From Raleigh, NC (On Sapa, Halong Bay, and Hue)

When watching Sapa on all the videos and seeing photos of the montagnards from friends who had been in the area before, the region and its people seem so exotic, mysterious, and remote. I was really excited about experiencing this rare occasion to see and perhaps interact with nomadic communities that have been isolated in the highlands near the Chinese border. Each of the dozen or so hill tribes is known for their colourful clothing and embroidery work which are unique to their own community. However, what we found ruined the experience for me. Over the past 15 years or so westerners (as tourists) have slowly started to flood these communities, no doubt attracted to the once forbidden and visually stunning northern regions of Vietnam. The hill tribes responded to this opportunity to earn money and buy previously unattainable commodities. They responded well—so well, that by the end of our three-day stay in Sapa, I found myself wanting to leave. The women wore their beautiful and striking ‘traditional’ clothing to town in order to attract attention from foreigners, and the persistence they showed in wanting to sell their souvenirs was so strong that it was borderline harassment. In Sapa, there were also bus-loads of other travelers on their own carefully scheduled one, two, or three day tours, so the feeling of experiencing something rare and untouched was completely lost. I felt like another person being carted around to see all the typical tourist sights. In fact, the day we arrived we wanted to ask for good places (preferably off the beaten track) to go running, and the only thing the people at the hotel were willing or capable of doing was book additional tours for us. (We would later have this problem at nearly every hotel we stayed in after this—the idea that we wanted to explore something on our own was totally unfathomable to most people and they only knew how to book the one or two tours they happened to offer so they could get their commission.)

Most of the monagnards knew almost perfect English, which they learn from the westerners so they can be better salesmen. The rest, particularly the very young girls, only knew ‘buy from my this’ or ‘promise you buy from me’. If you say no, they respond in an extremely whiny tone, ‘why no? you no like?’. They would wait outside your hotel, follow in huge groups, call out your name, and argue with you over why you don’t want to buy their crap. As a person who doesn’t like to attract much attention, doesn’t like to shop for souvenirs, and would rather be left alone, this was the most horrible, yet eye-opening, part of my trip.

Despite the annoyances, the mountains and mist were breathtaking. After spending a day exploring Sapa on our own, Seth and I were joined by my parents. The day they arrived the four of us went out with our tour guide, who took us to the nearby village of Cat Cat. Our tour, I would like to believe, was marginally better because we had our own guide during the two days. A tour is almost always necessary because nearly every road from Sapa, as well as almost all the hill-tribe communities, required a permit, a guide, or both, to enter. (This was annoying for running purposes, but I think it is fair enough so that random people just don’t wander in to these local villages). The next day, after a late start due to rain, the five of us booked three motorbikes and drove for several hours through a few additional villages that are nestled amongst rolling hills. That night, we rode a mini bus back down to Lao Cai and took the sleeper train back to Hanoi.

Sapa oval and buffaloes

View from hotel

Sapa markets on a rainy Saturday

Sapa markets

Fantastic rice balls!

Rainy day coffee

Sapa

View from other hotel

'Buy from me this!'

Black H'mong selling something

Markets

Dao (Zao) vendors

Seth and a Sapa Dog

Walking down to Cat Cat Village

Bubble people

Cat Cat Village

Children on a hill

Cat Cat Village and rice terraces

Buffalo

A Cat Cat Village home

Walking down to hydroelectric plant (built by the French)

Cat Cat Village hydro plant

Example of public loo

Yet another very cute Sapa dog

Cleaning the pig's head

Getting ready for our motorbike excursion


Stop to look at some rock carvings (the girls were strategically placed here to sell stuff)

A village

Our guide wanted to buy a pair of birds from these kids




Lunch at Ban Ho (Tay village)

Lunch at Ban Ho (Tay village)

Us with our Tay guide, Cuai (spelling?)

