Visiting the nearby villages
We were all pretty late getting up, but we weren’t too late for the free breakfast! It was pretty simple, bread with tomato slices, not much else. Qian had gone out by herself today, so it was Mat, Hannah, and I who decided to visit a few more local villages. The 2 we were visiting were called Lao Chai and Ta Van, these were in the valley below Sapa. We set off late morning, and it was already pretty hot, to be expected. The weather was clear as well, so we had fantastic views of the valley and the mountains on the other side.
The walk was rather uneventful as we just followed the winding dirt road all the way. In this region, there are girls and ladies of all ages who knit various goods as a living, and then sell them on. You can spot them from a mile away because they’re wearing some pretty funky and colourful clothes. They don’t fit the scenery at all, but they sure do brighten the place up. Just expect to be rushed by them, asking you to buy something from them. I’m sure many people would dig something from them, but I’m not one. We managed to have a very small lady dressed in these purple, blue, and pink clothes follow us for several kilometres, we couldn’t shake her off!
Lao Chai
Part way down the road, you have to pay a fee/tax for being a tourist. The tourist fee is only around 75’000 VND, so a couple of pounds. Whilst we were there, people were stopped on motorbikes, and even taxis stopped so the rider could pay. There is no escape! Not long after, we managed to shake the old lady, and enter Lao Chai. It was a quaint and simple village, very quiet too.
We stopped to have some lunch at the only place that seemed open. Mind you, there wasn’t actually anybody there to begin with, we had to shout and explore for the old lady. When she did appear, she had to phone her English speaking employee to translate what we wanted. This despite the fact we were pointing to the food on the menu as well. It was a lovely spot, we had a full view of the farms and mountains from where we’d just come from. For more info on things to do in and around Lao Chai, check this out.
Ta Van
After our meal in Lai Chai, we continued with our journey, and it was only another 15-30 minutes before we were at Ta Van, our final destination. It was fairly similar, but seemed to have more activity in it…only just. We had a look around a local mart, then Hannah and Mat had a fresh coconut each. These women really know how to wield a machete! Wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of them. After you drink the coconut milk out, they’ll chop it down further so you can eat the coconut inside too.
Grab didn’t work, or at least there weren’t any Grab taxis nearby, and we really didn’t want to walk back the same path in the dark. So we went to a hostel/homestay where they phoned a taxi to come and get us. We waited at this place for around half an hour, I had 2 wonderful smoothies, before the taxi picked us up. It was a hell of a bumpy ride back up to Sapa. We got to see everything again, including Lao Chai, as we drove up the mountain once more.
Back in Sapa
After the bumpy 6-mile drive back to Sapa, we finally made it to our hostel. Once we were back in the hostel, we played more Uno and Rummy, as well as having a reunion with Qian. We ended up going out for dinner, it was in the centre of Sapa and it was delicious. Then we had cake for dessert, Qian treated me to some big cream cake, it was beaut. When we went back to the hostel, Hannah got her gear together and left for Hanoi as planned.
