Monthly Archives: June 2012

Inclement Weather

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When traveling, sometimes you can have a well planned trip needing to be adjusted due to inclement weather conditions. This can be a deal-breaker especially when the activity you would like to do is outdoors. Such was the case for our second day in Sapa, Vietnam.

After trekking to a couple of villages on the first day, we wanted to do another trek that leads to a waterfall on the second day. The plan was to do this trek in the morning, then spend some time in the afternoon in Sap a relaxing before heading back to Lao Cai in the evening to catch the train back to Hanoi. In my mind it sounded like a great plan — checking out the mountains of Sapa and the natural landscape on the second day. What we didn’t account for was the unpredictable weather, especially during the winter season months.

We woke up on the second day to a foggy and a little bit rainy day. When we went down to the Sapa Rooms Hotel lobby to have breakfast and check on the plan for the trekking, the front desk mentioned that due to the inclement weather, the trek had been cancelled because the trails would quite slippery and a bit dangerous to pass. That meant the plan was shot, and we would have to figure a different plan for the day.

Since the only definite plan now was that we had to be ready to head to Lao Cai by 6 pm, the whole day was then wide open. We decided to play it by ear, and spend the morning walking around downtown Sapa and did our own trek to another village nearby. In the end, it was still an enjoyable and memorable day. I think the point is to not getting frustrated when the original plan got foiled by inclement weather, and instead use the time to find other activities that still make the best use of the available time.

The photo below was taken on the main street of Sapa that morning as Kristi and I walked around the town. You can see the thick fog that pretty much made everything invisible. It gave a different mood and sense of place however when I too some photographs of the town that morning, and for the locals, life went on as usual.

Foggy Morning

Hot Pot

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After a long day that started with early arrival from Hanoi, and continued with an all day trekking to the nearby villages, we’re ready to enjoy some rest at our hotel in Sapa, Vietnam. For dinner, we wanted to have something local. There were restaurants in town serving western foods, but we’d like to try something that we wouldn’t find elsewhere.

Dave and Anna, the Australian couple we met during the trekking, suggested a restaurant that they went to the night before called Sapa Lotus Restaurant. The restaurant, located in downtown Sapa, served local dish that they said was very good, the hot pot dinner for two. Given the cooler weather in the mountain area, that sounded like a good option — local food with nice warm soup.

We found the restaurant pretty easily. When we got there, we were the only one in the restaurant, so it was a little concerning. But we went ahead and stayed there, and ordered the combination hot pot that came with assortment of meats and vegetables. The pot with the broth seemed to be closer to the Japanese style of hot pot, which is lighter than the Chinese style. It also had some herbs to flavor the broth. When the raw ingredients were served at our table, it seemed a lot (especially the vegetables). However we were able to finish everything and it was the right amount for the two of us.

As we we’re in the middle of enjoying our dinner, a group of Vietnamese visitors came. They seemed to be a local tour group consisting several families. Later on we found out that they were going to go to cross the border to China nearby to go shopping there.

The photo below was taken during the dinner. Here is Kristi adding the ingredients to the hot pot.

Hot Pot

Dave and Anna

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Sometimes what makes a trip or tour even more memorable is the company you have during that trip. When we did the trek to the villages of Lao Chai and Tavan on our first day in Sapa, Vietnam, we went on a semi-private tour as our tour group consisted our guide May, Kristi and I, and a couple from Australia named Dave and Anna.

Dave and Anna were from Melbourne, Australia. They came to Sapa one day before we arrived. They stayed at another hotel in town which didn’t have tour services, so during their first day in Sapa, they went on their own to Cat Cat village nearby. Dave said that during his younger days he had done backpacking in many countries in South and Southeast Asia — his description reminded me to the British/Australian couple who started Lonely Planet. During our trek Dave and I talked a little bit about various topics — economy, culture, recent news — to compare between the Australia and the United States. I didn’t remember much on the specifics, though I do remember his comment saying that he could recognize my American accent just like I recognized his Australian accent. I didn’t realize that I speak English in American accent…

Later on during the hike I had conversation with Dave’s wife, Anna. Anna mentioned that they were about ready to become empty nesters as their older son was in college while their younger son was close to finish up high school and was ready to continue on to college. Anna also mentioned that she worked for an Australian government agency as a Public Relations person, whose job sometimes is to do ‘damage control’ when someone higher up in her organization said something to the public incorrectly or was facing difficult time dealing with the press. She said her older son seemed to be interested in a similar line of job.