On the sleeper train back to Hanoi

We only had about 3 hours in Hanoi after our train arrived at 5am (just long enough to go running), then were picked up by a van for our second tour, this time heading to Halong Bay. The tour for this was even more frustrating than our trip to Sapa, mostly because the hotel we booked it through could only provide an overnight trip for us and didn’t allow us to get off to visit a nature reserve on Cat Ba Island, located in the bay. It seemed like such a waste to spend two days on a stupid boat and not be able to go for a real hike just because we were at one hotel and not another (other hotels, we later learned, could book a hiking tour as an alternative). Our tour did, however, include a trip inside the very crowded and poorly maintained Surprise Cave and a walk up to a lookout on a different island. Similar to our experiences in Sapa, Halong Bay was also all tourists, vendors, and women trying to sell crap (though this time they tracked you down in small rowboats). The bay was beautiful, but once again, the fact that we were constantly surrounded by other tour boats—even at night when we were docked—was a big turn off. Seth and I did, however, enjoy kayaking the next morning, though it was a bit trickier than I was expecting!

Ignore Seth's face--the taro pop was very delicious ('rest stop' en rout to Halong Bay)

Buying mini pineapples on our way to Halong Bay

Surprise Cave (in Halong Bay)

Surprise Cave (in Halong Bay)

View of Halong Bay from entrance to Surprise Cave

Everyone is trying to sell you something

Lookout over Halong Bay (it was very humid)

Lookout over Halong Bay

Cooling off

Dad jumping in!

Our dinner on the boat

Out in the bay

Floating village

Getting ready to kayak

My kayaking partner

Seth and Kim, our guide

*One funny thing Seth and I noticed on the drive to Halong Bay was all the signs for thit cho, or dog meat. Seth even noticed one sign that had a little picture of a dog on it, just in case you were unsure of what was sold there. Dog is supposed to be a delicacy and bring good luck, or something…

We drove back to our hotel in Hanoi that afternoon, through the pouring rain, and Seth went for a much later than normal run around the "big lake," Ho Tay, during rush hour and the storm. The next morning, during Seth’s run, he not only bumped into another runner from Canberra, but he also got bit by a dog! Vietnam is probably one of the last places you'd want to be bit by an animal, but the owner, who seemed to be wealthy and showed lots of concern, assured Seth the dog (a large thing that looked like a Labrador) had all its shots. I hope he was telling the truth, though Seth is starting to foam a bit at the mouth :P (Perhaps this is his punishment for making fun of all those thit cho restaurants?).

We spent the rest of the day walking briskly back to Uncle Ho’s Mausoleum (which happened to close early that day for some reason, so we missed it again), then saw Luko for lunch one last time, and after a few more quick excursions shopped for a really nice tea set for when we move to Boston. In the evening we took a third overnight train, this time working our way south to Hue.

Exercisers in Hanoi (northern women move their feet, unlike
the more reserved southern counterparts)

Hanoi

Our hotel in Hanoi

Luko for Bun Cha

Giant tortoise from Hoan Kiem Lake

Delicious Che Hue and Xoi, sticky rice (Hanoi)

Sleeper train to Hue

We arrived at a hotel in Hue in the late morning then didn’t get running until noon. This made for a very painful run: 12pm, humid, sun blaring (especially when compared to the mist and clouds of Sapa and Halong Bay), almost exactly the solstice, little shade, and low latitude… I felt ill the rest of the day. We did, however, manage to find an exceptionally nice place for lunch; then we walked around the Forbidden City, located within the Imperial Enclosure of the Citadel. Hue is famous for housing the tombs of emperors from when the city was the capital of Vietnam. Though this was all quite recent, around the 1800s and early 1900s, the tombs and buildings were run-down, over-grown, and were in generally poor condition. At least it made it look very ancient and beautiful!

Running in Hue (not fun--notice there is no shadow below Seth!)

Mynahs in cages: I can't believe people actually keep these horrible trash birds!

Gate to the Citadel

Gate to The Citadel

Inside the Citadel

Forbidden Purple City

Forbidden Purple City

Inside the Imperial Enclosure

Ngo Mon Gate, entrance to the Imperial Enclosure

From the top of Ngo Mon Gate

Flag Tower (Hue)

Having our first real Che Hue (a very sweet layered jelly, bean, fruit, and coconut milk snack typically served over ice). We are sitting just inside the walls of The Citadel.

Typical petrol station (Hue)