Haven't had a lot of time to write in Vietnam. That is testament to how cool the country is. We took the night train up to Sapa. The soft seats proved really comfortable and more than good enough to get a good nights sleep. A local girl came to chat with us on the train and asked us how to pronounce a word in English. We ended up having a long chat, I taught some English for the first time on the trip and we got some insider information regarding Sapa and what we should see. It was really useful as we visited some places that were not marked in the LP guidebook. Eventually the train arrived in Lao Cai and we were met by some guys on the platform who steered us to some minivans. They wanted 50,000 a person, but we had read that it is 40,000. So they loaded our bags, but we went and found a driver who would do it for less. We unloaded our bags, but the original bus guys were annoyed at this point. One of them tried to block me from putting my bag on the other bus, so I physically lifted him up and threw him away from the bus. We got on the bus, but now they were refusing to leave unless we got back on the other bus. Freedom of choice was not being respected much. Eventually they agreed to 40,000 but one of the guys in the bus station was insisiting upon 50,000. We would see. We took the bus and wound up the mountain road past beautiful scenery that unfurled before us. It was a really pretty road and we were finally seeing the famed rice terraces. We weren't to realise how lucky we were to see all of this yet as we weren't aware of the problems of mist. We arrived in Sapa and walked to our hostel. Sapa is a really cool little mountain town. We decided to go for a walk down to Cat Cat village. Its a very easy and short walk from the centre of town. The waterfall is not too impressive, but the walk down through the village is really pretty if you can ignore all the people trying to sell you shit. Very authentic. I wonder how much time it takes for a village to go from selling to each other into only selling for tourists. The mist meant that we could not see for a long distance, but it was still very pretty. We watched the cultural show in the village eagerly trying not to have to tip anything and then we walked round in a loop, stopping for a coffee overlooking the rice fields. We went to Duc Minh Travel to do our Fansipan climb and paid $90 each for a 2 day trek up the mountain. I don't think the 3 day option is worth it as you only trek up lower foothills of the mountain and you can easily see that kind of scenery around Fansipan on your own. It was expensive, but we had a good vibe from the company and they were exceptionally good. Highly recommended. They even agreed to take us to the Love waterfall, included in the tour, which we had requested on a recommendation from the girl we had met on the train. There was an old woman who kept speaking to us every time we passed her and kept inviting us to her village. We told her that we were off to climb Fansipan instead. The only real hassle in Sapa is in the centre of the town. Other than that it is ok. Jessica and I both bought some hats for only $2.5 from a really nice family shop as we needed some for the mountain. Being winter it was quite cold in Sapa. A guy told us that his restaurant was a good place to eat and that if we didn't like it we wouldn't have to pay. Always a bold claim and one I like, because it shows the guy is confident. Also as I would actually refuse to pay if it wasn't good we would not be taking any risks. We got some rest for the trek the next day.
We were up early and took a minivan to the pass where the trek would begin. There was a lot of mist early in the morning and we couldn't see anything really. We would have three porters with us to carry the equipment and cook. Our guide was super young, but he was really very good. the best compliment I can pay this tour is that I hate tours, but this one was really, really good. Again I would highly recommend them. He told us we would take around 3 to 4 hours to reach the first camp (I think he thought as there were three girls, with a Malaysian joining us, that we would be really slow). Yet by now we were quite fit and we covered the ground to the first camp in only an hour and a half. The forest you walk through is very pretty in its own right and this first part is not too challenging. We were passed by a couple of Spanish guys who were doing the trek in just one day. Its doable but only if you leave early and you are very fit. Cannelle and I could have made it, but I don't think the others would have been quite fast enough. It was still quite misty. At the first camp there are a couple of adorable dogs that sometimes follow the climbers up the mountain. This climb requires no technical skills or experience. Just endurance. The trail is so well marked that you would not really need to take a guide with you at all to make it to the top. We were supposed to have lunch at the first camp, but because we were fast, we decided to take lunch at the second camp. Again the guide was super flexible and they customised the trip to the client's ability. I liked that a lot. It felt like you didn't have a tour, but that you did what you wanted with the logistics organised for you. The climb to the second camp is steeper and harder. It took us maybe just over two hours to reach the second camp and we were up there just after midday. On the way up we met the Spanish guy that we had bumped into in two other countries already. Random. He was coming back down the mountain. After a brief chat we grabbed his details and carried on. It was very cold at the second camp. Very, very cold. Standing still meant that I froze a lot. We had lunch there and left our bags in the shelter. We were supposed to only come here on the first day, but we were here so early that we would do the summit in the same day. We were worried that we would not see anything and the next morning may be better, but in general you almost never see anything from the top. On guide said he could see only twice from ten climbs. So don't expect a summit