Trekking Day. The Morning started early with breakfast down at the restaurant and since I try Scrabble eggs on Day 1, I thought to try out the "Chicken Glass Noodles". Taste similar to the ones I have in Hanoi during our First night there
Morning Scenery out from our room balcony is fantastic....added that the sunshine make everything look bright...and colorful.
We can actually see our neighbours as we are so near. Mr H commented that our neighbours, the Aussie/Malaysian couple talking about meals and PSP...lol
Me with the background of mountain of SAPA....
Today trek is completely on Foot. Mr H was grumbling about how come we have to walk such a long trek on area with not much to see just to reach our destination in the Padi Fields....but I seriuously though the walking was a breeze...nothing too tough as it all down-hill walk...
We get to enjoy some scenery along the way, though they are not as spectacular as we expected..mostly greenery and hills
The road is relative quiet, with only one or 2 cars, and motors, mini-bus climbing and descenting down hill. Mr H saw some folks in the buses...taking the bus down to their destination and that make him wonder why we are walking....(added that there is this troublesome tribe ladies following us pestering us to buy their stuff...)
I did the unthinkable by pointing "recommending" them to Mr H, making Mr H extremely pist...(Sorry for that....brain wasn't thinking properly)
Some scenery spot worth taking a look, but have to endure Mr H's photography skills.....
Since we are walking down-hill, we get to see large field of field of plantation of the villager of SAPA.
Me trying a pose....(my legs are out of the picture due to Mr H's poor framing skills again....what to do..). Lucky the photo did not turn out too badly...
Another shot with "mixed" results....but still ok la....(At least I still smiling)
This photo was taken by our Hongkong Tour mates....(I thought They at least appreciate the power of having wide angle lens)
These kind of plantation fields are something I always see in postcards and photo-books of Travelling....It's quite amazing to be so close to these field...
We reached out first Village , The Lao Cai Village at around 11.30am after walking for about an hour. We were told that the trekking tour will bring us to 3 villages.
It's a up-hill climb and a relative steep one...and Mr H is struggling behind me...trying to make it in time....we were suppose to be able to have a better view of the village after the climb
Up the slope, we came across some huts which I believe are places where some of the villager called home.....It must have been rather cold to live here....(probably the villagers are so used to this kind of temperature..)
We came across a pond where the kids are playing in it....the pond was quite muddy....well this is probably way of life for the kids here in SAPA. They don have PSP or Computer here....activities are mainly outdoor, like swimming in this pond or catching some animals in the village
Having climb up the hill, we came upon the look-out point...Wonder what everyone is looking at...Hint : There were loud noise coming from that direction
Ok....The Answer : Villagers harvesting the Wheat by hitting them hard on the wooden boxes...to get the wheat out...(Max Zoom now....)
You probably understand why I wasn't smiling....this shot took like ages to complete..
Another Hut along the way to another Village...
It's pretty much a down-slope walk for now....and most of it are either on soil or grass...so it could get rather slippery...(Another ages shot ...hiaz)
We came by this large plain of grass for our break before we continue further to the 2nd and 3rd Village. This place is kind of like on a edges of a Flat hill top. Here, u get to see larsh field of plantations field...Me getting a photo-shot
Look out from the hill, we see this...the photo does not do the place justice...u have to be here to enjoy the scenery
The Steps at the rest area make it an ideal place to watch the surrounding...and relax and of course to rest our feet before our long walk to the next village
After the Break, which is almost about 12pm. We make our way toward the next village where we will probably have lunch. I was a little "shock" when I realize that this is actually the toughest part of the walk, not that I am not capable of walking it....though....U should have look at how Mr H is walking...looking at his legs....u can't keep worry that he might fall-off.....he walk like as though he just learn walking..(Serious)
This is how steep the fall might be...the guide kinda don really care for their tourist safety.....I thought It was quite dangerous....I wouldn't ask my parents or small children to walk this way
A Closer look....I think u might still survive the fall, but with broken arms and legs...(Cannot Claim Insurance cos we didn't buy..lol)
End of the Fall....
