creepy~!

After an 8 hour long train ride, i've reached Lao Cai Train station, and immediately i got on to a bus that will bring me straight to Sapa. the journey took an hour or so, and the road was long and winding. some kid in the bus started to vomit, but as for me, i could sleep through anything. so an hour later i was escorted to this hotel which also provides trekking guides. i was shown upstairs to allow me to take a bath and have a change of clothes. As this will be my first time having a bath at a room temperature of 5 degrees Celsius, it was quite an experience for me. there was supposed to be hot water, but then again the hot water never came. needless to say, the bath was a scream.

After taking my exciting bath, i went downstairs half an hour later. as i was waiting, i sipped on green tea with ginger, it was a pleasant drink, as anything warm is pleasant is welcomed. later on, a young man approached me and introduced himself as suy (pronounced si) and he will be my guide for the trek. he started explaining to me for how long the trek is and what other gear i needed. Since i came at the coldest time of the year (near 0 degrees Celsius), and it also happens to be the wettest time of the year, i was required to wear rubber boots, a pair was available for rent at 1 USD a day. Next, i was also required to get myself a raincoat, my guide handed me an umbrella and pointed me to the direction of the market. Had a brief walk around, and boy, it was cold. i was glad i had my jacket which i had bought earlier on. managed to get myself a few shots, and of course i got myself the raincoat later on.

My guide also explained to me that at the end of the trek, i will be staying a night over at one of the villagers house at a village called Ban Ho village. there i can observe their way of living and also eat their food.

This time when i got back, my guide offered my some Vietnamese coffee, it tasted good. It would give Starbucks or Coffee Bean a run for its money. Nothing felt as good as sitting next to a pile of glowing coal while sipping a cup of warm Vietnamese coffee while it is freezing cold outside. As i was waiting for my taxi to bring me to the starting point of my trek, the hotel owner's kid started to get curious with my camera, i let them play around with my flash to get their trust. and soon, they started posing in for the camera...

Come 10 o'clock, my taxi arrived. as i stepped into my taxi, the rain started to get heavier. i didn't think much of it as i was quite warm in the van. what does a guy like me who's never been cold before know about coldness anyway? Along the way, the road conditions weren't too good. landslides happens to be the norm over here, in fact, the taxi just went across a river, which used to be a road. And still, silly me, who is still oblivious of what's ahead of me. 30 minutes later, i have reached my beginning of my trek. once i have opened the door, i was greeted with an icy blast of air, and luckily it was drizzling. but what i didn't know was, this trek, might take a little longer than i thought.

Oh, by the way, since it was raining, and it was a gruelling trek for me (i am out of shape as usual), the last thing in my mind was to have to shoot pictures for blogging material. the weather was foggy anyway, and the landscape didn't really looked like what i saw in the brochures as their rice planting season is over. Sunlight was like a mysterious thing that only comes once in a long while. oh, ok, back to my story...

The first few minutes was uneventful... more like the first 500 metres, and then things just turned tough... first i had to wade through a road washed over by a stream. i thought to myself :"Oh, ok, i guess it's ok", but as i looked to my left, i realised that if i slipped i would be swept directly over the the raging river on my left. Great, i thought that this kind of stuff would only occur once or twice in the journey, no problems at all. Well, i was partly right. there were not many other raging rivers, but there were more other crazy paths coming my way. other than my guide accompanying me, 2 of the hill tribe women was also following me as they will sell their handcraft at some checkpoint, but i will tell you this, these women (one of them pregnant), walked through the path without any problems at all. Well to cut the story short this is what i went through in my 16km trek...

1. it was cold - well, the temperature was something like 6 or 8 degrees
2. it was slippery - slip, and you'd fall into a ravine, sometimes straight into a raging river, break a leg and maybe your skull or maybe drown. yay.
3. it was slippery plus the path is small - the path, slippery as it seems, to add to the excitement, it's only about 5 inches wide. you make your choice, slip to the left, and you get a 8 feet drop, sometimes rocky, sometimes muddy. and to the right, maybe a feet drop into a pool of mud. those tribe hill women just walked through without any difficulty or fear.
4. My rubber boots was leaking - water plus cold temperature... you get icy cold feet
5. The sole of my rubber boots was thin - Well, thin soles plus rocky terrain gives you free foot massage, only snag is, the foot massage lasts for hours
6. My raincoat started falling into bits - well, it was raining, and the coat didn't really fit me, the hood started to give way and my head was all soaked out, followed by my jeans.
7. 16km - well, it felt like 64km to me
8. mud - you slip easily, especially when your legs start to feel like rubber bands. slipping on mud is ok, but try not to slip into that rock or river, ok?
9. Wet - i got wet on the inside, and outside. it was a tough trek for me and i started sweating. which was bad. refer to point 4. my jeans was literally wet as the raincoat did nothing much to protect my jeans from the rain. or maybe it was a long trek, everything just got wet eventually.
10. almost vertical paths - it's ok when it's dry, but since it's slippery, it makes it a bit oh so harder where a slip can make you fall like 10 feet or so.
11. cow dung - it's everywhere! you walk cautiously over them as you try not to slip and fall face down on them

