The overnight train trip went well. 4 bunks to a room and Emily and I shared the Swiss girls. Simon (from England) walked by and said let's go to the bar and whatever Simon says we do. Emily hates beer but being a good sport is trying. But after a few sips she's done and being a good room mate she says I can have it. Oh well.
Train part of journey's done, then on a bus and we arrive in Sapa. The country side is beautiful.
We're lucky we are having a beautiful day. But it's funny all of a sudden the mist and the clouds roll in but as quickly as it envelops us it is gone. When we arrived at our hotel it has windows all along the back of it which was suppose to be a good view. All we saw was clouds. Then within seconds the cloud lifted revealing yes a stunning view.
The town of Sapa is lovely with a pretty little lake.
After exploring the town in the morning the group went by bus to a a nearby local village where we were swarmed like rock stars by the village women. Crazy but they were very nice and followed us about practicing their English which was amazingly good.
Many of the women carried their babies on their back probably from dawn to dusk trying to sell jewellery and handicrafts to visitors. Babies take it in stride and seem very content all bundled up and warm on their mother's back. The women seemed bundled up too but most of their feet are bare and are in plastic sandals.
Tomorrow a 5/6 hr trek to another village and a homestay sleep. Should be interesting.
Long journey from the Red River Winnipeg to the Red River, Hanoi but so worth it. Transport from the airport went smoothly, took an old bus shuttle to the centre of town. Only two dollars. I don't think the bus driver could have packed us in more. Landed at 9:30 Pm so it was dark and there was a heavy mist on Hanoi. From the bus you could see all these tiny little bars tucked in the alley ways all lit up in colourful lights glowing through the mist with the locals having a bia hoi (fresh beer) after a long days at work. Soon I would be joining them. Didn't take long to get to my hotel the Asian Ruby, for 4 dollars more the bus driver dropped me off within 2 blocks of my hotel. Rolled my suitcase down the narrow still bustling streets and ta da there it was and probably took 5 minutes to check in, drop the suitcase off and back out on the streets to have my own bia hoi at the Green Pepper across the street. Bia hoi is a tasty local draft beer brewed daily and is to be drunk that day. Very good and it's only about 75 cents.
The Green Pepper turned out to be a favourite spot of mine while in Hanoi meeting lots of fellow travellers there. It's one of the things I love about travelling is the ease of just talking to whoever is sitting next to you and sharing stories of their travels.
Next morning, could hardly wait to get out there to explore. "This is the Asia dreamed of from afar. "(Lonely Planet) The streets/alleys is a bustle of activity. The street vendors are in full swing. Women in their conical hats and baskets are all on a mission to get to their destinations. There are a zillion motorcycles and scooters zooming in between the pedestrian traffic with the ease of a buzzing bees. Wow.
The street scene is amazing. Everything is done here, from preparing their food, selling their food and even washing the dishes.
I make my way through the madness to Hoan Kiem Lake just a short walk from the hotel. In the middle of kaos is peace. It's just a beautiful little lake with a pretty park walk way around it. Folk lore has it that Heaven sent a magical sword to the local hero at the time to help fight the Chinese out of Vietnam. Once that was done a giant turtle reached out of the lake and grabbed the sword never to be seen again. Apparently there still is a turtle or two living in the lake, no sword to be found.
It was a drizzling day so I meandered through the streets, went to a couple of interesting museums including the famed Hanoi Prison. First built by the French during the French colonization era to imprison Vietnamese uprising political prisoners to the Vietnam War for American pilots shot down near Hanoi.(In Vietnam it's called the American War) One of the famous inmates here was Senator John McCain.
Next day, I met my GAdventure Group. I'm the only Canadian. (Boo, no one to share in the excitement of winning gold in hockey) We're an international mix. English, Swiss and German. All ages too. My room mate is young Emily from England. It's a good group with a few who like the sauce and I don't mean the fish sauce. Food by the way here in Vietnam is delicious and cheap. The people of very very friendly and helpful.
We went to see the water puppet show which was interesting. It is only done here. The puppets are dancing on water maneouvered by ropes and cables.
Hanoi has few traffic lights and for the most part the only way to cross the street is to cross a few steps at a time and hope a car or motorcycle doen't hit you. Mostly you wait for a local to cross and siddle up to them and hope they get hit first. Nuts.
After the another day of exploring Hanoi we are taking the night train to Sapa.
