Getting to Sapa from Singapore

Sin - Hanoi

Air Vietnam flight 662 was among the cheaper options we had. Flight was rather uneventful except for the occassional turbulence. But the attentive service of the staff helped to lessen the discomfort by ensuring that the flow of drinks is tended to.

Upon landing, we quickly got the VinaFone SimCard for 300kVND. It gives unlimited 3GData for an entire month. It is the best bundle one can get for a short holiday in Vietnam. Thereafter, the Tourist Counter assisted in the arrangement of land transfer to the train station. For US23, we got a quick ride through busy traffic to and through Hanoi and in plenty of time for the train transfer to Lao Cai.

To be able to have the cabin to ourselves, we bought all the bunks for the four-soft-bed-sleeper. A tiny cabin with enough room for knee-space between bunks in two levels. The tickets the agency got us were for US$170. But when purchased over the counter (which we bought in advance for the return journey) the same-four tickets cost us VND2200000 (SGD132). Tuition fee for this lesson cost us SGD74.

However, it helped remove the anxiety of checking into the right train-cabin. The tickets we bought was for Livitrans. There was also Sapaly, Victorian and Fansipan cabins. Counter and other service staff at the station were not entirely helpful. They speak little English, were impatient to hear your concerns out and could not be of any help. This was alleviated by the agency staff we bought the tickets from. As a first experience, it was worth it. We might have missed the train entirely. Now, having experienced this, we could now know what to look for. Just listen to the announcements (only in Vietnamese), and follow the crowd.

Hanoi - Lao Cai
The journey through the night from 2015 passed through towns and villages with a couple of quick stops now and then. The ride is bumpy and the twists and turns of the tracks (unavoidable in train travel) does help to steal the deep REM sleep away from us. The cabin however (designed for four) was comfortable for the two of us. Toilet and wash facilities are however shared with all on the wagon. Much in the same ratio as that on a tourist bus.

Arrival in Lao Cai was at 0500 am. On time.

Lao Cai - Sapa
Upon arrival, we were whisked into a mini-bus with 8 other travellers. We arranged the transfer through our hotel, the Sapa Luxury Hotel for US2.50. If via private car transfer, the cost will be about US20.  It was a pleasant sunrise drive up the winding road to Sapa, a journey of a few minutes short of the hour through about 30 kms of uphill windy roads.

Sapa Vietnam

Sapa
A small town with a very large haphazard cluster of hotels, cafes, restaurants and pubs. All these packed in a very tight arrangements along all streets in the town centre. It is quaint and moves back time to Singapore half a century before. Old in structure but modern in function and facilities. Wi-Fi and Internet is everywhere. Even the H'mong itinerant pedlars are in contact with each other wirelessly. Armed with your, 3G SIM on your fone, you should have no problem being connected 24x7 throughout your hikes in the hills and mountains. And Google Map becomes a very useful companion in the rolling terrain of the town and surrounds.


We stayed in a small boutique establishment, the Sapa Luxury Hotel. Name can be misleading. It's more of a two star hotel in facilities with the wanna-be-trimmings of a four-star establishment.
However, the comfort and the feel of care and warmth is definitely 5-star. The staff from the Manager all the way to the general staff at the hotel and its cafe was fantastic. This is one hotel that gives you the feel of home. 



We were upgraded into the VIP Suite from our originally booked deluxe room. We paid a grand sum of $US200 for the entire 6D5N stay, including a breakfast to start each day. The VIP suite is absolutely great. It's huge and has it's own balcony and much privacy. 

Our arrival we had breakfast at the local market.  We had beef pho which cost VND30,000 each and we shared a piece of fried tofu at VND20,000.  The meal came with pickled chilly padi and bamboo shoots - YUMMY! 

We had lunch of pho again. This time it costs  40,000 VND per pax. I prefer the one we ate at the market. 

In Sapa town, food is everywhere, reminiscent of Phuket or Bali. Range can be from gourmet to local pho. Prices are reasonable compared with our own in Singapore. The first dinner in Sapa we had was at the Red Camellia situated on the main food-street at the centre of town. It was a set meal of soup (pumpkin or vegetable), an appetizer of two varieties of fried spring rolls, a stir-fried local vegetable. There was a choice of a meat dish. We chose the chicken and the duck in a bed of nicely done onions on two sizzling hot plates. Nicely done and each served in the order of a western meal. There was sapa or apple wine for aperitif and mixed fruits and pan-cake for desserts. The entire meal was for VND210,000, a princely SGD14 in equivalent.

Of course, there were also street food at the market. This one sell what looked like steam pau and deep fried flour ball

There's also a stall that sold pig trotters 

Glutinous rice in bamboo 

And an assortment of meat and tofu.  

The Black H'mongs are the predominant locals. They peddle their wares of embroidered bags, purses, vests, pants and wristbands. They will lock on you and stay with you.