All the while i kept asking my guide how much further to go, and all he replied was "2 kilomesh more!" Well, it was 2 kilomesh an hour ago, and it's still 2 kilomesh an hour later, he must have a great sense of humour. my legs were cold, and my legs, didn't really felt like legs anymore. they felt more like a pair of bowling pins, toppling over each other. But like a drunken fighter i continued walking. halfway through, we approached a small hut, apparently it happens to be a sundry store. we had a simple lunch there: baguette with hard boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes and a pinch of salt. as for dessert, we had apples. Well, these bread didn't appeal much to me on my first day in Hanoi, as they're hard and i am not French. i didn't even really figured out on how to cut them open. Suy was rather amused when i asked him how the heck am i supposed to cut them open. Though amused, he showed me. Soon i was happily cutting away and munching on them. they have never tasted so good to me before. we had a brief chat, and i told him my concerns on going back tomorrow, as i don't think i can do another 16km back to Sapa. i might eventually just marry a local here and teach English. He laughed and told me not to worry as there will be transport to morrow to bring me back to Sapa. At fist i felt relief, then a bit bewildered, :"You mean that there's actually a road for bikes and cars to this village!?". "Yes." he replied. "This trek is for you to see the beauty of the rice fields and the mountains.". "Well, there ain't much to see is there?" i asked jokingly, He answered sheepishly, "Well, you have chosen to trek in the worst weather..." I replied with a hearty laugh, "Don't worry Suy, i am actually enjoying it". Well, i honestly did enjoy the trek.

Well, the trek took me about 6 hours to complete. i started at 10 AM and finished at 4 PM. by then i was soaked to the bone. i was quickly brought to a fireplace where i could dry myself out. since i have not brought any spare clothing, i started drying my clothes by the fireplace. starting with my jacket (which started smelling funny) and then followed by my shirt. Eventually, i smelled like a fireplace. to be honest i felt a bit like a kid. it was something new to me as fire never felt so good before, if you were to do that in Malaysia, you'd be considered nuts. and to see your clothing with steam coming out from it was also something new to me. the weather was cold and water evaporates easily, and with your wet clothes on, plus body heat and warmth nearby. you can literally see smoke coming out from your clothing, which makes you feel like you're in some kung fu movie.

Oh, the family which i stayed with are the Than Family. They are of Thai origin and they actually speak some Thai. They greeted me with warm hospitality and instantly you felt much warmer than you were a few moments ago. Everyone was smiling and shaking hands with me.

I spent about 2 hours warming up myself. and soon, they started cooking. the food they ate consists of cabbage, pork, water buffalo, and beef. How it taste? Well, it felt exactly right at home. it tasted like any other normal meal that you would eat at home in Malaysia. Soon, one of their family members started to bring out some "happy" water. Basically it was rice wine. Here you drink in shots, i did a few and the host saw that i could quite handle it. Moments later he brought out a different bottle, again he poured a shot for me and did a toast. Now i know how kerosene tasted like. It was a different variant to the rice wine i had before, it's corn wine. it left a trail of fire from my mouth and straight into my guts. Well, i was exaggerating, it didn't really taste like kerosene, it was a tad bit tasteless, but it sure packs a punch. Everyone laughed when they saw my facial expression of being blown away by the wine. I laughed too and instantly felt like i was part of their family and drank some more of the strong stuff. i had to do a few more shots as the temperature was almost reaching 3 degrees (all the better reason to drink, heh).

About 9 o'clock i was ready to hit the sack. Well, more like i dropped like a sack of potatoes. i was dead tired from the trek. in fact we had to use 2 layers of blanket. yes, it was that cold. the wine didn't even provide the warm feeling. i had a dreamless sleep that night.