They were both very attentive as well when May gave explanations about the local culture, and they were interested in learning about Indonesia and the United States as well. When we got back to the Sapa Rooms after the tour, we ended up spending a couple of hours hanging out at the hotel’s restaurant to have drinks and enjoy each other’s company. Later that day, they continued their trip back to Hanoi to spend a day in the city before continuing to Ha Long Bay. Before leaving, we shared contact information and they said that if we ever made it to Melbourne, we’re welcomed to stay with them.

The photo below was taken right after we got back from our trek at the Sapa Rooms. These were May, Dave, Anna, Kristi, and me.

Tour group

Hmong Mountain Retreat

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After passing the village of Tavan during our trek through the valley near Sapa, Vietnam, we reached the end of our trek. We stopped at a place called the Hmong Mountain Retreat, which was a new venture by the same proprietor of the Sapa Rooms Hotel where we stayed at in Sapa and the one that organized our trek. It looked like they wanted to take us there so we could see this as an alternate accommodation as part of our stay in the area. In the brochure for the hotel that I reviewed before booking, they suggested a mixed stay where guests can stay part at Sapa Rooms and part at Hmong Mountain Retreat to experience both styles of stay.

What makes the Hmong Mountain Retreat different than other accommodation options in Sapa area is that it’s essentially a hotel, but it’s set in the village area away from the town of Sapa so the guests can get away from the crowd and enjoy a simpler, quieter stay in a more traditional accommodation. There were several villas that made up the Hong Mountain Retreat. They were all set up like a traditional homes in the villages so the accommodation inside the villas were quite spartan. I guess this would be somewhere in between staying at a hotel and doing a homestay.

Our guide May showed us around a little bit (I suppose since she worked as a guide for the Sapa Rooms, this was part of her job to promote this new place). We also got to meet several guests who had stayed there the night before, and were waiting for transportation back to Sapa. We huddled around a traditional heater in the middle of the main building in the complex and shared our experiences in the area so far. These guests seemed to enjoy their stay there. After some time, our ride to go back to Sapa arrived, and we took a ride back to the town to end our trek. I guess that was a good thing that they had the van coming to pick us up. Otherwise we would’ve had to trek uphill back to the town.

The photo below is one of the villas at the Hmong Mountain Retreat. You can see that it’s pretty rustic, and it may not be for everyone.

Hmong Mountain Retreat

Homestay

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One of the activities you can do when visiting Sapa, Vietnam, is to immerse yourself in the local culture by staying with a local family for one or more days. The homestay experience is like a personalized version of staying in a bed & breakfast, though likely it’s more rustic and allow you to see what life in the local village among the ethnic minority group is like.

When we were planning for the trip to Sapa, Kristi and I considered doing the homestay. However, since we only had one night that we could stay in Sapa (the other two nights during the trip were to be spent on the train rides between Hanoi and Sapa), we decided to just stay at a hotel. We did see a Travel Channel program where the host Samantha Brown went to one of the villages near Sapa and stayed with a local family. She got to experience helping the host family with a chore, plowing the rice fields with the buffalo-powered plows, and then relaxing in an herbal bath and having dinner with the host family. That looked like a wonderful cultural experience to try when you have a chance.

When we walked through one of the villages, we saw a couple of homes that had a sign saying that they welcome homestay guests. It looked like this had become a cottage industry — kind of like ‘agriturismo’ in Italy — which I think is pretty nice for the local families to supplement their household incomes while at the same time showing their culture to the guests. One thing to beware, however, is when you try to set up one of these stays through travel agencies. You may want to find out how much of the proceeds actually goes to the host family, as supposed to being skimmed by the travel agency. I read in travel forums that sometimes the family got taken advantage of by the travel agency and you end up making the travel agency richer without helping the welfare of the hosts.

The photo below was taken as we’re about to enter one of the villages. You can see a typical scenery in the village with the small homes off the main street.

Local village