Sapa to Lao Cai

25 March:

We checked out of our hotel in Sapa and said goodbye.  We drove back to Lao Cai where we had arrived by train a couple of days ago.

We are very near the China border and can see China across the river as we drove north to our next adventure.  As a matter of fact we were so close to China that Karel received a text message on his cell phone from China Unicom network.  The message says "Welcome to China".  It was a bit creepy that they knew we were near!!!

After driving up winding roads around the mountains we arrived at the Lung Khau Nhin Market which was a very small local market but visited by many of the local people as it is their once a week opportunity to visit and acquire the necessities.  We saw people from the Flower Hmong, Black Dao, Tu Di, Nung and Giay minorities.  All of the women were dressed up in their traditional costumes and it was quite colorful.

After this we continued onward up the mountain where we had a lunch of local Vietnamese dishes in a roadside single room lodge.  The food was good and we sampled some of the local corn wine (we call it moonshine!!)

After lunch, we continued driving along the Flowing River where we stopped near the hydro dam that was being built.  We had to climb down the hill to the river where a long-tail boat was waiting for us.  It was kind of strange because there was all of this construction going on and out of nowhere a boat is waiting. 

We took the boat ride down the river through a beautiful gorge with interesting rock formations.  The river was quite shallow and we got stuck a couple of times, but each time the boat driver managed to get us going.

We passed by another village that led a very simple life - without electricity and other modern means of living - that we have become used to!

We pulled over further down the river to another village - of the Thai minority.  This was a very nice and beautiful village.  We walked around and then came upon a very ornate temple that had a fancy courtyard and building.  It felt quite out of place.

From there we continued on the boat further down the river where the driver and van were waiting for us.

The last stretch of the drive through the mountains took us back to Lao Cai and a quick dinner before getting back on the overnight train to Hanoi.

Deb & Karel