Into the clouds of Northern Vietnam (2013)

From the bustle of Hanoi to the serenity of the mountains close to the Chinese border, the night train was our gateway to a beautiful part of an amazing country.

The triple stacked bunks of the Vietnamese night train had very little room for even the smallest amongst us, never mind my gangly body. And so, on those sweaty nights, with my limbs folded into physiologically impossible shapes, I tried to stay out of the rumbling bed-shaped coffin as much as possible. Instead, we folded up the middle bunks, and all squeezed onto the bottom bed to chat and play cards. When I had inevitably lost at all known card games, we decided on sleep. Clambering back up like a bony humanoid gecko I squeezed myself under the large ceiling light which sat a few inches from my face. As the train bundled its way down the tracks, the rhythmic thuds of my skull hitting the light, followed by my groans of cranial discomfort began to frustrate me and those inhabiting the same small carriage. But, you know what they say about rapidly accumulated minor concussions? They are a great sedative.

Brain health 1/10

Quality of sleep 8/10

While sleep was a contentious issue, there was one uniting principle we could all agree on: toilet trips were to be kept to an absolute minimum for your own sake but also for those around you. To approach those sliding doors, with a pained hop in your step, a cross-legged desperation oozing from your very being and to peel back that metal door, that was when you had to make the choice. Would you risk wetting yourself or would you tackle the lapping ocean of urine in front of you. The inexplicable sloshing floor of piss. How it had happened I don’t know, all I knew was that stepping into that room would leave you stained and splashed at best, and soaked at worst. At least if you wet yourself you know where it has come from…

We arrived in Lao Chai in the early hours of the morning and took a minibus to Sapa rising up through the clouds until we were above them in the early morning light. The view was stunning. We were looking at the endless green of rice paddies whose graceful sweeps and curves ran along the mountain’s contours but also stepped down and disappeared into the clouds below. We arrived in Sapa which would act as our base throughout our time trekking as well as before and after the project in a remote village.

Sapa

Living perpetually in a cloud was a new experience for me. Obviously rain is quite a regular occurrence but when it clears in Sapa it’s worth the wait.

The Sapa region has recently become more recognised by tourists as a place to visit in Vietnam thanks to its stunning scenery and ethnic minorities that populate the area. While you often see them around town its only to ask you to buy from them, if you want to know more about their real lives and find out more about their culture then homestays in the surrounding mountains are the way forward.

My time in this town was split fairly evenly between sleeping, wandering and eating. The uncontrollable bouts of sleeping were due to the amount of travelling we had done. The wandering mainly consisted of sidestepping my way around the market, dodging the dripping edges of tarpaulins, stooping to avoid an antisocial number of head height parasols and peering at everything from live fish in washing up bowls, to machetes and old coins. Finally, one of my favourite parts of travelling, the food. In Sapa, we enjoyed a relative feast compared to the nutritious dinner we’d packed for the night train (a few Oreos each and a baguette). Sapa on the other hand supplied us with: Chicken spring rolls, spiced sizzling beef and vegetables with white rice, it was simple but excellent.

The Trek

We were trekking in the area surrounding Sapa for a week with a guide to help us get to the right home-stays. Balancing on the edge of rice paddies where the path gives way to a farmer’s field and walking up and down mountains was all in a days work. The scenery was incredible as you can tell from just a few pictures I took during these hikes.

At the end of everyday’s hike we arrived at our homestay which always offered a different experience. Bamboo floors cut from the surrounding forests, friendly local people and some of the best food I’ve had in my life. These are some of the things you can expect from a homestay in Vietnam. Much of our time in the homestays was spent sat around playing cards, waiting for dinner. It may come as a surprise to you but my mind was very much focussed on the food rather than the cards. This meant that my run of luck from the night train continued but all of the pain of losing was easily soothed by the incredible home cooked food. When you’re as hungry as me 24/7, the sight of deep bowls of rice being refilled at will was a joyous occasion.

As well as all the incredible traditional food, there was a strange addition thanks to our guide Thanh. He made these strange sweet and garlicy chips. They sound horrible. An unthinkable experiment to a much loved food but it worked. Now I miss them and need them back in my life.

The Project

After coming back to Sapa for more sleep and inevitably more rain, we set off to a remote settlement with no more than eight houses to start our project. The aim was to build a concrete path through the village to help them during the rainy season. At this time of the year the hill transforms from a path into a low budget waterpark. A waterpark with one slide and an unhygienic mud slurry instead of water. Lovely.

A week and a half later we had been woken by cockerels every morning and I had decided they are the true incarnation of the devil. We had sung Bohemian Rhapsody while pouring hand-mixed concrete in the torrential rain. I had done the Cha Cha slide (slide being the most relevant part of this song) while walking up the hill carrying sacks of sand on a wooden stretcher. Tired bodies, little piglets running riot and lots of rain. A fantastic week in the remote Vietnamese countryside.

From here we would travel back to Hanoi and on to Central Vietnam.

Final thoughts

It may seem like on the most part this trip was made up of me sleeping and eating which is a pretty accurate summary of my life, never-mind the trip. However, when I did look outside, past the clouds, northern Vietnam was filled with incredible people, awe inspiring landscapes and unforgettable experiences.

Note: This was my first visit to Vietnam in 2013 and I have since returned. Much has changed and all shall be revealed in a new post coming in the next month/few years.