The Great Outdoors of Northern Vietnam!

Sa Pa
As I've noted elsewhere one of the big aims of my November holiday was to visit Sa Pa. I travelled up and back as the majority of western visitors do, by soft sleeper on the overnight train, and took a 3 day/2 night tour operating out of the very comfortable Sapa Summit Hotel. The tour involved a lot of walking with one night in the hotel and the other night as home-stay in a H'mong village.

I guess there is nothing remarkable about the tour I took. There is only so much to do in Sa Pa and thousands of visitors (domestic and international) come every year to do it, following much the same itinerary with only a few variations. However, events and staging were very well organised, even though at the beginning of each day the hotel reception looks like bedlam, with crowds of eager hikers and minority tribal women (always women, no men) waiting either as official guides or what became known as 'the travelling shop'!

The tribal people - women and girls - accompany you every step of the way, asking questions and warming you up for a purchase at the end of their journey. Having said that they are also extremely sure-footed on slippery muddy paths, even though they are wearing plastic sandals, and are ever-ready to lend a hand to prevent undignified falls. And just to let you know that the picture at the beginning of this entry records the only time in 3 days I saw the mountains. It came as a very big surprise to see how immense and close they are. The rest of the time they, and often us, were shrouded in mist.

Depending on the train you take from Ha Noi (there are 2-3 departures each night) you arrive at Lao Cai in the darkness of morning or at about 6am. From there it is an hour long bus trip almost straight up to reach Sa Pa and breakfast. If lucky the room is also ready to check into, but usually not. The tours start at 9am for a half-day visit to Cat Cat and Sin Chai villages, homes of the Black H'mong people. Along the path we visited homes to see how the people live as well as to observe weaving and dying of cloth. Much of the cloth is made from locally-grown, non-hallucogenic hemp and dyed using indigo plants also grown profusely as a crop in the area. We had an excellent young woman as our guide over the 3 days visit, with the most marvellous laugh and sense of humour. We returned to the hotel through the main market in Sa Pa, meeting our guide's aunt (I later also met her mother and her cousin here).

For the afternoon we were left to our own devices. By now the fog was getting close to a pea-souper and I was also learning that it was impossible to walk anywhere without the travelling shop joining in. I took refuge for cake and coffee at Baguette et Chocolat before returning to the hotel for dinner and a very comfortable sleep.

On the 2nd day of tours itineraries start to diverge depending on whether you are taking a second night in the hotel or a home-stay as I did. The morning involved walking down, down, down from Sa Pa into the Muong Hoa valley. At one point we had to take an alternative path because the main route was impassable. Just before lunch at Lao Chai village one iteration of the travelling shop departed, after gaining some sales from us (yes, from me! I bought a wall hanging).

After lunch of course we were joined by a new shop for the - now-flat - walk to Ta Van village which we reached at about 3pm. This was our home for the night. The house we stayed in was very large, because it had been extended or purpose-built to accommodate both the family and tourists. Morality is important in the tribal villages, to the extent that men and women must stay in separate dormitories (though in our case we were all male; joined at our accommodation by a married couple). Our dormitory was on the second floor: it really was just a succession of mattresses, pillow and blankets on the floor with mosquito nets. It was also extremely comfortable and warm on a night when outside temperatures fell quite a bit. Ta Van village accommodates Black H'mong and Red Dzao people. Each group keeps to its own traditions and cultures but also co-exist well.

The third day briefly promised clear weather but we set out again in a slight fog, climbing again to a waterfall before making our way back down to the river and lunch. From there we climbed back up hill to meet the bus for the trip back to the hotel, a shower, dinner and the return to Lao Cai for the overnight train.

Tam Coc
Before leaving Vung Tau a less certain aim I had was to travel to Ninh Binh and visit Tam Coc and Cuc Phuong national park. One of the interesting things since making this trip and telling people about it is that they all ask if I went to the nearby city of Phat Diem to see the cathedral. I knew about it and considered it, but clearly we have different concepts of what is most notable or attractive to visit!

