28/6, Day 18 - Sapa
First of all, this place is incredible. The nature.. Wow. This morning we got here 2 h earlier than planned (4am), but they were nice enough to let us sleep until 6. Once again we managed to find our hotel (Cosy Hotel 2), and we could start to plan our day. When we were done with that and had some breakfast at the local market, I walked up to the reception just to have my whole plan absolutely trashed by the guy working. Bac Ha market closes at 12, it takes 3 h to get there, and today is the only day a week when it's open. The Flower H'mong people live around that area, not Sapa. I felt an instant childish reaction creeping up on me, I wanted to angrily stamp my feet and scream "NO, make them stay longer! Make the road shorter! Make the tribe move here! Don't you get it, I came here to see them!". Obviously I did neither, but I was damn close. I guess I have no one else to blame than myself though, I should have done my homework better. I tried though, I really did, but sometimes Google sucks and with the extremely limited Internet access that we've had the past weeks it's been hard to get a grip of times and dates. I hate screwing up my travel plans, and this might top the my list over things I've missed out on while travelling.
Well we decided to go for a day trek around the area instead, Sapa - Cat Cat - Lao Chai - Ta Van, which was absolutely stunning. The "path" was slippery and muddy but lead us pass beautiful waterfalls, tiny villages and massive rice fields, and along the way we bonded with some kids that were heading our way. They took us on an adventure I'll never forget, over the rice fields, through creeks and steep hills. They were fearless and I was in love. I offered to carry one of the girl's basket, and after picking it up I cursed myself for doing it but was relieved over the fact the she wasn't carry it anymore, it was probably 10 kg and I was soaked from top to toe when we after a few hours got to the village where they lived. Cred to those brave and strong kids who carry half their body weight for hours everyday.. I don't know how they do it.. When we had walked for another few hours we finally got to Ta van where we ended up taking a motorbike taxi back to Sapa, exhausted but happy, and my sorrow for missing the Flower H'mong tribe and the Bac Ha market had somewhat subdued.