We Stop by for another rest....the view out here is pretty Awesome....
We were kinda surrounded by mountains......SAPA is hilly area. Too bad we don have this kinda of scenery in Singapore.
A River and toward the left hand-side of the photo is where we will have Lunch...Awesome right...having lunch beside a river....
The Real Challenge before lunch to to climb down from the sandy path to this path down to our Lunch. That's where the 2nd Village will be....Lucky not that difficult...though..
This is the path we took to come to our lunch. The Top right hand corner (Middle of the photo) is where we actually are. Notice the challenge in tackling the steep slope down
'These are how the Wall seen during the earlier photos look like up close...seem like they use "Stones" to identify areas or border up territory?
A bridge link us to our Lunch Place....
The Bridge.
After Crossing this bridge, we finally....settle down for Lunch...It's almost 1pm...lol
Lunch Place look like a make-shift place..with the Kitchen on the right hand side of the photos and the toilet beside it...how hygienic can it be??
Lunch was actually slow in delivery.....and our guide have to go help out....some of our tour-mates are actually Locals, they do try to help out...by getting us the plates and bowls...and utensils...
Why I call this place "make-shift" is due to these structures and how the overall house look unfinished...
Lunch Came around 1.30pm....all of us were kinda starving...and Uncle H is happily smoking away his lungs...lol...First up....Corn soup...The Reason for the delay is that I think the Kitchen is unable to cope with such a high influx of tourist arriving all of a sudden.
The rest of the stuff are the usual found in our trip to Hanoi region. I must say..some of them are not that fantastic...(I can cook something similar to this...back in my uni day...lol) but the Top middle dish is the most tasty.....sadly...though the food are plentiful, we did not manage to finish up.
We continue our 2nd part of trekking after lunch into our 2nd Village...@ around 2.30pm. A good 2 hrs Lunch we had....The region here is relative wet..with steam of water flowing in the mud-drain...(wonder where these water came from, I believe there must be a stream somewhere??)
A Wild Boar (Pig) in the field....
Me with the tour group mates in the background...the old 3 folk behind are the local we talk about...the guy I believe is in his 50s and there is this old ladies whom she say is already 70s...but they look extremely young for the age...(look like 40s only)....they are real fit I must say...to have come trek the region where the hills and walk are steep and slippery....even Mr H who is in his 30s...is having trouble.....trekking....(I wonder will I be as Fit when I am their age??....food for thought)
We came into a School in the Village.....where young children study, much like our Primary School I suppose...Our guide told us that in Vietnam, parents are not keen to send kids to school and it's also not by Law to send them here.....(unlike Singapore though).....
Their Classroom is make up of wooden tables and chair...which I believe could either be donated or make by the villagers....It's really sad to see these poor kids having to suffer with poor facilities...to study....(I was told studying here is Free...due to the donations)
Mr H playing with the kids in the classroom....no Teacher around...so MR H actually show off his Fats......I must say...
Mr H attract alot of attention when he was in Hanoi...SAPA, I donno why, when walking the streets of Hanoi...people kept staring at him....and laughing.....I thought, Vietnam people never seen such a "hugh" guy before....even in SAPA..the kids.....were amazing to see .....such a person..lol....One Sad thing we notice is that when the Kids actually ask Mr H for "money" which is really bad teaching...and just way to practical consider that they are still so young..to really handle money....
Schooling in SAPA is probably quite relax....as most of them are either running around or loitering along the corridor....definitely a rare sight in Singapore's school.
Me and the long road to the ending point.....Notice that there isn't really roads in SAPA..mostly are dirt tracks...lol
He is 75% into his challenge to conquer this trekking experience.....(tired I must say...but honest...it look tough for him..lol)
We came across this nice looking hut, which look like some house of the villagers
Upon walking to the Entrance, we realize that this is actually a place for tourist to stay..U can actually stay with the villagers as part of the Tour experience, the Villager will play host and cook meals for you...while u stay...the only bad part probably is night activities...cos it can get very dark here since there is no street lights. (I wonder how much is it to spend a night here)
The road continues....If you have not know, we are already inside the 2nd Village...just that I donno what village it is now....we just exit from Lao Cai Village...
