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So when I last wrote, the next day we planned to visit the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum but the Lonely Planet advised it was closed on Friday - doh! So we had a day to fill, we had a mooch around and ended up going to the cinema! Saw Robin Hood which was great and then the most exciting thing of all - we booked tickets for the premier viewing of Sex in the City for this Friday! Its opening night so we thought we better get them quick - didnt think I'd get to see it til we got home so we're all excited about that now - how sad!
We were picked up at 8pm for the overnight train to Sapa which is supposed to be one of the most amazing parts of Vietnam - we shared our train cabin with a French guy who was pretty cool and easy going - my pen knife that the Purchasing team bought me as a leaving present finally got some use - we bought some bread and cheese for the journey (thanks purchasing team!) Hopefully will get more use out of it at some point!) As per usual on the overnight trains we slept really badly and arrived in Sapa about 6am and went to a nearby hotel for a minging breakfast of friend egg soaked in soy sauce! It was hammering down with rain so we dug out our waterproofs and waited around. We had to leave our bags in the basement of the hotel which was like a lock up garage and while down there a lightbulb exploded above our heads - a sign of things to come!
We took a 2 hour bus journey to Bac Ha Market which is quite famous so we were surprised by how small it was - there were lots of local hill tribe women in their native dress which is very colourful but they werent too keen on photos so I didnt take any unfortunately. We spent an hour walking round until (Charlotte don't read this bit to Sophie!) we spotted a woman with a little puppy dog in a carrier bag with its legs all tied together and its head poking out of the top! :-( Strange in comparison to Paris Hilton carrying her little dogs around in her hand bag - this one was obviously destined for someones dinner table and it made me so sad and made me think of my lovely doggy at home! Booo! We avoided the livestock part of the market as I was too worried about seeing more doggies in cages or whatnot, and went and grabbed a coffee in a little cafe until it was time to go to the hotel for lunch.
After lunch we were back on the bus and drove to a little villiage for a walk around which was very muddy! Next onto a temple although I'm starting to feel that once you've seen a couple of temples you've pretty much seen them all!
Eventually headed back to our hotel for dinner - this place is so high up in the mountains that its covered in fog and almost in the clouds so we couldnt see any of the supposedly breath taking scenery around us which was a shame. We went to bed about 9.30pm - yep - we know how to party!
The following day we got up ready for a long trek which is part of the tour. We had a group of about 8 young local hill tribe girls in full costume to escort/help us on the trek and they were all really lovely - they were in their teens but looked younger but they had amazing English which they picked up from tourists like us and chatted away the whole time, asking us about our families and if we had boyfriends etc. The trekking is supposed to be fun but none of us enjoyed it as there had been a lot of rain the previously couple of days which made it sooooo difficult, it was basically trampling through mud up to your knees (and almost losing your shoes every time you pulled your leg up) or mud skiing down such high dangerous slopes that it made your heart stop thinking you might not be able to stop and would fall over the edge. I was feeling quite stressed by it all, we spent so much time looking down at where we were treading that you couldnt look up and see what was around you which was beautiful scenery! It started to feel like a never ending nightmare when we eventually stopped for lunch. There were beautiful butterflies everywhere and it was amazing. After lunch we trekked for another hour to reach the village we were having our 'home stay in'. The locals girls left us at this point and we were all ready to tip our individual 'helpers' for all the help they'd given us stopping us falling off the side of the mountain but they actually wanted us to buy from them rather than tip them - which was nice as it was hand made crafts from the village but they were a bit pushy. We were told that the average wage for an adult in this area was $4 per day so we went to tip them about $5 thinking it would be a good tip for them as they were approx 13/14 and would be coming home with a wage as good as their parents for that day - but they tried to bargain us to double that for what they were selling which took the shine off things a little bit!
Everytime you buy something they give you a free friendship bracelet so we are all covered in them now!
Was a tiny bit disappointed with the home stay as heard we'd actually stay in a family home and mix with the family which wasnt the case - we were kind of in a big barn thing and there were a couple of women that cooked for us but wouldnt interact with us - fortunately there was 5 of us in the group and we all had a giggle and a good chat over dinner and a couple of beers. Then Gemma, bex and I treated ourselves to a herbal barrell bath which was really cool! Barrells filled with hot water and honey smelling bath salts which eased the pain of the trekking and was very funny - photos to follow!
Our sleeping area was upstairs and there were loads of butterflies inside which was ok - but there was also a bird in there so we spent some time trying to get her out again which was stressful - more for the bird than us! When we went to bed we had thin mattresses on the floor with mozzie nets to cover us - and just as I was putting my mozzie net down a huge mutant bug called across the wall where my head was going to be lying which freaked me out slightly! Didnt get much sleep that night but may have been because when we all got into bed, the 62 year old guy who was in our group got up to turn the light out in the tiniest tightest pants I've ever seen, which set us giggling for about ten mins and then gave us nightmares along with the bugs!