Every hotel in Ha Noi is a travel agent as well, and they advertise tours of fixed duration to all of the popular destinations in the vicinity. The tour to Tam Coc and Hoa Lu Citadel is one day, as is the tour to Cuc Phuong but I knew that I wanted to go to all, and I didn't want to have to come back to Ha Noi in the middle of it. So I arranged instead to use the tour bus as a means of getting to Ninh Binh (as it turned out did some other people on the bus). In the end this also meant the opportunity to take the usual rushed visit to Hoa Lu Citadel along the way. (In fact I would have been better to plan to stay in Ninh Binh an extra night and go to Hoa Lu and Phat Diem under my own steam. As well as visit a few of the other scenic places near Tam Coc. You live and learn!)

Anyway ... we got dropped off in Ninh Binh and as the other people had already organised a hotel I followed them to check it out and ended up staying there as well. Another great place that I recommend to everyone - Ngoc Anh Hotel - along with the manager Luc. They organised a bicycle for me to rent for the afternoon, gave me a map and directions, plus a recommendation for where to eat lunch in Tam Coc (though I couldn't find the place) and off I went.

The ride was easy, and Ninh Binh people are very friendly and easy-going too. On the other hand the travel guides warn - and I had read on Elsbeth's blog, too - that there are a few tricks for persuading travellers on the river to part with their money (so I was prepared for this, thanks!).

Tam Coc is described as an inland Ha Long Bay. This is because, not just the river side but the entire region stretching way back up towards Ha Noi as well as further south from Ninh Binh, is impaled by rugged karst limestone rock formations. Many are quarried for building material and so sadly but inevitably it is possible to see how the landscape is changing at a rapid unnatural pace. The journey takes you some kilometres upstream from Tam Coc village passing through three caves. It is very peaceful, especially to start out later in the afternoon when the larger tours are already returning. The river is hemmed in by towering peaks and cliffs, scaled by mountain goats. It is reminiscent of the river-side scenery in Guilin, but on a smaller scale.

After returning to Tam Coc village I hoped to visit Bich Dong cave pagoda a couple of kilometres further out. It was another pleasant ride to reach the area, but unfortunately I was too late in the day to be able to make the journey up and back down the hill in daylight.

Cuc Phuong national park
I also decided along the way that I would visit Cuc Phuong national park (this link is to the park website). This is about 45km away from Ninh Binh so the bicycle was out of the question, and I wasn't certain enough of my map-reading and language skills to make a solo motorbike trip, so Luc arranged a driver/guide for me. He also recommended taking a less direct route, which is what we did.

The road took us south on the highway first and then inland past farms. Along the way we saw fields of passionfruit vines, pineapples and sugar cane. The driver also explained that there are two varieties of pineapple in Vietnam, the sweeter yellow ones and the Chinese ones which are more sour and whiter in colour (like the only pineapples that we used to see grow in Australia). Then we started to climb up into the hills, several times passing a group of cyclists on a supported tour.

I hadn't really worked out what the attraction of the park was for me. The highlight really turned out to be the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre. This is home to many species of gibbons, macaques and lemurs, some of which whose low surviving numbers put them in the highly endangered category. The centre's aims are to provide a refuge for these animals, encourage breeding and eventually to reintroduce them to the wild. My guide to the centre and for hiking in the park after lunch has worked there for over 13 years. He is a forestry conservator by education, but his passions are hiking and bird-watching, as well as building a pictorial record of flora and fauna in the park.

One of the other significant places to visit inside Cuc Phuong national park is the Cave of Prehistoric Man, just a short uphill walk and then a very interesting and dark climb/clamber up ladders and rocks inside. The cave was rediscovered in 1966 when human graves and tools were found dating back 7500 years.

The final part of a 1-day visit to the park is a hike, partly on a trail but often over very sharp limestone rocks, to the 1000-year old Big Tree. I'm glad to have made the hike, and it was the first time my driver had been there, but I sort of wondered what the fuss was, really!