On The Road.... Again

Hanoi was loud. far too loud for our liking, so we packed up and headed for the mountain town of Sapa, in northwest Vietnam.

We found a cheap little room with a view of the valley and just pretty much relaxed for our last few days in Vietnam.

The town itself was pretty much overrun with locals selling all sorts of handmade merchandise. The local hilltribe (Hmong) women were everywhere, pestering everyone to buy their stuff. sure it was pretty stuff, but it got a bit much when they decide to follow you around for an hour until you either buy something or lose it and decapitate them.

We got noodles at the local market that were easily the best we had found so far in the country. It was interesting to see some of the other cuts of meat that were on display at the market, including dog and horse. yeah, we just ordered the chicken since we could see that's what it was.

We walked to some of the less populated villages around Sapa, which were lovely, but i just felt like a lot of what we saw was just a show for the tourists. sure, they live in simple bamboo huts and breed chickens and pigs, but every little hut had a satellite dish attached discretely to it's side. well, the countryside was still lovely, and it was nice to see the local kids playing in the rice paddies.

After a few days we had to leave Sapa, since our Vietnamese visa was about to run out. It was time to head to Laos. Easier said than done it seems. The next four days were spent on the road, taking dodgy minivans from town to town, heading into Laos towards the town of Luong Prabang. When you look at the actual distance we covered on a map, it's only a couple of hundred kilometres, but transport in this part of the world is never as fast as you expect.

Apart from the fact that we were usually travelling through mountains, and over unsealed roads, we also hit a few other snags that slowed us down. here are a few:

* One of our buses must have been built in the stone age and not serviced since, because it kept breaking down. at one stage the driver had to get under the bus and fiddle around with stuff for an hour or so. we think it had something to do with the smoke coming out from where the brakes are... we kept ourselves entertained by playing Bochie with some rocks. fun.

* Our bus was stopped at the Vietnam-Laos border for FOUR HOURS while the border guards went to lunch.

* The roads in Laos are terribly dangerous, and the minivan had to slow down to negotiate the narrow roads that were gradually crumbling into the valleys and rivers below.

* a couple of times we were stopped by landslides which had blocked off the whole road. big earthmovers had to shift all the dirt to create a kind of hill on the road for the bus to carefully drive over.

* on one particular journey the driver of the minivan kept stopping to buy dead animals from people on the side of the road. small birds, squirrels, and some sort of very hairy, large, cat-like creature were all piled into the boot, presumably for a meal later on. yes, over here, dead animals equal meat, and nothing goes to waste.

So now we are in Laos, and it's like a breath of fresh air. The people here are generally friendlier than Vietnam or Cambodia, and I dont feel like im getting ripped off anymore. Apparently over 85% of this country is covered in unmanaged vegetation, and it shows. Jungle is everywhere. We see locals picking herbs and plants for cooking straight from the side of the road where they grow wild. They chop down bamboo for their houses, and all the animals they eat are being bred right in their villages. Think Sapa, only this time the way of life is authentic, and not for show. This is a beautiful country, and we are both really looking forward to exploring it.

more on Laos next post. take it easy :)

//Brendan