I know I know, I've hardly given you time to recover (for those of you not glued to your screens I flat out have given you NO time to recover) from my last onslaught of gibberish, but as I said I have had soo many amazing experiences here ALREADY (it is day 7...I sense this wont be a peaceful month for you all).
We headed straight to Halong Bay almost as soon as we could for a trip consisting of a night out on a Junk boat followed by one on Cat Ba island, which was just amazing, and action packed. Day one was fairly relaxing, really just trying to absorb the beautiful scenery, it was quite misty which may've been a shame but it was warm and so it just added to the romance and mystique of the 2000 islands (or "Little Dragons") we were soon surrounded by. We sailed to visit one of their most famous caves "Surprising Cave" (sounds far better in Vietnamese funnily enough, though can'tremember how they say it, sorry!) and were guided through it by our local tour leader. Now I must admit these were some how less impressive than Yiling Cave of Nanning, though it was very interesting to note the structural differences between fresh water and sea water caves (no really it was), until we approached one particular rock. This particular rock has great acclaim in the lonely planet, it is so renowned that it has its own name and in the cave its self, its own glowing red light. According to our guide this rock bares many resemblances, a banana, a pistol (Libby clearly agrees with this theory, noting the hole in the ceiling about it must be where it "shot its load." Quite.), a finger, an elbow, to name but a few...funnily enough, despite all the blushing, he never quite brought himself to give the Lonely Planet's name! Then it was back down the the beach to relax, wander or swim before boarding the boat to our overnight anchorage, for more swimming, jumping of the side and sea food dinners!
Next day we set off for the absolutely idyllic Cat Ba island, most of which is a nature reserve. It is just stunning. A bit like Lantau Island, but so many times lusher, greener- just magical, all enhanced by a sprinkling of local dwellings-some what more modest than those found in the island off Hong Kong to say the least! We set up for a leisurely 2 hour stroll...well I suppose they sell more tours telling us that...what we actually did was a trek, a REAL trek, half of which consisted of rock climbing, so taxing that even our guide did not make it to the top...needless to say my assent was not speedy, or with out complaint-in fact the phrase blood, sweat and tears became quite literal!
But WOW it was worth it when I eventually clambered to the top to join the rest of the group (except the local guide-remember!). The afternoon was also miss sold, a leisurely spot of kayaking from the beach was actually a 2 or 3 hour race to catch our (clearly some what fitter than the last) guide from a water village. Yes there are literally villages set up in the middle of the bay, groups of houses etc anchored together into place, with bustling life, pets etc, served by and serving the floating/boat markets. So we got on the kayak in the middle of no where. I have never kayaked before, but was reassured when we were told they were two man vessels and Libby had done it plenty of times.
I have reason to doubt this information.
We got off to a rather painful start...middle and finish, including one rather hair raising moment when, attempting to reach our guide in a lagoon we were swept in the opposite direction (the one heading either to rocks or sea...not my favourite direction). A rather squealed change of direction (the noises help I tell you) saw us manage to make our way into the entrance of the lagoon.
Of course in said entrance was a group of local fisher men, two of their boats and a lot of rocks. It soon became clear that they don't mind if you hit their boats. Actually it seemed to make their day...specially when we ricocheted off one into the other and ended up having to be bumped through the entrance by another member of our group, who'd taken rather more pity on us than the locals, who were far too busy enjoying the show!!!
Against all odds we made it back to Hanoi (and I think I'd like to take up Kayaking...with out Libby!!) and prepared to venture up to the hill town of Sapa. This place, or more the people actually blew my mind. On arrival, things looked grim. We arrived at 6am all prepared to get the bus to a small village near the boarder with China, it wasn't until we'd waited an hour and a half and loaded up our bags that it became apparent that our Lonely Planet (aka, our bible) had made a typo as the fare was 4 times what we expected- not including Westerner's tax no doubt, and as such way out of budget; so we settled on a bus for Sapa instead- again not before providing a good show for the locals.
We arrived to be greeted by a cold, wet, damp cloud. No it was not foggy, we were in a cloud- we could not see across the road so could only assume the Lonely Planet was not also lying about the beauty to be seen in Sapa. We found a room, also freezing and damp, and attempted to relax there for a while, whilst wondering what the hell we were going to do for the next three days-other than catch phenomena. Step one was to stumble (literally given the weather) across an oasis...a cafe that while it didn't perhaps have the most authentic Vietnamese character, did have a roaring log fire and cake...lots of cake! So there we sat, book in one hand, cake in the other, until close!
The next day we took a tour to some local villages, happily below the cloud. This trip was just awe inspiring. Children as young as 4 were teaching themselves English...as well as Vietnamese...as well as their own tribe's dialect. School is a relatively new development and from what I can ascertain children only attend a few days a week (when not working) and it is for half a day. As such this English is learnt from tourists. Not only have these amazing people taught themselves new languages, but also an incredible amount of world knowledge. Some were asking about our travels and where we were from, bearing in mind they'd never ventured further than Sapa its self, it is amazing to me that they know not only exactly where England and London is, but also where all the stops on our tour are- I'd like to hear me try and tell a tourist where Aberdeen is.
Conversation then moved onto way of life. Our guide, and the many that had joined us along the way, were telling us how they tend to marry at about the age of 14/15, though the younger girls now dream of marriage at 18/19. Marriage is not arranged, partners choose each other (seemingly more initiated by the husband) and will come from the same village, though not necessarily the same tribe. Our guide was 18 and 5 months pregnant, we befriended some other girls, one of whom was 25, been married since 14 with 3 children. When asking about us, they asked how old we were and if we had boyfriends. When we joked about being old spinsters the reply was simply, "Not at all, that is your culture, this is ours. They are different." Gob smacking, despite little or no access to education or sources of media these people are so self sufficient, not only in terms of material good but a wealth of knowledge. We seem to find it far easier to comment on another culture as being, weird and strange because it does not match our own, than it is to simply accept, unquestioning, the fascinating cultural differences which make us all unique- even with an abundance of information at our fingertips.
Here is a link to come photos of Sapa and the villages we saw and amazing people we met, I couldn't resist demanding you all look!-
http://www.truprint.co.uk/share/p=406131166006067421/l=224994378/g=31854125/cobrandOid=1006/otsc=SYE/otsi=SALB
Off to Hue on a no doubt fun filled 14 hour bus journey tonight. Hopefully I wont find this so fascinating that regale you with more endless tales quite so soon....
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