From Laos to Sapa

We left Luang Namtha and started the most tiring leg of our journey after a day of rest. The journey to Sapa would take 3 days and 2 buses on the first day to reach Muang Khua (I am not sure of the exact spelling but it doesn't matter as we've seen it written in half a dozen different ways). Surprisingly the whole journey was on a newly surfaced road and fairly comfortable. In MK, we watched life go by from the terrace of a restaurant: kids playing in the muddy river, an old man fishing, an old ferry crossing the river loaded with heavy trucks struggling to go upstream against the strong current.

The next day we had a short journey-on paper- to join Dien Bien Phu. We were asked to have crossed the river using the long boat to be ready by the bus stop at 5:30am. We got up early and waited for the boat until daylight (about 5:30). We could see some light on the other side of the river and heard some hammer-like noise. When we approached the opposite bank, we realised they were no builders but a group of farmers which had come to slaughter a cow, they were emptying its stomach from fermented grass when we disembarked, bon appetit! We waited until 7:30 for the bus to leave, the driver was waiting for a delivery to load on the bus! The road wasn't as smooth as the previous day but we were still with Steph and Tora from the trek in LN so the journey didn't seem too long. We also had to wait for 1h30 at the Vietnam border as the officers were on their lunch break. Eventually we reached Dien Bien Phu in the afternoon.

On our 3rd day on a bus we took off at 6:00am to Sapa. Our driver wanted to be the first one on the road so he could pick people along the way and guarantee better revenues. This meant he was not prepared to drive calmly and his style was more Colin McRae than Thomas the tank engine. Luckily he calmed down when we approached the Fansipan pass at 1900m. The weather changed during that day from dry and hot in the morning to cold and wet when we arrived in Sapa.

Sapa is a beautiful town 1600m high in the north of the country. There are loads of rice paddies built up against the mountain and minority people from different tribes live in the valley. There was a feel of ski resort in the air (Nic felt like it was Christmas come early!) and we even found tartiflette! We went on a one day trek down the valley, across 3 villages and fields where people were harvesting rice. Loads of tourists were doing the same as us and loads of female villagers were looking after them, guiding them or just wandering along with us, until the true reason of their kindness came out: 'I follow you long time, you buy from me now?!' Anyway the place was unique and the day out was worth it.

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