About being painfully aware of one's body

The morning of the big trek didn't start well. I'd been out the night before with some fellow travellers - Richard (Scotland), his wife Jenny (Northern Ireland), and Donna (Canada). Richard and Jenny were on their honeymoon, a couple of newly-weds who been living together for eight years! Two bottles of wine went down and a good time was had by all.

So around 5am my bladder announced it required some attention, and at the same time I became painfully aware of a raw throat - yup, an impending head cold. Bugger. At this stage I also discover the door to the bathroom in my hotel room is locked - I'd pulled it closed not realising it was snibbed on the other side. No worries - a matchstick will open it. No - a keyed lock. No worries - my room key will open it. No. Oops - what to do with a bursting bladder at 5am, no lights, and everything closed? Then I remember that there was nothing but vegetation underneath my little balcony. Ah - the relief! I spent the next hour dozing wondering if I'd made a mistake and watered the courtyard by mistake. Fortunately not.

My tour leader for the trek was Yem (pronounced ee-em), a 25 year old H'mong all dressed up in traditional costume. She had excellent English skills (learned from speaking with tourists), a great sense of humour, a tiny body (about 45kg if that), and the agility and energy of a mountain goat. In my group was Zac, Jevan, Craig and Ash, four med students from Launceston. Having noted the trek was mostly down the valley, I figured this would be a pretty easy downhill stroll for six hours or so to get to the homestay. Famous last words! A generally downhill gradient yes, but we were met with a succession of really steep uphill and downhill sections that taxed our strength and fitness to the limit.

But the scenery and experience was incredible, and I'd recommend it to any able-bodied person willing to pay for six hours of exhaustive exercise. Mountains disappearing in to the mist, classical rice terraces (many with water in them this time), local villages, kids in their classrooms, pigs, goats, buffalo, ducks & chooks just wandering around, locals all in their traditional clothing (it's not just for the tourists) - so lots to see while you're not putting one foot in front of another as you negotiate another rocky slope just waiting to twist an ankle or knee.

But finally we get to our homestay. Not quite what I'd imagined. I was expecting a small house where just the five of us and our guide would interact with our hosts. What we got was a larger house, almost a guesthouse, where about 20 tourists were all staying together. So lots of chatting and drinking beer, but not a lot of interaction with the locals. The food was rather western too - not quite the "authentic" experience I was looking for. Apart from the squat toilets - they were pretty authentic!

The nearby hot springs soothed our aching muscles before we settled down to dinner accompanied by the local fire water - locally brewed rice wine. After many toasts all round the party games started - with more shots of rice wine for losing. We all felt pretty good by the end of the evening.

We all felt pretty crook in the morning! Breakfast and hot coffees revived us sufficiently to start the morning trek up the hill out of the valley. Fortunately our lunch spot also marked the end of our trek - from there a battered jeep took us up the hill back to Sapa.

I said good bye to many of my travelling companions who were heading back to Hanoi that night, while I checked in to my hotel room for a free day doing my own thing. Which would be great if the weather hadn't turned dog. The mist never seems to leave the Sapa valley, and today it's so thick you can barely see 100m at midday. Combined with my headcold and abused body I've decided against mountain biking, and will hire a motor bike this afternoon to explore Sapa township and surrounds. $4 for half a day isn't too bad.

Tonight I'll take the night train back to Hanoi, then head straight for Halong Bay and spend the following night on a boat. Hope the weather improves. And I hope the floods recede to the south as I head for Hue the following day. A cyclone has struck central Vietnam and the army is helping to mop up.

Sorry no photos. Internet at Sapa is very slow, pages time out all the time, and I can't upload photos. Perhaps if I have time in Hanoi - otherwise the next time I get to speedy Internet.

It's funny - despite the poor living conditions every house has a satellite dish, and mobile coverage is excellent. Some elements of modern technology have made it here - a shame that roads and sanitation are taking a while to catch up.

Fi & Nik - I've bought you a H'mong silver bracelet each from one of the many street sellers stalking tourists around Sapa. Trouble is, a couple of Red Dao homed in on me saying I had to buy from their tribe too. After a lot of negotiating, I scored myself a Dao brass bracelet for 40,000 dong, and that included a photo. When I wanted to get another couple of Dao in to the photo they said no - I hadn't bought from them!

Keep well everyone - hope I throw off this cold and the weather improves for Halong Bay. It could be worse - it could be raining and I could have bird flu. So all is good. Meanwhile, I'm off motorcycling. Yee ha!