Be prepared for their rehearsed script of the following questions:
1. Where you come from?
2. What is your name?
3. How old are you?
4. Do you have any children?

After that, it was serious business. Accompanied by stories of themselves: How they make their goods for sale, their family and how much they need your purchasing-support. You will be their saviour if you make purchases from them, according to them.

A pack of 3-4 of them will walk with you throughout your walks, until you buy something from them. And will that be the end of your experience with them? No!  If you had fancied something they are offering and bought if after aggressive haggling be prepared for the next adventure that follows with them. Buying from one, without buying from the others become an issue of concern. Find your own way of responding to that.



The Hmong women are hard working lot. Their hands are always busy and no matter how young or old, they are frequently seen working.

The women strip off the fibrous outer layer, known as baste fibre. These short pieces of fibre have to be joined to make a continuous length for weaving. Young through to very old women are involved in this activity and as the work is easily transported, they carry it with them, joining fibres as they walk to market or sit on the pavement in town. The material is wound in a figure eight ball held in the hand.

The Hmong women are known for their embroidery and fit this work between other daily chores. The main stitches used here are chain stitch and cross stitch.

Sapa town has kind locals who are of great help. After a morning walk, we stumble into a cafe for quiet drip-coffee. We headed into a cafe with the owner on his internet while listening to the news on TV. We had two hot drip-coffee. It was like a double espresso in a shot-glass, only slightly larger.  It was eye-poppingly strong. Each cup cost VND20,000


What was memorable of that coffee-break was that when we asked him if we could find cobblers. (He speaks no English and we speak no Vietnamese). Gesticulating and pointing to shoes and signing that the sole has come off, he understood the message. He popped out of his cafe. Went across the road to a shop selling bags and shoes (of course) and he returned. In his hand was a bottle of transparent liquid.

Our initial silent but common response was, "Does he know what he is doing?".  But he asked for the shoe and he got on to work on it. We could see that he is also not familiar with the magic of the glue. It was magic glue. It sticks instantly on contact and his fingers received a sting from it. But after 15 minutes of working on the shoe, letting it set and checking that it can take the trails and slopes of Sapa, we gestured that all will be fine.

When we offered to pay him for the coffee and his time with the shoe, he just smiled and charged us only for the coffee. There is still heart in a touristy-commercialized place, where haggling with service providers is needed to ensure a fair deal. That made our day.

Sapa Full Day Hike: Ma Tra, Sa Seng, Hau Thao.

After a simple American breakfast courtesy of our hotel, Sapa Luxury Hotel, we were introduced to Nyut (pronounced as Nude), our Hmong guide for the day. 

Nyut is 27 years old, married to a farmer and a mother of 2 children. Along the way, Nyut talked about her family, her people and how they have make their sustenance in the face of current challenges. She learnt English while peddling souvenirs and Hmong trinkets to tourist when she was young. Operational English get her along. With adequate English, she soon advanced up the ladder of the tourist-service industry. She is lucky to be one who is contracted by the hotel we stayed in for service whenever the hotel sells a tour or a hike.She draws a basic for a minimum number of guiding-jobs she get, beyond that she gets a second tier 'salary'.

With our lunch packed in her traditional bamboo-woven basket, we started walking from the hotel to the mountains to the east of Sapa.

The day was fine and the skies were clear of the threatening clouds the day before. After about half an hour, we went off the main road into the wooded areas around the town and in a very short while we were into the forests, negotiating slopes that were not marked for independent hikers.  We will need to have a guide to help us. Trails are unmarked and some areas can be treacherous. Throughout the day, we negotiated across at least three zones where there had been recent landslides in recent days.

Overlooking the village of Ma Tra

We met a mother and daughter who were walking towards their village, Sa Seng. Sa Seng is a small Black Hmong village with a population of 300. 

When greeting a Black Hmong, it's common to say 'Ko Moon Chi' which means 'where are you going'

While trekking through the mountain trails, we learnt about the forest and how it was being harnessed by the tribal minorities, through crops such as tea, indigo, corn and hemp.We learnt how the farmers survive in the midst of their challenges. Living far away from where they usually sell their wares or promote their services as hike-guides.

Culture of the Hmongs.
Thing we learnt about them while we spent the day with Nyet, a Black Hmong.  She was knowledgeable about the information she has to provide for us. The Hmongs originate from the Chang Jiang regions in China. Groups of them migrate southwards during difficult times and settled in Indo-China. In China they were known as the Miaos.

Green tea planted by the black Hmongs. The tea leaves are plucked, dried for a day and ready to be consumed.

 < Nyet showing Lucy the leaf of the 'green tea' they cultivate in the forest.

 A view of the Black Hmong village of Ma Tra

 < Meeting the caretaker of several buffalos grazing in the corn-fields. When the corn-ears have been harvested, the buffalos have a field day in the corn-field. They help to eat up the corn plant and help in the fertilizing of the soil.

