Shortly a tap at the door and an offer of coffee followed from a smiling railway employee. Soon after the condensed milk version of a brew arrived and we forced it down, only to be followed by a return appearance by the aforesaid person requesting payment. Ah yes, forgot about that. Fine print in the contract...don't accept any offer without agreeing who pays and what final price is. Silly westerner, in best early morning glory, thought coffee might be part of deal already paid for. Started to wonder, who was this guy anyway? No uniform, an imposter perhaps, the guy who was sleeping on the floor last night just outside our cabin?
Lao Cai Station arrived just after 6.30am and we alighted without further international incident. This was important as we were now 1.5km from the Chinese border and were just about to drive on the very avenue where tanks crashed across the border on an unsuspecting Vietnamese army in 1979 during the height of the Kampuchea-Vietnam conflict (which fortunately ended Pol Pot's terrible regime). Remember that? Not that long ago really. Today, China shares a common border with North Korea...and South Korea! We were keeping our heads down and hoping any conflict was north of the 38th parallel.
The 35km drive uphill to Sapa was not to Lisa's liking - up, up and windy with lots of blind turns that drivers played chicken on - but otherwise was just fine. On into another world. The hill tribes people, especially the various Hmong people. A resilient, wet rice based, very artistic, high country culture - but quite fragile in terms the ecological dependency it thrives on and the modern day pressures it's people face. Tribes who were refugees from SW China over 250 years ago. A classic study in how/ whether tribal peoples can survive in modern times and if so, how?
Our driver dropped us at 'Sapa View' to a truly magnificent digs. We were quite taken aback as it far surpassed or expectation. Rated a 3-star hotel, it had a really great ambience. The hotel has a Nordic (or is it Japanese?) inspired alpine resort feel. The owner says 'Sapa' architecture. We'll leave that for a future blog. The 'view' is sensational - looking out towards the highest of peaks in the country, Mt Fansipan and a jaw dropping valley in between. And such lovely people running the place with a real commitment to the Hmong. Our room is spacious, airy, light filled and a view to die for!
Okay, so we were pretty tired. A quick shower, wonderful breakfast and a big sleep later, we finally (nearing midday) were ready to explore the town. Our first stop was 'The Hill Station'. This is a Hmong people inspired and run restaurant, built with architecture echoing their materials but with a modern flourish. The music was decidedly western (mainly 60s and 70s). It had a great feel, the cheese platter was very impressive but the coffee just ok. But all in all, a fab start.
The street life was at times chaotic, and at others, strangely quiet. A traffic jam was conjured in the narrow streets in no time, Hmong girls would hawk their wares one after another and then, quite suddenly, it felt like we were the only people in town. Weird!
So we spent the rest of the day exploring the town, it's markets and observing the Hmong people in their many colours and manifestations. This was surely the appetiser before the main course.
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