Sapa—how do I describe it? First off, it’s about 6 hours by car northwest of Hanoi. At one point, we were only a few miles from the Vietnamese/Chinese border. Yep, pretty far into north Vietnam (no sign of a wall though). The “American War” never reached this far north in the 60’s and 70’s.
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| Our patient leader, Ben. We would follow him anywhere! |
The highest point in Vietnam is here at about 3100 meters or 10,000 feet. It’s absolutely beautiful! Rice paddies (terraced) are located on the steep slopes, still plowed by water buffalo. Farming is mostly subsistence as the roads are so steep and treacherous that trucks would buy produce to sell at markets in the lower valley. Water from the surrounding mountain tops cascades down affording abundant moisture for the rice paddies and tea crops. Wish I had some smart-assed humor to add (which Cindy still doesn’t think is funny) but I was just too wrapped up in the beauty and the climbing we were doing.
Remeber the old golfing joke about “hit the ball and drag Agnes?” (If not, google it) but suffice it to say that our trek was kind of the same way except substitute Cindy for Agnes. ;-). But I have to give her credit, she hung in there and finished the six mile + trek without a whimper. A little more dusty, dirty, and pooped then when we began but still standing at the end. More to come on another day...
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