Woke up around 7 AM in the morning, my guide was still asleep, i was pretty much awake anyway. what i did was i walked around the village to do some shots. it was cold as usual, but i got pretty used to it. got back and saw that my guide is awake, he had prepared a few pancakes for breakfast. We packed up, said goodbye to the Than Family and off we went.

Before we left the village, Suy showed me the rest of the village. In fact, he wanted to bring me to a hot spring. It was alright halfway through until he showed me what i have to go through in order to get to the hot spring. Raging rivers. i had to step on alot of stones which is situated in the middle of a raging river. My legs, still felt like lead. My feet are still aching from hours of "Foot Reflexology". I told Suy, "No." He looked at me strangely and walked back to the riverside.

Next he brought me to a waterfall. the path to the waterfall wasn't so bad. we reached there in no time, had a rest took a few worthless shots and headed for our transport back to Sapa. The ride back, was actually on a Xe Om (motorcycle). the experience was definitely something new. it was freezing cold. i couldn't feel my fingers.  and he was driving fast, visibility was down to 4 meters max. and yet he managed to reach sapa within 30 minutes. Great, a 6 hour trek, which could be completed in 30 minutes on a motorcycle. I should have taken the damn bike instead. But thinking back, i was glad i took the trek. it was a new experience and certainly something nice to think back and joke about. i felt like roadkill, but then it was certainly worth it. i would be back next time in better weather conditions to see it in its full glory.

Back in Sapa, i quickly got back to my room and took a nice warm bath. This time there was hot water, and instantly i felt much relaxed. After my bath i found out that i had plenty of time before my taxi arrives to bring me back to Lao Cai train station. Normally, i would have slept until the taxi arrives, instead, i went to the market again so that i could take a few pictures.

6PM, and my taxi arrives, shook hands with my guide and bade farewell. The guy next to me in the taxi vomited. Some people just can't take this kind of winding roads. An hour later, i was back at the train station, and off i headed back to Hanoi.

END OF DAY 2 AND 3

A light moment between a brother and a sister... shot on my way to get my raincoat

Sipping on delicious Vietnamese Coffee...

Kids that got curious on my camera gear...

Soon they started posing for me...

Me, with 2 of my escorts.... and also in the picture, a bit of cow dung (lots later)...

This was the weather condition all the way to Ban Ho Village

Preparation for dinner, if you notice, my grey shirt is at the back drying off, so i now smell like a fireplace and stir fried water buffalo...

The eldest in the family...

Mommy, doubling up as a cradle...

Hearty meal coupled with rice and corn wine

Here is a sample on how some of the path looked like, just imagine it's wet and slippery and to your left, is a 5 foot drop, and to your right is knee deep mud...

Cabbages...

Our leaky rubber boots, it had more mud before we washed off part of it

The heart of a house...

A get together shot before i left the house...

This effect wasn't achieved with Photoshop, my lens got blur while i got this shot...

Typical Ban Ho kid

Typical earing...

A Kid in Ban Ho Village with an intense look...

Shot seconds later...

A Church at Sapa

A merchant counting the days earnings...

  Ahh, the river i had to tread past to get to the hot spring, the water is alot faster than it looks from here...

Finally, i manage to finish this part of my blog... my back is aching and i am sleepy already. oh, before i forget, GONG XI FA CAI!!!

Ah, this is something I have never tried before, call me nuts or whatever it is, I decided to be a bit bold this time. Most of my friends know I have tried quite hard to persuade them to go to Hanoi with me. But apparently none of them had the free time. So I thought I might as well do this travelling all alone. Actually deep inside I have wanted to do this a long time already, it's like trying to see how adventurous oneself can get. I actually got my inspiration from Kenny sia's web site,

Got permission from my boss to get one week's leave, did a bit of research on where to stay and where to go, bought my plane tickets, arranged some tour packages, packed my bags, went on a plane, and here goes my little adventure...

oh before i start, the pictures, oh well might not be that good, it was more on recording my adventure rather than to be on the artsy side of it.

Well, it was a rather short flight, flight departed at 6 and reached around 8 Vietnam time. First thing I realised that it was rather cold... and outside, it says that the temperature is about 11 degrees. "uh-oh, all i got is this sweater..." that was what came through my mind when i saw the temperature. Once i passed through customs and went exited the gate, came across a guy holding a piece of paper with my name on it. followed him and went to my hostel, which is about 40 minutes away.

Reached the Hanoi Backpackers Hostel, met up with the owner/ staff, was shown the place to stow my bag and then we got down to business...