The Male and Female...cow? feeding....lol, correct me if I am wrong..I not so good with animals...(I return all my science knowledge....long ago)
This sign seem to suggest we have entered "Ta Van" Village...I really not good with remembering names...especially people and village names...."blur"
There is this really nice, Placid river in the village of Ta Van, we actually saw a few tourist along the bank of this river....(Wonder what they are up to...probably to get better viewpoint for photos??)
There seem to be numerous bridges around these town and Village in SAPA....This got to do with a number of rivers that run through this region.....and most of this bridges look rather similar..lol
We exited from Ta Van Village at around 3.30pm.
We were ask to wait at the other side of the bridge, while the rest of the tour-mates make their way here....we saw quite a number of small mini-van....and Mr H was "so Happy" as his torturous trekking event finally came to an end...and he need not climb back up or walk back to town.... (Here in photo - is a provisional shop at the exit of Ta Van village)
Apparently, Mr H was wrong, the mini-vans are for another group of tourist...and I believe they paid more money than us....the 10-15mins trek up a steep portion of a hill make Mr H sweat like buckets....It's time to exercise more...la...Mr H...
We Came upon a very steep slope make up of soil...and the ground is rather wet...and we need to climb up this slope to reach our bus...back to town.....(Photo - showing direction and this sign is on the top of the slope)
As there are a number of older folks with us, we kinda give them a helping hand by guiding them up the slope...It might be better for the tour company to prepare the traveler ahead of the trekking to better prepare them for the trip....the older folks in out groups are probably not aware and it could be rather dangerous...
Our mini-van was just park on the top of the slope...we kinda broad it when the door open...so rest our feet..and also to grab good seats at the back of the bus...
Do u think he is tired or lazy.....once on the bus....his energy level shot up....I think he just "hated" trekking.....prefer...to "laz" around...lol
honestly...I enjoy the trekking experience...the only bad thing about the trek is that I wasn't wearing the correct shoes...for the trek....making all the walking....tough.....at certain point during the trekking, I was actually worry that my 7 years Slippers will give...way. If I can find a kaki, I don mind doing another trek to say the tallest peak in SAPA.....I actually wanted to go Mt KK in Malaysia but sadly..didn't manage to find anyone to go with me....lol
(an interesting fact while on the bus....during the reversing...try to keep really still, as the road is rather narrow and reversing the bus make us very close to the edges of the cliff....slight movement....and we will have our insurance claim...)
We reach the hotel at around 4pm. As we have already check-out of our hotel early this morning before our trek....we don have proper rooms to clean-up, lucky, the hotel does have shower facilities at the basement of the building..near the dining area...for us to shower and clean up...though it shared with others...so we need to queue for our turns...
Dinner was provided before we are to depart for to Lao Cai Train station for our over-night train ride back to Hanoi....this time I choose again the Fries and Chicken meat for dinner....I am really so uninteresting when it come to food......
(I can eat the same food over and over again as long as I Like the food....)
Dinner is accompany of course with Vietnam Coffee..one of my favorite drinks here...it's even better than our Starbucks or Coffee bean back home...
We met this very kind and funny "Auntie" who kept pestering us to get mineral water from her. She is very kind and approaching...and make us feel as though we known here for quite a while...she even came to say goodbye to us.......too bad..when I wanted to buy mineral water from her...she was busy tending to her crops...downhill....
A photo @ the Lobby before boarding the mini-bus down-hill to Lao Cai. The hotel is generally good. Room are spacious and food are fantastic....Hotel staff are also relative helpful. I remember asking them about massage service (Clean ones) that the hotel provides and they actually give me quite a detail description and offer to call them us...for us....We left for Lao Cai @ 5.30pm, to catch our train which is at 9pm....
Was wondering how come we need to leave so early, I realize that some of our tour-mates depart for Hanoi at 8pm....we thought to ourselves, can we make it in time? I remember taking 3hrs to reach SAPA from Lao Cai...
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