 In the corn fields, harvesting is being done while the animals enjoy grazing in the field.  Very much a simbiotic realtion between man, animal and plants.>

Their characteristic outfit they wear are made of flax-hemp fibres that have been processed painstakingly. From drawing out the fibres by hand strand by strand from the stalk of the hemp. Then they are twined into a continuous strand that will be rolled over and over on a mill made of a block of flat stone and a wheel of timber. It is then dyed over and over again with indigo to get the density of colour they desire. The indigo is also grown in their backyards. More about the indigo process later.

This mother processes the hemp fibre by softening the twinned flax-hemp fibres to make the glossy and soft.

this

 With baby on her back, she steps on the block of stone under which is the linen-fibre.

 the characteristic indigo colour of the flax-hemp linen the Hmongs wear comes from the indigo plant.

When crushed, the sap of the leaves oxidizes and after a few minutes, the leaves turn a deep indigo colour. They are then dried and crushed and used to painstakingly dye their linen. The indigo plant is seen below.

Another plant that is of value to their textile production is this plant on the right. The fibres are extracted from this plant and are processed in the same way as flax-hemp linen.

This plant has also got narcotic properties. Guess what this plant is?






If you had guessed it is 'marijuana', it is correct. Otherwise known as cannabis.

Each family will have their own loom which young girls in the family will need to learn how to use. They make the clothes from the fibres that they grown around their house, and adhere closely to the traditional designs. Black Hmong women wear pants, while the Red Hmong ladies wear skirts.


Their necessities come from their own farms and buffalo is prized meat. Most of the times they eat chicken, mutton, duck and pork.






They grow one crop of rice in a year. Harvesting is in October (autumn) and the fields are left to fallow through winter until the rains come again in Feb/March (Spring). When it comes to harvesting, the entire family helps out. Those who have larger fields will require the help of their relatives and neighbours.

Terraced rice fields during the harvesting season is a sight to behold. Stepped terraces follow the contour and relief of the land. As rice is a water based plant, the flatness of the land is a must. Terracing is man's response to the pressure of land. Creativity and problem solving led to this mode of farming thousands of years ago.

Natives practised this form of cultivation.

 < Golden Terraces leading to heaven.

Harvesting is a family affair. >

Threshing of the dried stalks of padi (rice) separates the grains from the stalk. The dried stalks are stored as fodder for the farm animals when winter arrives.

The sheds along-side the farms where grains and hay are stored.

During the lull in field-activity, they work in the towns. They sell their handicrafts to tourists or be guides to tourists (domestic and international, depending on their competency in English). Nyet who guided us as being shadowed by another Black Hmong who knows less English. It was difficult to understand her.

Customs of the Hmong.

They men do the manual labour in the fields while the women tend their homes, raise children and help out in the fields during the harvesting and ploughing seasons. The women-folk will tend to the children. Most of the time, it is the grandmother who does that. The daughters and the daughter-in-law will work elsewhere to supplement their income, usually peddling crafts.

Most Hmongs are Catholics in Vietnam. Buddhists and Christians form the other group. They co-exist together without much problems. There is mutual respect.

Wives of the sons in the family are picked by their parents. They marry early, by 16 they should be married. To marry a girl, the boy will need to give the girl's family VMD 10 Million, 80kg of pork and the cost of the wedding and dinner. With that 'transaction', the girl becomes part of the boy's family and they will rarely return to her own family except on important occassions. Their responsibilities of their duties hold them back.

Should the marriage fails and it's the woman who wants a divorce, she will need to return the bride money that was paid to her family. But if it's the man who wants a divorce, the couple will just need to separate and the woman will return to her own home. 

The Hmong Children

Like the children of the minority tribes in Vietnam, the children are provided with access to education in Vietnamese schools. They learn Vietnamese, which allows them better integration into society and access to the economy. The children from 4 years up attend nursery and kindergarten. They trudge downhill to the schools in the valley for half a day and romp uphill at noon back to their homes. On their uphill-hike, they will have their packed lunches with them.

  They pluck ferns and other plants to make toys for their siblings. They dance, they sing. Basically, they are children and behave the way happy children do. They do not carry their books uphill back home. This has been the practice because in the night, they did not have light (except from oil lamps and wood). This had been so until development caught up with them.

They look so happy. Independent and carefree. Yet they have responsibilities. The older ones look after their younger siblings, taking care of them while their parents work the fields. Their fun seems to be the hour or so hike uphill back home. They stop along waterfalls and streams to play.

This is a primary school situated between the black Hmong village of Lao Chai and the Dzay village of Ta Van.

Lao Chai didn't have electricity until a year ago in 2012 when the government brought electricity to them. That we think will change their lives forever. There will be homework, then they will carry their books home. And that will be followed by heavier and heavier bag-load! Leading to the end of their carefree childhood.