Adventures By Design

In which the travelers rock out

Today was our big trekking day, followed by catching the train back down to Hanoi. We had to checkout of our hotel room around nine o’clock, but luckily, Nathan and Amy could checkout of their room later (around five), so we had a place to store our backpacks and shower when we finished the trek.

We ate breakfast and unsuccessfully tried to ignore the Miss Universe pageant on TV, where Miss Canada walked on stage sporting a native chief’s headdress. We were appalled, as we doubt she is either native or a chief. To be fair to her, many of the other contestants wore indigenous-inspired costumes, but to us hers seemed particularly culturally co-opting and imperial. We wonder how people back in Canada view this?

After breakfast we put our bags in Nathan and Amy’s room, found the Scots Claudia and Gordon and our guide Chai again, and set off trekking. While ‘trek’ may be a little too dramatic for where we walked, much of it was over relatively difficult terrain. For the first couple of kilometers there was a steady procession of tourists walking along the road. And following the tourists was the attendant procession of H’mong vendors, selling their distinctive (though not diverse) style of bags and bracelets. We mostly ignored the vendors since if we engaged with them at all, we’d be mercilessly harassed until we had bought something from each of them. (It was common to see young female tourists pressured into buying ten bracelets they didn’t want, just so they wouldn’t be perceived as playing favorites.)

Eventually the crowds thinned out, and our group was mostly by itself. We took a walking path that descended off the edge of the road, and walked along the side of the valley, through terraced rice paddies and fields of corn. The path wasn’t difficult to follow, although in places it was very steep. We followed what was essentially the exact same route that we’d followed with our guide last time we were in Vietnam three years ago.

When we finally made it to the valley floor, we stopped for lunch at a house where we were treated to a delicious lunch. Never have sandwiches of tomatoes, cucumbers, and hard boiled eggs tasted so good. We hung out for a while eating, chatting, and resting.

From our lunch stop to the end of the trek wasn’t far or difficult. When we arrived at the designated end point, our guide told us we’d have to wait a few minutes for our bus to pick us up. For a ridiculously high price ($18), we could hire a minibus to take us back to our hotel; our other option was to walk for two hours along the road.

We decided to hire the bus. We sat and waited, and waited. Chai called the hotel, and we waited some more. After an hour and a half of sitting on a plastic stool, our bus finally arrived. We needed to get back to our hotel so we could pack, shower, and check out before our transport came to take us to the train station; we were worried that we’d run out of time and have to board the sleeper train sweaty, sticky, and smelly. Apparently there was some confusion over times, with Chai blaming the hotel, and the hotel blaming the driver, and the driver not caring one way or the other because he got paid. We refused to pay our hotel the $18 dollar price, and instead offered $15; it was mostly a token protest, and even $15 dollars was about triple what the ride was worth.

We showered and visited the nearby bakery for some pastries for the train. Our minibus arrived and we drove back down to Lao Cai to catch the train. On the minibus were Sinead, Theresa, and the two Australian couples (Mike and Laurie, and Janne and Marc). It was nice to see them again, and we resumed our pleasant banter.

The minibus stopped at a restaurant across the street from the train station. We ordered some food and drink, and were served by a young kid (maybe eleven years old) who was good natured and had a great sense of humor. When Nathan butchered the Vietnamese language, while claiming to be practicing his Vietnamese skills, the boy laughed and gently taught him the correct way to pronounce the words for ‘spring rolls’ and ‘noodle soup’.

Along with dinner we had a few large-sized bottles of beer and thus discovered a way of making the whole train boarding process much more entertaining. Quick thinking Amy bolstered us further against the onslaught of sobriety by buying yet another round of beer at the train station. We found our cabin, got ourselves organized, and rocked out with several improvised jam sessions, banging against anything that’d make sound. While we didn’t score any points with our neighbors (who at one point attempted to join in by banging on the walls… off beat), we had a great time.

We fell asleep, this time with proper air-conditioning, and hours later woke up in Hanoi. Sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Nathan and Amy, as their plane for Bangkok left in the early morning. Traveling with them has been wonderful, and we’d jump at the chance to do it again.