We woke up with the rooster’s crow at dawn, and promptly went back to sleep for another three hours or so. It was warm under the blankets and freezing outside, so getting out of bed was difficult, to say the least. Breakfast of hot coffee and banana and pineapple crepes served as decent incentive, though, and pretty soon we were all packed up and ready to go.
If anything, the second day was even foggier and chillier than the first day of hiking. In contrast to yesterday’s easy stroll along a footpath, today’s hike was much shorter, but involved nonstop climbing up and down on slippery, muddy rocks. All the up and down was murder on the legs, and of course the local women were back like clockwork, there to offer a hand in exchange for the tacit promise to buy something or give them money later. The one who kept helping me was hiking in plastic sandals, and had her baby on her back. I was terrified the whole time that I’d slip and cause her to fall and hurt the baby.
We went up to see the bamboo forest, which is now a protected conservation zone so the locals only cut some bamboo once a year, for New Year’s, to make a bonfire in honour of the occasion. Going through the bamboo forest felt a bit like the images you see from Hollywood movies of Vietnam, of people going through the thick jungle. Really, most of the vegetation so far seems fairly sparse, which probably explains why the forest is protected. From there, we hiked down, down, down and down some more to a waterfall, which was more like a water trickle at this time of year. Soon after that we stopped for lunch, and sure enough, we were harassed to buy more trinkets. I gave a bit of money to the woman who’d been helping me on the trail, but then another one came up to me and started demanding money and kept hitting my arm and would not leave me alone. Finally, the guide had to tell her to stop, and I take it they don’t like doing that, but she was so aggressive that she shocked even them.
The hike ended shortly after lunch, and we got a minibus back to Sapa. The hotel gave me a room key and a towel, so I took a blessedly hot, long shower to get the mud off and heat up. There is nothing like travel to make you appreciate a good long shower. Afterwards, I ran into the French couple again, and we went across to the patisserie for some pastries and coffee. The one thing the Vietnamese have held onto from the dreaded French colonial period is the food; there are bakeries and patisseries everywhere selling pastries and croissants and French desserts.
We caught the minibus back to Lao Cai station, and this time we were traveling downill in the fog. The bus was jerking and riding the brakes and winding its way down, and nearly everyone turned a little green by the time we arrived in Lao Cai. Dinner sorted everyone out, and then it was time to catch another night train back to Hanoi. This time I wasn’t quite so lucky with my cabin mates — an older Polish couple, one of whom was coughing up a lung the entire night — and a Vietnamese guy who I think was trying to sell me a tour. The Dutch couple who’d been on my hike yesterday was in the next cabin, though, along with two German girls, so I hung out with them until it was time to get some sleep.
Overall, while I’m a bit disappointed that the weather was so cold and foggy, I enjoyed Sapa. The hiking is amazing, and despite the aggressive women selling trinkets, the hill tribes are fascinating. The whole area essentially exists on tourism, so it’s a bit hypocritical to call it a tourist trap when that’s what I was doing there in the first place. I would’ve perhaps liked to have stayed a day longer to check out some of the local markets and to see if the weather would clear up a bit, but on a two-week trip there’s only so much you can squeeze in. So, onwards.