Vietnam - Sapa

Sapa as described by Lonely Planet is "on top of Vietnam" . It is a small mountain town up north. I got to Sapa after 12 hrs train ride from Hanoi. I was travelling with Martin and Chris, we decided to buy "soft seats" rather than "soft sleepers" we paid 160.000 dong = cad$12.00 for a seat. As I get closer to the end of my trip I am getting also "cheaper" I am watching my money, one year is a long time to travel without an income. Vietnam is cheaper than Laos but still money are spend very fast:(

back to Sapa.....I liked Sapa, Except for the people that follow you around trying to sell you stuff. When I am saying follow, yes they do follow for a long time and keep talking and talking and talking until you have to almost shout a NO or give in and buy something.

I was in Sapa for 4 days. I stayed in Queen Hotel for 7 dollars. This is one of the best rooms I had so far, but it is very cold at night and in the morning. As soon as the sun is out, it is very nice and warm, as soon as the sun is down it gets really cold. I haven't felt cold for such a long time, it feels strange....I left my fleece in Nepal, I don't really have warm clothes and I don't want to buy anything as I will be heading down south and I want to keep my back pack a light a possible.

First day I took a day trekking tour to visit the nearby villages. Apparently there are 8 different tribal communities in this area, with their own tradition and way of living. I was with Martin and we met a very nice Danish couple, Bettina and Flemming. They are also travelling for a year.

Martin and Chris decide to leave the next day, it felt a bit uneasy to stay here by myself ( I was travelling with the group of people for a while and it is so comfortable!) but yet at the end I decided to stay for a few more days. I liked the place and it took a long time to get there.

Same evening Bettina and Flemming and I met Peter a dutch guy who is biking from Kuala Lumpur through Vietnam, China, Laos and Thailand. Hmmm I would have loved to be able to do this trip. Four of us went for more trekking around it is so much better to go on our own.

On Sunday we decided to visit the "famous Ba Ha" market.
Four of us got squished on the front seats -Felmming and Peter are very tall, it is hard for them to sit on this minibus. It took 3 hours to make it to Ba Ha which is only 110 km away. The ride is very scenic but the road is in a bad shape, we were sore by the time we arrive in Ba Ha.

Ba Ha Market is very disappointing. It is just a market, same as in Sapa, except that there are much more people. We are supposed to see many tribal communities, but there were only 2 visible ones. We were trying to figure out if there are more and we can't not identify them :)

Back to the minibus and back home, we had enough of the scenery, just wanted to get back. The only highlight of the ride back was to stop at the Vietnamese Chinese border separated only by the Red River. It was interesting to stand there on the Vietnamese side and watch people crossing the bridge back and forth. Also "life' on the other side.

I left Sapa on the night train back to Hanoi. I wasn't happy to take the train again,. but no choice......

Vietnam - Halong Bay

Vietnam - Hanoi to Halong Bay

Vietnam - Hanoi

Laos - Vientiane to Hanoi

Laos - Vientiane

Laos - bus from Luang Prabang to Vientiane

Laos - Luang Prabang

Laos - slow boat from Xuay Kai to Luang Prabang

I took the slow boat from Xuay Kai to Luang Prabang. I paid Cad$32 for the 2 days trip, quite expensive considering that nothing else is included, the boat is old and has wood benches. Despite bad stories from other travelers and warning from the Lonely Planet, I found the trip pleasant. The boat was comfortably full, most people on the boat were very nice, we had a good time talking and sharing travel stories. I was surprised again to find out how many people are actually travel for a year. The scenery was on Mekong river was beautiful.

The boat stopped in Pak Benk for the night. For that night Katrina and I shared a room in the worst guesthouse so far on this trip, we had a hard time falling asleep but we survived the night.

I made it to Luang Prabang around 6 pm on the second day. It took us a while to find a reasonable priced gastehouse, everything seemed expensive. We were used to Thailand prices and find Laos on a "pricey" side. Saying that we were laughing because we end up by paying US$12 dollars for a room which is still very cheap. As we walked into the city we were shocked in a good way. This city is really nice, lots of lights, nice looking restaurants and hotels....no wonder is expensive. Looking forward to explore our first city in Laos.

Laos

It has been a long day. I spend the night in Chiang Seam 9 km from Sok Raup (the official Golden Triangle town). I got up in the morning to catch the bus to Chiang Kwong, the border town from Thailand to Laos. The cites are only 50 km apart, between the 2 cities there are only small buses running and they don't have a schedule; they go when they get full. I got at the bust stop at 8 am and left at 10 am. I was the only foreigner, no one around spoke English, I was very frustrated to wait for 2 hours without having any idea when the bus will leave. Finally by 10 the bus was packed full and we left; about 20 km and an hour later the bus stopped for me to connect with an other bus! I had to wait for the bus for an other hour.

I made to the border around 2pm. Border crossing was only 10 min boat ride. Border formalities were fast, I paid my us$43 dollars and here I was in Laos.

As I walked up the street thinking what I am going to next, Katrin showed up. I met atrin back in Chiang Mai when we travelled a bit together and now we want to continue to travel through Laos. I was so happy! She already got a room and tickets for tomorrow slow boat.

Welcome to Laos to me :)