) |
Well, if you ever get the chance, check out SaPa. I think it makes the list of things worth doing while you're in Vietnam. Do those bags look familiar....? Yup, we packed up and headed back to Hanoi.
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| There are those backpacks agian! |
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| There's my handsome hubby - he has such a good sense of direction - in so many ways. He always gets us around so well - we're getting on the night train to take it back to the city. |
We made it back to the French Quarter early the next morning. We grabbed a taxi and made it back to the house safely. So, that was SaPa. It was a good distraction, and the fresh air was good for us. I know the pain of losing Dex will never go away, but it will get easier to deal with. We were so lucky to have him. He was the greatest. I've never seen a bond like the one he and Johnny had.
Sending our love to everyone,
Jenni
