The Sapa Adventure

On the way back from Ha Long Bay, my host, Ms. Mo, helped me arrange a trip to Sapa.  Sapa is in the northeastern mountains, close to the Chinese boarder.  I had read about it in guide books as a great place to do some hiking.  Ms. Mo liked Sapa very much.  She went there on her honeymoon.  Given the time I had, she thought this would work out well.

She arranged for a three night, two day tour package.  It is essentially this package:
http://mountainviewhotelsapa.com/hotel/sapa-tours/sapa-trek-and-home-stay/15-sapa-classic-package.html

She arranged for a person to meet me at the hotel on Thursday evening (about 7:15), guide me to the train station, put me on the night train to Lao Cai (left about 9:15, got in around 7am), take me by hotel bus to Sapa, have a guided day hike to Cat Cat the first day, a night in a hotel, a longer walk to Ta Van and Lao Chai Village the next day, hotel van back to the train station, and a train back to Hanoi.  All meals were included.  The entire package cost 2,300,000 Vietnam Dong, which is about $110.  In addition to this, I paid a 100,000 Dong ($5) supplement to get a heater for my room.

The entire experience unfolded like some sort of mystery.  The guy showed up at the hotel on his motor bike.  He spoke very little English.  I took a cab, he took his bike.  We connected at the train station.  He set me down and the proceeded to disappear for over half an hour.  He came back, I paid him the fee, he gave me receipt, itinerary, and one train ticket (just the outbound ticket).  He escorted me to the train carriage, and indicated which direction my compartment was.  I asked what would happen next.  He took my envelope and held it up over his head.  I thought he meant I was to do that; it turned out he meant that someone would be meeting my train and he would be doing that.

When they started letting people board the train, I was the first in the compartment.  I had an upper bunk.

Eventually three other people joined my cabin.  There was a young married couple, and a woman traveling alone.  The young woman in the married couple greeted me in English.  She was a pharmacist.  While her English was not great, it was reasonably functional.  Several times she appealed to google translate, which worked well on her smartphone.  I had my laptop with me, and and downloaded an assortment of pictures before leaving Oregon.  It included (by accident) some of my wedding pictures and some pictures I had collected for family slide shows at memorial services.  By sharing family photos, maps I had put in my talks for FPT University, and some pictures of Oregon from Cycle Oregon and raft trips, I was able to build a very good rapport with my companions.  (In the future I will always bring family pictures to Vietnam.  In a culture that worships ancestors, family pictures are highly valued.)

At some point it was time for bed.  We all went to our bunks and turned off the lights.

We arrived in Lao Cai the next morning.

No one greeted me on the platform as I held up my silly envelope, but when we got to ticket control I saw a gentleman holding up a sign with my name on it and "Grand View Hotel."  He put me on a bus, and we proceeded to ascend the steep mountain roads to Sapa.

I was taken to the Grand View Sapa Hotel.

I will continue the story in the next post.