Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia - March 2015: Hanoi

Thursday, March 19th

We were up very early for a 7:30am departure from Hanoi. Unexpectedly, the makeshift ground floor breakfast room was still overflowing by the time we go there at 6:30am - what is it about tourists that leads them on early morning "feeding frenzies"?

We left town in the direction of the airport and past the 4km long mural which commemorates Hanoi's 1,000th birthday in 2010.

The traffic was very heavy, but most of it going in the opposite direction - to work.

It's about 350km to Sapa, but 250km of that is a recently built "freeway". There's not much traffic, and the road stops are still being completed, but clearly they are expecting a lot of development up north, both commercial, tourist, and we suspect strategic.

The only tunnel along the way is also still being completed - well, we hoped they were just installing the lights.

The road follows the Red River, or a tributary, for part of the way - apparently they are gold mining this part of the river.

About 40km fro Sapa we passed through the district capital Lao Cai. This is the largest city in the north of Vietnam with a population of over one million. The wide roads and large new buildings suggest it's on a rapid expansion program.

From Lao Cai the road gets narrower and starts to climb towards Sapa. It's a gently 5% and cyclists come here to ride up, and especially down - I wished I had a bike myself.

The hills and mountains around Sapa are home to a number of ethnic groups - the Black H'Mong (below) and the Red Dzao being the most commonly seen in Sapa. It's always the women that are most colourfully dressed, as well as selling on the streets. Beware - they are quite determined.

After lunch we set off on a 10km trek that we weren't quite expecting, probably because until now a "trek" usually meant a dawdling stroll.

Unlike the rest of Vietnam, there's only one annual rice crop in Sapa, and this time of year the fields are either very dry, or being used for another crop. In some cases (see below) they are just starting preparation.

The air wasn't totally clear, partly due to fog, and partly due to smoke haze. Nevertheless, you could still see that the mountains were very rugged, and very high.

The trek started through a nearby village, descending slowly for a kilometer or so towards a river valley.

Pig farming is very popular, and most sows are either pregnant, or have recently produced litters. Happy as a pig in...

Today's blog was delayed because the hotel WiFi was down. Given that every village had mobile coverage and free WiFi, it says something about hotels.

This is a kind of grain mill driven by running water.

Looking back to the village we'd just passed through we naively thought our trek would end near the bottom of the valley.

We were five - Prue and I, our guide from Hanoi, a young female trainee from his company called San, and our local guide, a H'Mong woman called Sum. Now Sum setting a cracking pace - almost as if she did this walk twice a day just to get to work and back. And she did it dressed in tradition dress and plastic slip-on shoes.

Wherever there was water and water buffalo there was mud - we were glad it wasn't the wet season.

In some areas they had started filling the fields, a process that would take another month or two for the summer planting.

When we got to the river we followed it through a deep gorge.

We were also on the sunny side of the gorge and it was still very warm.

The bamboo gets big in this part of the world, and this boy was climbing unassisted to collect bamboo bark.

A pedestrian and motorbike bridge crosses the river - this guy thought he'd bring his firewood as well.

This woman was carrying her wood on her back. The path was mainly dirt, but in many places there was a meter wide concrete path - motorbikes seemed to travel anywhere they could get traction.

Meanwhile Sum continued to set the pace with her determined swagger.

The view back towards Sapa in the distance.

And the view of the route ahead (we hope).

Everyone is still doing very well, except poor San who probably didn't dress appropriately.

When the terraces are filling with water you can see how well engineered the whole system is.

Every 3km or so there's a small "shop" selling drinks and other stuff which provides welcome shade and rest. Yes, there's even mobile coverage, and probably free WiFi!

Sapa is now disappearing into the distance.

Orchids are a popular crop due to the favourable cool climate.

More terraces!

I have no idea what this H'Mong woman was doing, but she was definitely showing her leg (they wear shorts, tunic and gators, so occasionally knees appear!).