To end our time in Vietnam, we booked a four-day tour into the north of the country, to see how the country's ethnic minorities live. We booked with an adventure company called Handspan, and they place an emphasis on cultural and outdoorsy activities. The trip was a-maz-ing for many reasons, but the fact that we were the only two on the tour really made it "special".
Day One: Hanoi to Lao Cai to Bac Ha
We took an overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai on July 30th and hit the highland ground running. Bleary-eyed, we were picked up at the Lao Cai train station by our guide, Quy (pronounced k-way). He explained that we were heading straight to the exotic Bac Ha Sunday Market after breakfast, and that we should get ready to see some weird stuff, such as Hmông Offal Soup, bunches of hanging kittens for sale, and bright purple rice. We were quickly jolted out of our sleepy states as the Handspan minivan began climbing hundreds and hundreds of feet into the lush, wild mountains of north Vietnam. With rice terraces covering all surfaces of the steep hillsides and water buffalo creating tense obstacles on the single-lane highway up to Bac Ha, the trip was (literally) breathtaking in and of itself. We arrived into Bac Ha very early, at 8AM, and the market had barely started up...so we checked into our small hotel and had a shower.
After some much needed refreshing, our guide took us around the large market and explained some of the more unusual sites and products. He was also really helpful in describing the hilltribe groups that were selling at the market: the Hmông, the Tay, and the Dao. Kate bought some engraved Hmông earrings. Nice! After lunch, we went for a trek into the surrounding hills, and we were invited into a Hmông family's house. This was one of the highlights of the tour: we were invited to sit with the family's grandmother, we sampled some of their household corn wine (every family makes this sweet moonshine, to both drink themselves and sell at the market), and we bought a small purse that Granny had embroidered. Soooooo different from the rest of Vietnam.
Day Two: Bac Ha to Muong Khuong to Cao Son
We began our second day mountain biking down the Hmon-gous road that we had driven up the day before. Have you ever driven up/down a road and thought to yourself "Man...this would be so so so much fun to bike or skateboard or go-kart down!" Well, this was one of those roads. The bike ride not only allowed us to soak-up the scenery, it also enabled us to glide for 40 minutes without peddling once. The minivan was waiting for us at the bottom, and we headed for the town of Muong Khuong for lunch. We only stopped here briefly, but is was memorable because Kate asked to buy some of the house "happy water" from the proprietor. Our guide thought this request was pretty funny, but it was no problem for him to snag an Aquafina waterbottle full of the restaurant's own corn wine. After lunch we headed to the remote village of Cao Son, population 2,000. Surrounded by tiny hills covered in corn and rice, our lodging was a simple bamboo house, complete with dirt floor, Hmong hosts, and stone fireplace.
After dropping our bags, we went for a two-hour trek...or what we thought would be a two-hour trek. The hike began well, on a dirt road with blue skies, but the dirt road quickly turned into a narrow path, and the blue skies disappeared behind dark rain clouds. We brought ponchos with us, but the torrential rains that developed an hour into the trek were just too much for these thin plastic body condoms. The heavy rain and the first few slips onto our butts were funny and exciting at first, but we both began to worry after our guide stated that he was having trouble finding the last part of the path back home. With the sun beginning to set, the rain continuing to fall, and our guide frantically calling people for directions, we began to wonder whether we would be spending the night in a water buffalo shack in the mountains. Eventually, Quy came to the conclusion that it would be best to just return the way we came, thus turning our light two-hour trek into a crazy, wet, four-hour adventure. Hot showers never felt so good!
Day Three: Cao Son to Coc Ly Market to Sa Pa
We woke up again at 7am after a sketchy sleep in our little hut to begin our bikeride down Cao Son mountain. This time the bike trail was a bit narrower, a tad bumpier and alot more adventurous (yes, this is a list but no, Alex is not writing this section). The sun soon turned into cloud and we were quickly descending into what seemed to be white oblivion for a matter of miles before we reached half way down the summit and took a break so I could pet a brand new baby horse and Al could take off his sweaty shirt. It took us about 3 hours but we reached Coc Ly at about mid-day after a sweat filled, uphill battle beside the Coc Ly Dam. Coc Ly was nice but not even close to the size of Bac Ha market and I managed to pick up an authentic Black Hmong scarf for my travels.
After the short visit it was back in the van and heading to Sa Pa, our final, most relaxing stop yet. Our view from the hotel was killer! Surrounded by mountains and villages, it was by far the nicest place we've stayed on our travels so far. Even though it was a bit more touristy than we were used to in the Hills, it was still absolutely beautiful. We wandered down the 5km Sa Pa mountain to the cute village of Cat Cat and took some pictures of the waterfall and corn fields and gave two Hmong children our recently purchased plastic ball. They were totally obsessing over it. After a walk and a beer by the lake, it was time to depart from the Hill Tribes and head back into Hanoi for a much needed shower and laundry sesh.
Source: dawksabroad2011.blogspot.com