Max: "Hello, there Soon... how warmly are you dressed anyway?"

Me: "Erm, the sweater you see on me is all i have, why? what's the matter?"

Max: "I think you need more than that, the next destination you'll be going to is Sapa, it's a highland area and trust me, you will need more than a sweater"

Me: "ok, then where do i get one?"

Max: "Here's the map, You walk generally in this area, that's where all the action is. And this is where you'll probably get a jacket for your tour program later..."

i was thinking, what? no guide?

Me: "Ok... let's see where can i end up later..."

Not exactly inviting, eh?

What i did was just simply walk around i had the whole day to myself. i came across this old lady selling something strange, lo and behold! it's Egg Embryo!

Ah, i forgot to lift it up to show you guys the chick... but then again it tastes something in between a chicken and egg...

After filling up my stomach of steel, i continued to walk some more, the traffic was super hectic, motorbikes (Xe Nom) are just about everywhere... crossing the road requires some deal of faith... all you have to do is to just cross the road slowly, don't run, and they will avoid you. they honk their horns i just to tell you to watch out.

As i walked on, i just tried more and more of their stuff, man i tell you, i think these guys eat about 5 times a day, every corner i go, there is not one person not stuffing their face with food. and yet they're so slim.

Ahh, something cold, it's called che buoi, it's something like ABC but only it has more cool stuff like slimy icky gooey stuff, but it tastes great!

Later on i came across Bia Hoi... it means fresh beer! and the great news is, it only costs 2500 Dongs! (16,000 Dongs = 1 USD), all i know it's cheap, you do the math.

Ahh, my legs were killing me, and i needed beer to numb my senses anyway...

Well, it was a bit like Chinese Malaysian Culture, only their culture is a bit different from ours, for example, when we use hell notes, we usually use the notes designated for hell and stuff like that, but here, the Vietnamese thinks that all Americans should go to hell instead... haha

Yes, your Benjamins are valid down there

Oh, the Vietnamese people don't really need trucks, they can pretty much do anything on 2 wheels

I'd show you more, but you get the idea...

I don't know where to put this, but i guess i just had to post it up...

Come around 3 o'clock, i finally got myself a jacket that cost me about 20 USD, it's padded and i think it's warm enough. Come to think of it, for a guy that sweats easily, i didn't even break a sweat that day as i have actually walked for hours, it was that cool. Which is actually an advantage for me as my body heat does build up easily. Now that i have got my jacket, it is time for me to head back to my hostel. it took me quite some time to get to the hostel as i was really lost, but thanks to the map handed over to me by the Hostel guys, i got back in no time.

And since it was a Sunday, the hostel actually gives away free beer. man, it was great. While waiting for my transport to take me to the train station which is supposed to take me to Sapa, i sat at the top of the hostel, chat and drank with a few newfound Aussie and English friends, We even tried the Menthos + Pepsi Theory. We've all seen it in youtube, but this time we did it practically, and it actually works!

Just Plonk in some Menthos...

And away she blows!

I drank and drank, it was weak beer, but since it's free, no one's complaining. about an hour later, the effects kicked in. but then again it was necessary to get some alcohol into your system, it was freezing cold at that time. and still i was saving that jacket for my Sapa tour, so all i got on was my sweater.

Come 8 pm, it was time for me to head for Sapa. i was a bit lightheaded, but i was ok. and once i got into the train... i was glad i was going to be sleeping all the way. the beer would just help fall asleep all the way to Sapa. I was told that it was going to be a 8 hour ride, and i wasn't going to complain as the beds looked quite cosy and best, there was heaters installed.

yes, i also get to share this room with 3 other strangers. i sat and waited, and in they come, and guess what, they're 3 Thai women! Well, it sounded like a wild fantasy come true a foursome! yay! But fantasies will always remain fantasies, all we did was we had a brief chat said goodnight and slept all the way to sapa.

Although the train was a bit noisy and shaky, but with the help of the beer i had earlier, i had no problems falling asleep.

END OF DAY 1

Yes, i have been to vietnam. yes, i have brought along my camera. i have about 4 GB's of pics. i had a good time there, i enjoyed a 16km torturous trek, got drunk in a junk, missed my flight but then enjoyed the rest of the days i spent there, ate some weird stuff too, made some new friends in my vacation... i am now dead tired, and the first day at work wasn't really kind to me... but i had to get this message across... viet chicks are really pretty... really...

till then when my mind is functioning a bit better this is the only eye candy i can think if at the moment...

till then, cheers :D