Sapa

Sidste sondag tog Anna og jeg paa en 2 dage/3 naetter tur til Sapa. Vi tog nattoget dertil sondag aften, hvilket tog ca. 9 timer. Vi havde en sovekupe og delte "vaerelse" med 2 danske piger. Selvom sengene ikke var de mest behagelige jeg har oplevet og toget larmede helt ekstremt, saa sov jeg faktisk rigtig godt! Mandag morgen kl. 6 ankom vi saa til Lao Chai, hvor vores guide stod og ventede paa os, for at tage os med videre til Sapa. Efter at have spist morgenmad modtes vi med den canadiske pige som skulle med os paa turen, og saa begav vi os ellers afsted sammen med vores guide. Forst korte vi 20 minutter i jeep og saa begyndte vi ellers vores vandretur rundt i bjergene. Der var helt fantastisk flot med rismarker lavet i etager ned af bjergsiderne, floder og smaa vandfald alle steder. I de landsbyer vi besogte gik indbyggerne stadig rundt i deres traditionelle toj, hvilket var virkelig flot. Der var forskellige stammer, og man kunne bl.a. kende forskel paa dem ved at kigge paa deres toj og hovedbeklaedning. Derudover havde de ogsaa de flotteste oreringe, og traditionen var at hvis man var gift, saa havde man store oreringe (virkelig store!) og hvis ikke smaa. Men de blev alle sammen gift meget tidligt og fik derfor en masse born. Vi modte bl.a. en 17-arig pige med et 9 maaneder barn paa ryggen, og en anden der havde faaet sit forst barn som 14-aarig! Det var lidt trist at se! Til gengaeld var det facinerende at se, hvordan de udnytter det vand, de har til raadighed til det yderste. Overalt kunne man se simple systemer lavet ud af bambus, der blev brugt til at fore vandet til rismarkerne og de smaa landsbyer. Paa den ene side var systemerne ekstremt simple, men paa den anden var de virkelig advanceret, fordi de simpelthen udnyttede ALT det vand de kunne. Overalt kunne man ogsaa se, hvordan de stadig bruger vandbofler til meget af arbejdet i markerne.
Den forste dag vandrede vi ca. 16 km op og ned af bjerge, saa da vi endelig kom til den landsby, hvor vi skulle tilbringe natten hos en lokal familie, var jeg paent smadret! Naeste dag gik vi ca. 11 km, hvor de sidste 3,5 bare gik direkte opad! Det troede jeg helt seriost ikke, at jeg skulle overleve, men det gjorde jeg ,og jeg var SAA stolt, da vi endelig naaede toppen! Anna og jeg blev dog enige om, at vi begge to ville have vaeret elendige bjerggeder, da vi konstant mistede balancen! Vi kom tilbage til Sapa om eftermiddagen, og havde lidt tid til at kigge i byen inden vi tog nattoget tilbage til Hanoi. Paa turen til Sapa havde vi haft en 2. klasse vogn, og havde gaaet forbi 1. klasses vognene og taenkt "bare det var os!", saa vi fik begge to julelys i ojnene, da vi opdagede, at vi havde en 1. klasses vogn hjem! Det var virkelig store sager:-) Vi ankom til Hanoi kl. 5.30 naeste morgen godt omme i kroppen, men super glade for at vi var taget afsted. Det var virkelig en fed oplevelse, og det var alle de omme muskler (og der var mange af dem!) vaerd!

Last Sunday Anna and I went on a 2 days/3 nights tour to Sapa. We left Hanoi Sunday night to take the night train to Sapa. The trip to Sapa took around 9 hours, and we shared a room on the train with two other Danish girls. Even though the bed was not the most comfortable one I have ever slept in and the train was SO noisy I actually slept really well! We arrived in Lao Chai early the next morning, where our guide was waiting to take us to Sapa. After breakfast we met up with a Canadian girl who was going with us, and then we left for our trip with our guide. The first 20 minutes we went by jeep, and then we hiked around the mountains the rest of the day. It was so beautiful with rice fields build in to the mountain sides, rivers, and small waterfalls everywhere. In the small villages we visited the people still wore their traditional clothes, which was really pretty. There were different tribes, and you could tell the difference between them by looking at their clothes and head wear. They also wore the most amazing jewelry. According to their tradition married women wear really big earrings and unmarried small ones. But all the girls got married really early and had a lot of kids! We met a 17 year old girl with a 9 month baby on her back and another one who had her first child at age 14! I felt really sorry for them!
However, it was really fascinating to see how they use the water. Everywhere you could see simple water systems build out of bamboo going down the mountains to the villages and rice fields. But even though the systems were simple they worked so well, because they made sure that as much water as possible got to the villages. We also saw how people still use water buffalos to help them in the rice fields.
The first day we hiked 16km around the mountains, so when we finally got to the village where we were spending the night with a local family, I was SO tired and sore! The next day we hiked around 11 km, the last 3,5 of them going straight up a mountain! I really didn't think that I was going to make it to the top, but I felt SO good when I finally did. Anna and I did however agree that with our balancing skills we would have made horrible mountain goats!
We arrived back in Sapa in the afternoon, where we had a couple of hours to look around town before we got on the night train back to Hanoi. On the way there we had been in 2nd class, but on the way back we for some reason got 1st, which we were both REALLY excited about:-) We arrived back in Hanoi 5.30am the next morning really sore, but also very happy that we had gone. It was a great experience:-)