Tuesday, September 9, 2008

On & On i go about Sapa, Vietnam



Here. My last post on my Vietnam trip.


VERY outdated I know hehe.... Still, I must talk about it. Just to give my Vietnam trip a proper closing. My previous posts about Sapa can be revisited here and here....


Tan Van - Ze Zhao - Sapa Town

I woke up just in time to see the sun burning a hole in the sky. The day of the farmers and buffaloes had already started and were already working hard in the paddy fields. As it was still hours from our breakfast, we took a stroll to the morning 'market' which is a few kilometres away from our cottage. We stopped by a grocery store (aka someone's living room) where we bought Vietnamese popcorns (plain and chewy), rice bubbles (sweet & crunchy) and 10 farm chicken eggs (fresh & energy booster) . All were great!


6am - An older Brother lovingly taking care of his younger brother

Older brother left crying brother behind...

He did come back for him & gently wrapping his crying brother's hand in his



After our pancakes with bananas breakfast and our free range chicken eggs, we left our cottage to the
Village of Red Zhao tribe.


Up & UP & UP we climbed *puff*


Jenn, staring into the beautiful scenery

In Red Zhao's house. Grandma Red Zhao beside me


After 4 hours of climb, it was finally time for lunch! While waiting for
our tour guide to cook for us, a Black H'mong gal kept asking me to buy something from her. I must have looked very friendly because everyone seemed to like to ask me to buy things! haha... Her persistence paid off. I bought a handmade belt at a very cheap price. So cheap that I almost felt guilty ;P She spent 3 months making it!

Gigantic Jenn, Littler Belt Maker & my new belt

Vietnamese noodle + fried egg. Simple yet satisfying


After another hour of climb, we finally arrived at the main road where we sped thru the winding road back to Sapa town in a jeep. It was hard to believe that our 2 days of jungle trekking = short 10 mins car ride! But then, it's worth every sweat to jungle trekked in the hot sun. It's the journey that makes everything interesting. The Chinese is right 读万卷书不如走千里路 (reading millions of books can't beat travelling thousand miles). One definitely learns more by seeing the world in person!

I'm a person who keep my words. After a fresh and relaxing shower in our hotel, we headed off to Highlands Bakery where I had a hard time choosing what to indulge in. Everything looked so bloody tasty, esp after such a long climb! So in the end, we decided that each of us should order something different so we could try as many varieties as we could. It was a heavenly feeling to finally realise my wants! :)


Just fresh out from the oven. The fragrance of baked bread - Heavenly!


Our very 'French' looking hotel



Cat Cat Village


It was drizzling on the our final (3rd day) day in Sapa. Despite the wetness, the scenery remained beautiful.

Beautiful Cat Cat Village

Waterfall in Cat Cat village

Local Family
Me waiting for my BBQ Potato. Hurry Up, I'm starving...

Crossing thru rice paddy terrace



Heaven Gate


Getting up there requires a lot of strength and it wasn't easy if you'd just done a 15 hours of intensive jungle trekking earlier on. If you miss this, you will regret. The place is simply heavenly, just like its name! It was so misty up there that I felt like I were a little fairy in heaven! Where are my wings?



This way to the Clouds... That way to Heaven...

The Gate to Heaven behind me!


At Cloud Yard. That's Sapa town behind me

I don't mind taking an 8 hour train ride + 1 hour of bus ride to Sapa again. It truly deserves all the effort :)


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a long overdue post Jenn but at least u made the effort to close the chapter properly.

hey, the place seems beautiful. u made me wanna live there!

Anonymous said...

i almost forgot your sapa trip haven't finished telling yet! ha ha...ending in heaven gate, what a closing!

Jane Jane said...

i wan the fried egg..it makes me hungryyyyy...nice pics jenn...