Vietnam Part 1 : Hanoi to Sa Pa

Vietnam is home to a blastering 84m people - all living in a rather small, dragon shaped country that boasts lushious country-side, huge mountains and beautiful scenery of submerged rice fields and arduous working farmers wearing cone hats.

I arrived in Hanoi, early July to find myself taken under the protective wing of one of my father's friends. He got me to my hostel, paid for the hostel, bought me a SIM card and treated me to the best french 3 course lunch I've had for over 10 months!

Despite being the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi is surprisingly manageable. Very few high rise buildings block the views, the center is a combination of old french colonial, modern low rise, a large lake ... all surrounded by a swarm of ant-like motorbikes.



The first day was spent exploring the old french quarters, gaining understanding of the multitude of tribal communities and customs at the Museum of Ethnology, being mesmerized by the traditional water puppet shows, indulging in some people-watching along Hoan Kiem Lake whilst sipping succulent vietnamese coffee and of course, enjoying some Pho on the many street stalls.





Soon it was time to head north to the mountainous region and market town of Sa Pa. Northern vietnam is famous for its mountains and is the home to many of the country's tribal communities, rice paddy fields and treks.



I was joined on this adventure by two English gals who had been teaching English in China for the past year and an Aussie graphic designer from Sydney. We boarded the night train, soft sleeper (meaning with AC, wooden panels and somewhat unsurprisingly no Vietnamese people) and endured 9 hours of uncomfortable rocking on very hard and thin mattresses.



We arrived early and quickly made a move towards the begining of our 2 day trek. As we arrived to the first village we were greeted by a hord of screaming girls who couldn't have been older than 12 years old. The questions (we would later discover) were standard: " Where are you from ? How old are you ? (automatic response is "oh very young" ... even when I answered 60 years old (only once!)) What is your name..."



Introductions done and dusted we started our trek amongst Vietnam's northern mountain range (3000 m above sea level), navigating our way through paddy fields whilst enjoying beautiful, breath-taking, mountain scenary. The young girls proved to be close allies, talking to us as they helped us navigate through the treacherous muddy paths.





Our trek was broken up by regular meetings with the local Hmong, Dao and Tay tribes which was most certainly one of the highlights of Sa Pa. These woman are stunning both in the character that emanates from their faces but also from the rich embroidered ethnic clothes they wear.





We stayed the night in a homestay, sleeping on mats on the floor protected by the elements by a flimsy and hole ridden mosquito net. Luckily the local "Happy Water" ie. Rice wine was practically on tap and the drinking games we played with our fellow travellers ensured that we all slept well.

I thoroughly enjoyed my Sa Pa experience. The friendliness of the locals was felt despite the clear tourist money flowing in the region. The views were breathtaking and the experience of meeting local tribeswomen will definitely stay with me for years to come.