Day #5:
Another day wasted in transit. My flight from Ho Chi Minh City was only 20 minutes late, but the $8 “Vietnam Airlines” airport shuttle (recommended by my Lonely Planet book) took up to two hours! With so many scam businesses using plagiarized signs of reputable companies, it was hard to trust I was boarding the correct shuttle at the airport. Anyways, all I needed was get to the Old Quarter in Hanoi, so I could board my 3 day/4 night Sapa trekking tour!
Night train to Sapa…oh yeah, baby!
Trekking Sapa was something I was definitely looking forward to. Lush green mountains, terracing rice fields and valleys, divine waterfalls and villages…very Sound of Music (Vietnamese style). For a $107 all-inclusive package (transportation, 2 sleeper trains, guide, food, 3 star hotel and a homestay) I was ready to sing like Julie Andrews!
An example of a Vietnam Airlines mock tour office
Sandwiched between Vietnamese in a small old minivan while stuck in traffic, reminded me of my SUPERSHUTTLE days with one tiny exception: I was the tallest Asian in the bus! The van was packed; and still, there was plenty of room according to the Vietnamese. They just pull out small plastic stools to shove more people in!
On the drive into Hanoi:
Rice paddy fields, water buffaloes and tiny coned-hat rice workers submerged in the fields, visible only by their hats… gorgeous! The awkward architecture of the thin buildings stamped the land, like colorful Monopoly buildings! Narrow in face-width but deep in length, they’re built to escape higher taxes (the building’s face has more taxable value than the length of it). Wish I could show you pictures of all this, but squished & watching it over my neighbor’s shoulder through a dirty window, wasn’t an ideal position for photography.
Still, here is a shot of one of those buildings. They’re very common in Hanoi & speckled throughout Vietnam.
Hanoi Impressions: Perhaps renting a motorbike…
…is totally out of the question! If I had any dreams of renting a motorbike here like I did in Thailand, the bubble went *pop*the moment I saw the insanity of traffic. Hanoi has a bit more car culture than Ho Chi Minh City, making traffic tricky, more chaotic and noisy. Vietnamese motorbikes still perform weave-dodge-honk maneuvers; but with autos sharing the streets, traffic is very Stop- Go- Honnnnnk! Hoooonnnk! Hoooonnnk! It can be a bit much… I definitely like HCMC/Saigon better!
Hanoi, the capital city, has a proud and artsy flair woven into it’s culture. Past mixed with present, the outskirts of the Old Quarter wears a serene style with Haon Kiem Lake, the grand Waterpuppet Theater and expensive designer label shops no one can afford.
Hanoi will celebrate its big anniversary in September. This sign counts down the days.
The heart of the old district is much crazier. It’s narrow and winding streets are congested with criss-crossing two-wheelers, cyclos and tourists. Street food vendors pull makeshift restaurant seating with plastic stools, and roadside seating is still a popular Vietnamese spectator sport. Like the old quarter of HCMC, you’ll find a tourist every ten feet. The French colonial architecture is polluted with age and streets have names, associated with products they once sold. This is partially still alive today, as some streets have shops dedicated to selling the same thing, from statues and altars, hardware shops and silk to rice noodles, etc… Mashed together, they all end up looking like junk! Seriously.
(Above) Outdoor cafes; (Below) Hardware shop
Which is the real Sinh Cafe?
Vietnam really needs copyright laws when it comes to using plagiarized business signs! Pham Luong Ngoc Quyen is the road that houses Sinh Tourist, formerly the real Sinh Cafe and the launching ground of my Sapa trekking tour! In my first 5 minutes there, I passed at least four Sinh Cafes (two of them were located directly across the real one)! Still, I stuck to the street address I had written down and arrived safely.
On our trekking tour van to the train station the TV was playing Arirang, a famous Korean folk song. A 10 year-old boy sitting behind me began singing. I turned around… ah, a Korean family!
Touchdown! The train was a combination of heat, sweat, crowds of local Vietnamese, backpackers and taxis vying for customers! I felt like I was in India again. The tour rep gave us our tickets, a quick verbal run-down of our itinerary (vs a printed one) and told us, we’d be picked up on the other end in Lao Cai and taken to our hotel. Not having a tour leader, an address or name of a hotel, anything… felt a bit scary. I don’t have an elephant’s memory and was the only solo traveler in the group; yet, I assumed I’d just follow everyone else and trust the process.
Taking the train was fantastic- there were wooden cabins and the beds seemed clean and comfy! My 3 cabin mates were cute Swiss in their early 20′s, with much enthusiasm and an eagerness to chat about life and what they perceived of Hanoi culture. They were a group of friends traveling together– amazing! Sometimes, I feel a grain of envy when I come across travelers like this– it’s like having a party out of your backpack! Still I’m sure I’d never do it, unless maybe if I were in my 20′s again. Fun drunken bonding but cat fights, trivial annoyances and drama! For the Swiss, this seemed the case.
Which brings me to #1 advantage of traveling solo…
You meet more people and I love meeting fellow travelers!
OMG. I totally agree with everything you’ve just written. Traveling free’s you to just “be”. Brilliant! No pretense, everyone is just sort of wandering around looking for something new to experience. You take what you like and leave the rest. That’s why it’s called a vacation.You are entitled to that luxury.
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Christine Ka'aloa Reply:
September 3rd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
@Chance: Yeah, I like how you put it “entitled to that luxury” of simply Being. It’s unfortunate we can’t sometimes, feel entitled to that when we’re home. Often there’s so much baggage that gets in the way– lifestyle differences, tastes, career goals & labels, financial statuses, etc… When you’re traveling, you’re really just a traveler. All that other stuff enters but peripherally.
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it’s also much easier to “make friends” since chances are, you won’t be seeing ‘em ever again, no matter how fast they add you to facebook.
Question: the train to Sapa, that’s not pix of the Livitrans sections, is it?
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Christine Ka'aloa Reply:
October 29th, 2010 at 8:50 am
@SinoSoul: Interesting take on the making friends part. I guess sometimes when traveling we don’t do that whole selective process thing. Our filters are a bit lower and we’re more open to meet new people because we’re already in a foreign country. Our guard is down.
Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer to that– about the Livitrans section. I was just given a ticket and there was no mention or writing on the ticket about the section. I guess if you purchase your train ticket, you’d need to know those details. Sorry.
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