Woke up the next morning about 6am very grumpy! The toilet was downstairs and out the back of the building which was a pain in the arse in the middle of the night! We had breakfast of pancakes and pineapple which was lovely and I attempted to dry my socks in the bursts of sunshine between the donwpours of rain - everything was damp in Sapa! The rain also meant we were in for another day of slip sliding along the mountainside which none of us were looking forward to after the previous day plus we were all aching from the trekking the day before and sleeping on the floor! Headed out about 9.30am and it was horrendous - had more local girls helping us again but was more difficult than previous day - I still cant believe they let inexperienced unfit tourists such as us do this at all as some of it is so dangerous and scary. About half an hour from lunch time I went down in the mud by the edge of a cliff which turned out to be a lot less high than I thought once I'd got up - however, I couldnt get up as everytime I tried to get a grip my feet just went from under me - you know when a car gets stuck in mud and the wheels roll but it doenst move and slips back more? Well my legs were like the warner brothers roadrunner bird scrabbling to get up but just slipping further towards the edge which I thought was a huge drop because it was behind me and I couldnt see. After about 5 attempts to get up the tiredness, fear, grumpiness, frustration and embarrassment pushed me to my absolute limit and I gave up and started bawling which made me more embarrassed! I think I even told the guide I was refusing to move and would have to go back the other way on my hands and knees, she was laughing and I nearly told her to do one. I stayed down for a couple of mins and tried to get my breath but I was shaking like a leaf and seriously pissed off! Marina, another girl in our group who had been behind me and was super fit, caught up to me and talked me into calming down and then trying to get me up and eventually we did it! When she first got to me though I was looking down crying and I looked up into her face, pleading for help, and she asked if she could take a photo! I think the look I gave her must have said it all - I think my face said 'yes you can take a photo, if you want a smack in the mouth!' Once up again we were on a ledge with everyone else then and the girls sat me down to tend to my scraped and bleeding knees with savlon and plasters and tissues to wipe my eyes while 3 year old local kids looked at me like I was the biggest prat on the face of the earth - and I felt like it!
We carried on to get to the lunch destination but I couldnt eat as I was so fed up! After that it was a steep but dry road back to the other part of the village so was all fine and I was so happy once we'd finished.
Once back to the hotel we didnt have a room but there were showers we could use so we cleaned up - I was stinking and filthy with mud so felt much better afterwards, and then we chilled a while, all of us slightly traumatised, until it was dinner time and then time to be picked up to get the overnight train back to Hanoi. For dinner I was really looking forward to something bad as we'd done so much trekking and I hadnt eaten lunch in my fury, so when I saw someone else with a burger I cheered up a bit - I ordered one - but I asked for a cheese burger and so what did I get? A burger bun with a piece of cheese in it - no burger! PMSL! If you ever come to Vietnam make sure you say you want a hamburger with cheese - not a cheese burger. Slight anticlimax! Lots of waiting around in the heat and then on the train and thinking we were so tired that we would sleep through anything - WRONG! The girl sharing with us had a severe bladder problem and went to the toilet every 20 mins throughout the entire night, and even broke the door handle about 4am but just left it and got into bed. She was in the bunk above me so every time she got up she woke me up (and Gemma too). About 4.30 I decided a trip to the bathroom was in order but where she'd broken the door I couldnt get out and Gemma and I spent about 15 mins trying to get the door open, we were so tired and not in the mood!
The train got back into Hanoi early about 5.30 so we had to get a taxi back to our hotel for tonight and the stupid hotel wasnt open at that time so we sat on the street like tramps - we'd planned to go dump our bags in our '24 hour' hotel and then head down to the lake to watch the tai chi but we couldnt with our big bags! We did see lots of people out exercising while we were in the taxi though which was really good - big groups of women doing aerobics together by the lake and lots of old men walking round in just shorts lifting one arm in the air at a time - was really cool!
About 6.30 we were really pissed off so I went back to the hotel with my whistle in hand ready to wake the reception guy up (who was asleep on a put up bed in the reception) and I got him up! I apologised profusely for waking him but he was lovely and we dumped our bags and headed out for breakfast. We were allowed to come back to our room at 10.30 which we did and went to bed! Its now 7pm and we got some dinner to take back to our rooms and watched a film. We are also aching and exhausted but so glad to be back in Hanoi. Didnt miss the traffic though - or risking your life each time you cross the road!
Tomorrow we are on an all day tour to the Perfume Pagoda which looks pretty cool, there is an option to do some trekking up to it but strangely enough we have opted for the cable car.......in fact I made Gemma promise me we would never go trekking again unless we were absolutely sure it hadnt rained in a while as that trekking would have been so much fun had it been dry and safe!
So all in all, not a great visit to one of the most beautiful places on earth.... I hate being pessimistic but I really wish I'd enjoyed it as much as other people had - but I didnt! Im pleased to say I have learned a lot about myself though - I have learned that I am a HUGE baby when it comes to anything scary and muddy - its safe to say I am definately a city girl through and through!
I'm leaving it here as I'm being bitten to death AGAIN - deet spray does not seem to work on me - yesterday my back was itchy but i didnt see how I could have been bitten on my lower back as its always covered, however before getting into bed this morning I was getting changed with my back to Gemma and she gasped which made me run into the bathroom to look at my back in the mirror - where I have about 15 bites! Ouch! Why oh why do they love me so much!
I hope all is well at home. We leave to travel down the east coast of Vietnam on Saturday and I'm really looking forward to some beach time as we need to seriously work on our tans!
Will write again when there is more to update.
I miss you all.
Much love, Shelley
PS - I f**king hate trekking! x
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