More Sapa pictures from Keith
I bring you more glorious pictures of the Sapa mountains, courtesy of Keith. You can visit his flickr page for even more inspiring pictures. A cautionary note, there are some really unglam and strange pictures of myself on it. Avoid those and you'd be fine :)
If you noticed, I uploaded a similar shot from my camera. But I think Keith's was so much better. And we did go DOWN this cliff.
These shots of Sapa are truly precious! The trek up and down and up and down the mountains was ridiculously dangerous. I left my sporting shoes on the bus from Mui Ne to Nha Trang and was hopping about in my Keds. It was a success for the first hour, but by the second, after crossing numerous streams and skidding in mud, my Keds became utterly useless. And then I tried trekking in my slippers - no prizes guessing how that worked out! Ironically, when we had to cross streams, rocks, balance on the edges of rice terraces I was filled with so much energy; when we were on flat ground I felt so exhausted. All these emotions made it really difficult to appreciate the sights then and there, but we still managed to thankfully. Helped that we went with such excellent people on the trip!
One thing I learnt about journeying into Sapa was that a tour agent was an unnecessary. Tour agencies in Vietnam are dubious in my humble opinion. You could simply pay for a train ticket from Hanoi to Lao Cai, negotiate a ride to Sapa (there will be hundreds of 'drivers' coming at you), and you could walk into any guesthouse you deem decent based on your research on TripAdvisor to get lodging. If you want to trek up Sapa mountains, I could give you the number of my guide, Mo, who is extremely affable and sweet. She went all the way to her village (Mo belongs to one of the minority tribes living on the mountains) to get me her gum boots following my footwear incident and she also mended Keith's army pack which was falling apart. Amazing woman. I couldn't recommend a better guide.
If you noticed, I uploaded a similar shot from my camera. But I think Keith's was so much better. And we did go DOWN this cliff.
These shots of Sapa are truly precious! The trek up and down and up and down the mountains was ridiculously dangerous. I left my sporting shoes on the bus from Mui Ne to Nha Trang and was hopping about in my Keds. It was a success for the first hour, but by the second, after crossing numerous streams and skidding in mud, my Keds became utterly useless. And then I tried trekking in my slippers - no prizes guessing how that worked out! Ironically, when we had to cross streams, rocks, balance on the edges of rice terraces I was filled with so much energy; when we were on flat ground I felt so exhausted. All these emotions made it really difficult to appreciate the sights then and there, but we still managed to thankfully. Helped that we went with such excellent people on the trip!
One thing I learnt about journeying into Sapa was that a tour agent was an unnecessary. Tour agencies in Vietnam are dubious in my humble opinion. You could simply pay for a train ticket from Hanoi to Lao Cai, negotiate a ride to Sapa (there will be hundreds of 'drivers' coming at you), and you could walk into any guesthouse you deem decent based on your research on TripAdvisor to get lodging. If you want to trek up Sapa mountains, I could give you the number of my guide, Mo, who is extremely affable and sweet. She went all the way to her village (Mo belongs to one of the minority tribes living on the mountains) to get me her gum boots following my footwear incident and she also mended Keith's army pack which was falling apart. Amazing woman. I couldn't recommend a better guide.