Life's Journey: Travel Blog Chapter 12: Around Sapa and into the clouds

The third day in Sapa I had to switch to another place to stay. The current hotel just doesn't cut it anymore. The toilet was really bad as it was choked and you know what cannot be flushed down anymore. It was with a great relief that I checked out of the hotel and checked in to a family guesthouse further down the road where I was staying in. The ideal place of accommodation was Queen Hotel as recommended by Lonely Planet with a good price and comfortable facilities but it was full during these few days. Anyway on the third day I had an arrangement with Chi who would be bringing me around other villages and explore some caves around Sapa. With a personalized tour like that, it was better as Chi explained the Hmong culture as well as the history surrounding Sapa. To my surprise I realized that most of the Hmongs were Christians as there was a mission work in progress in Sapa. Chi warned me that it would not be a very easy climb up Fansipan as well. That time I was thinking how hard could it be? Isn't it just a trek up into the clouds? But I was warned that there would be leeches and some other not so pleasant things to deal with up the mountain. But my mind was set.

Petite but sturdy guide

Trekking around villages

Hmong boy

Dirt path along the way

Rolling hills and soaring mountains

After that nice afternoon trekking around with my Hmong guide we had a meal at a very cheap eatery. Much cheaper than the places I have been eating but foreigners usually avoid these eateries in fear of food poisoning. But the food was really good. The rest of that day I went up the Ham Rong Mountain which was an easy trek up the outskirts of the town. There was not really alot of things to see in Ham Rong Mountain apart from a cloud garden and a place where you could see Fansipan Mountain from afar. The Roof of Indochina look so elusive from where I stood then. At that point of time I was still unable to secure a tour up Fansipan mountain as tours are only carried out if there were other trekkers who want to go up as well. Eventually after negotiating with one of the tour operators, I managed to secure a bargain at $75 US for a personal guide to bring me up Fansipan Mountain. Food and sleeping bags among some other things would be taken care of by my guide. We would be starting off at 9am the next day. For the rest of the day, I went to some cafes to chill and relax.