view. Now we were quite tired. I put far too many layers on, not remembering that I would warm up when we were walking. Also the guide told us not to bring water, but we really should have done. The layers meant I was sweating, but had no water to replace it. This meant that it was a really rough climb to the top and it took us around an hour and a half to reach the summit for a total climb time of just over 5 hours. So it can be done in a day if you are fit. The Malaysian girl reckoned that we could do Kinibalu in a day to save money with our fitness, so to give you an idea, we climb everything in around 50-70% of the time LP says you need. If you do the same, you can do this mountain up and down in a day just. If not take two days. If you are slower than LP recommends you may want to take three days. That should give you an idea. Fansipan is tough, but not too demanding for fit people. Some people have said vertigo sufferers would have a hard time. All 3 of us are vertigo sufferers and there were no problems. Just one mild traverse around some rocks (that you can avoid), a few ladders up rocks (easy enough) and one scramble over a boulder with some wood for support (not as bad as it sounds). I don't think you should worry if you have vertigo. The walk is quite tough, but fun. We couldn't see anything from the summit and came back down to the second camp. It is better this way as even if you don't sleep, you know you have done the hardest part and it is just down the next day. We had some traditional food for dinner, which was really good. We spent some time in the cooking tent which was warm and crowded. My back up shoes were slowly dying. Our guide ate with us and was much better than the guide of the other group, who just abandoned them to eat. They also only had sleeping bags, while we had tents and sleeping bags. Its very cold up top, but inside the tent and shelter it is very nice and as I give off so much heat I actually only slept in my underwear and was nice and warm. they had sub zero sleeping bags so it was very comfortable. Another reason why they are a very good company to climb with.
In the morning we got a great pancake breakfast. The girls were pleasantly surprised, but the Malaysian girl found it weird as she was not used to these European style breakfasts. She was from Malaysian Borneo and she gave us some recommendations of places to visit when we got there. After breakfast we started down and met the dogs halfway. They had climbed up with another group, but one of them came back down with us. We saw a snake on the way down. The mist had cleared around 2800m, so we had breathtaking views over the mountains and could see Sapa as well as valleys filled with mist. It looked like a carpeted sea of white amongst the green mountains. It was very beautiful and well worth the climb. On the way down we had to take an old trail to the Love waterfall. They had not used it for 4 years and they had to try and pick up the trail in the jungle. It was not so easy, but another reason why this tour company was so good. They were moving at our pace and they were even customising old trails for us. The three porters spread out to find the trail and we followed them through. This was real jungle hiking and really fun. A little slippery though. We eventually found the path and got into the waterfall the back way. It also saved us having to pay the entrance to the waterfall, which we really appreciated. We waded over the river and went to the Love Waterfall. It looks like electricity and seems as if sparks were flying off the water. Really pretty. We walked back up to the entrance and suddenly two buffalo came running towards us making strange noises. We hid up a little escarpment and waited. Hopefully they would not come up here as well. Luckily for us the guide scared them off and we could come down a little embarrassed. On the way down we saw Silver waterfall (not as good as Love waterfall) and some chocolate brown rice fields. Jessica went to Cat Cat village in the afternoon, while Cannelle and I relaxed around the town. We were a little exhausted. Spurs beat Liverpool to keep up our push for the top four and end our bad run. In the evening we played some pool and I think we should have taken some motorbikes that afternoon, because the weather was really clear.
We spent a nice morning having fun in bed as we had the whole day to chill out. We then decided to go for a walk down the hill back towards Lao Cai as it had been so beautiful. There was a crashed truck in a field on the left. It had clearly driven over the edge and rolled into the field. Interesting. There were some local women who started chatting with us and asked if they could join us. We said why not, but after around 200m they started trying to sell shit to us. Never mind. We politely refused and carried on. There were intermittent clouds, but we decided to walk for around 8km anyway. It was pleasant and luckily the clouds seemed to part every time there was a great view. We hiked back up as well, because they wanted too much money for the bus. We found some cheap internet and wrote for a bit. I bought some new shoes. i was worried for the quality, but they are still going strong at the moment. We went to an Italian restaurant for our anniversary. The food was really good. Cannelle organised my birthday present and I know it is related to Phnomh Penh but I still don't know what it will be. We grabbed a minivan down to Lao Cai and an Australian guy chatted with Jessica all the way down. We found a cheap hotel and now for the difficult part. We were heading into Ha Giang province and there was almost no information regarding the area. Almost noone went there, but we were really interested in going there. We had been told there was a bus from lao Cai, but noone could confirm it. We went down to the bus station and found out there was a bus at 6am for 120,000 direct to Ha Giang. One problem solved and the first part was very easy. You would need to stay the night in Lao Cai to get the bus though.
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