First day in Sapa

Royal View Hotel, Sapa Town

The train stopped at the Lao Chai terminal at 5am. It was before sunrise, and we were picked up by a car that took us to Sapa Valley in a 40 minute ride. The air was very humid and cold.After our shower and breakfast, we began our trek to the Cat Cat Village which was about 3km from the Sapa town.

Our tour guide had an energetic personality and he had been on this job for 3 years. Just like other Vietnamese here, he did not pronounce his ending consonants. Therefore he would say "ri" for rice, "langua" for language. It took a bit of adjusting on our part. After coming from Hanoi, we realized that a reasonable tour guide was a hit-and-miss. Therefore we were quite happy with this guy as once we got past the language barrier, it was evident that he was quite knowledgeable.

It was an easy stroll. We were surrounded by picturesque mountain scenaries. Looking down from the edge of the mountain we saw stepped rice terraces neatly lined up along the curve of the slopes. The air was still cool but we were blessed with a clear sky.On the streets we were followed by a group of locals dressed in traditional tribal clothing and were trying to sell us their arts and crafts. We later learned that these were the Black Hmong people who live in the Cat Cat Village.

The tour ended before lunch and for the rest of the day we roamed around Sapa town on a motorcycle. There was more in the town than what meets the eye. In fact, I thought the market/shopping area was larger and much more interesting than what I saw in Hanoi. We stopped by a stall that sold handbags with local embroidery. Actually we did not mean to buy as we just wanted to check the prices. But Sachin got into a bargaining mode and he managed to get the price very low. In the end, we left the stall without buying anything, and the village lady followed Sachin, gave him a slap in the head, and jokingly said "you bargained and did not buy from me!".

Sapa was a beautiful place. We were constantly chased after by local children who wanted to sell us things. Some came to me thinking that I was Japanese and would be more likely to buy from them. But even though we had to say no everytime, it was a joy to talk to them. Our visit to Vietnam here would have been a wonderful one if it was not because we felt cheated by our tour organizer.