The Nam and Mountains of Sapa

January, 2015

Hello from Vietnam!

We have left sunny Thailand and are now in the thick of winter in Hanoi, northern Vietnam. Luckily for us, we didn’t bring any warm clothes so basically spent the first few days spooning each other for body heat, but after buying some fabulous knock-off north face jackets we were ready to roll.

In Hanoi people sit outside on tiny stools around tiny tables and eat their food. At first I thought this was a little odd until I took a closer look at what they were eating, chickens feet with toes and nails in all of their glory. I guess I made a face while passing by because the woman eating the feet slowly picked it up and gave me a slow and steady wave with it. Love you already Vietnam!

More excitingly, we met the Vietnamese celerity and pop sensation, Cuong7! (yes, that is his rapper name). Coung is apparently the Justin Bieber of Vietnam aka any teenage Vietnamese girls dream. Before you all freak and ask to see my autograph, I'll give the background. It was a stormy night in Hanoi as we walked back to our hostel from Chabad. We were all a little wet and cranky when we spotted a warehouse with a group of sharply dressed Vietnamese men in tuxes; they were profusely sweating and helping each other tuck their shirts into their pants. They stood out because firstly, we hadn’t seen anyone in Vietnam in a tux and secondly they were semi fondling each other in public, so obviously we had to investigate. We hustled into the warehouse and straight into the filming of Cuong7's new music video (holaaa). With 5 backup dancers and a flock of groupies the crew let us stay and watch Coung break it down. If you want to jam to a Vietnamese boy band, check Coung7 out on Youtube y'all!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMDhH1ogHY0

After our celebrity spotting, we left Hanoi for our 9 hour sleeper train to Sapa. It felt like we closed our eyes and woke up in another world as Sapa is extremely different from the hustle of Hanoi. Located in the northern mountains of Vietnam, Sapa is very green and known for its rice fields and landscape. Because rice needs to be grown in water, the Vietnamese have carved ridges into the mountains to create pools for their rice, making the mountain range incredibly beautiful. We went trekking in the Sapa mountains and were able to learn about the lovely people and culture.

We started our trek with just one guide and left with a bunch of new friends and a handful of woven goods. Immediately after getting off the bus and meeting our guide we were sounded by a flock of Vietnamese women dressed in beautiful colors and traditional clothing. They kept sayings "we follow you, we follow you", and not really sure why we were being followed, we began our two day trek with ten women following at our heals. It wasn't long before we realized why we had a welcome committee; due to a rainstorm the night before the trail was basically a mud slide and the women were there to help us. One slip of the foot and you would slide, or less gracefully, crash down the mountain. The women went straight to business and immediately paired off with us foreigners, becoming our personal mountain escorts. I was obviously the failure of the group and needed two young girls to help me; 12 year old Chu was on my left and a 20 year old Ting was on my right. These girls were heroes, hopping from rock to rock effortlessly as I slipped with every other step. Even when I thought Chu had gone ahead and I was on my own, she would appear out of nowhere catching me in her 12 year old arms. The women were so lovely and chatty and we all shared about our lives throughout the journey. At one point I even turned to find my friend Gabi carrying one of their babies on her back, things escalated quickly! When we finally reached our homestay for the night in one piece, we thanked the women for their incredible efforts and bought some of their beautiful hand woven goods.

Surrounded by all green everything, we spent the night in the mountains and woke up to the calm of nature. As we continued the hike, we learnt about the different villages and ways in which people live in this rural setting. The standards of living are very different from back home but what is lacking in material things is made up for in beauty, tranquility and nature. The air was fresh and people were calm and satisfied, a good lesson to take a step back from our busy lives and breathe.