Day 4: Sapa Trekking (Monday, June 30)

The night train to Sapa was very Agatha Christie. It's high season for tourists in Sapa in Northeast Vietnam because in the winter it gets really cold there. It sometimes snows and the temperature hovers around freezing for a few months. Even in summer, it was only around 20 C at night.

We arrived early in Sapa and explored the town a little before starting our two day trek. Wherever we walked, there were women, Black Hmong women, who were very aggressively trying to sell us their handiwork. It was not that hard to get through them with a purposeful walk and no eye contact, but once you looked at their stuff, it was very difficult to get away.

I was really worried that I was going to hate the trekking because as we were driven to where we were to start hiking, all I could see was tourists walking down the road with gaggles of women all around trying to sell them things. We did have an entourage for the first half day of our hiking, but they seemed to leave me alone and only were selling to us at rest stops. I loved their outfits and really wanted to get one. The clothes are made from hemp that is hand-spun and then woven and dyed with indigo. It was really cool stuff!

Six of us hiked all day with a guide through just incredible scenery. It was sunny and hot and gorgeous, but the air was thick enough with moisture that the photos don't do it justice.

In the evening, we came to a stilt house where we were going to spend the night. We dropped off our stuff and went to a hot springs (warmish) that was developed into cement pools. We sat over-looking a powerful river and terraced rice fields that were turning emerald in the sunset. It was glorious to wash the heat and dirt of the day off.
We returned to a great dinner that was cooked in a very basic kitchen. The upstairs of the house was made of split bamboo. There were lots of sleeping mats and pillows with good mosquito netting, but it was so incredibly hot. I've never laid in bed and have sweat pour off me like that! It wasn't until 3 or so when an incredible thunder/rain storm hit that the heat broke. It poured for hours and was wonderful to sleep to.