Sapa

I have been putting too many Ps in Sapa, oh well...

Anyway, I may not be able to spell it but it's my most favourite place ever. I went for a wander on Thursday after updating bloggingtons on le balcon and felt I had stumbled on SE Asia's answer to a chocolate box, picture perfect Alpine village.

The main street...

The market...

And Chu-chu. 

Chu-chu is a crazy lady tribes woman I met. She sold me 10 dollars worth of handicrafts I didn't want but I think I would have paid the dosh for our chat. Like everybody I meet who is SE Asian her biggest concern for me is that I'm 42, travelling alone and have no immediate prospects on the man front lol. She is 45 with 5 kiddlies and 6 grandkiddlies! She gave me her number so that next time I'm in Sapa I can stay with her, 10 dollars per night, home cooking and hot shower, bargain.

I thought this was Chu-chu's mate and ended up buying a bracelet from her for about 50p, turns out they were complete strangers. Different tribes y'see, apparently they don't mix.

The rest of Thursday was spent trying to take arty shots of the sunset from my balcony, fast WiFi means you have to see a selection.

Sunsets make me wistful these days.

Friday saw the start of my 2 day trek up Mt Fansipan. Below is a picture of my group before we set off. They are a group of Vietnamese doctors from Saigon, the guy in the middle wearing sky blue is our guide Chan who spoke fantastic English.

You're gonna get a lot of Adi lady photos this blog as I'm actually with people who can take them!

Just setting off...

This river could be in Derbyshire.

 
About half way to the base camp, day 1. My group has been ditched because they were sooo slow. Chan sent me ahead with the tribesmen who carry all the heavy gear up to the camp.

Here they are. I have no idea about their names as none of them had any English.

OMG they went quickly. I could just about keep up! I can't believe how fit they are, they practically run up wearing flip flops and carrying about 50kg!

This is me just before base camp, I've never been so pooped in all my days.

 
I was the first tourist to arrive, to say things were basic is an understatement. The sanitation arrangements were well below EU standards and as the painters had arrived that very morning and decided to throw the biggest paint party ever it was very tricky to negotiate. Thank the Lord for the wet wipe.

I had the worst night sleep. Snoringtons, buggingtons and I've never heard so much rain.

We left at 7am to take the final hike to the top and it took 2 hours.

This is a woman from my group, her name is Heh.

We got all the way back to the bus about 5pm and it was straight in the shower and an early night for me. Tomorrow I'm up early to go to the hill tribe market, then the night train back to Hanoi. Gonna hop straight on a bus/ferry to Cat Ba island so a lot of travelling ahead.

What made Adilady happy yesterday? I've just climbed the highest mountain in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and although I can feel it a bit in my legs it really wasn't that hard...

And look at those views! Adilady over and out xxxx