Travel Accounts; SEA 7

07-27
After coming back from Halong bay we still had four days left before the visa would expire, so there’s plenty of time to get in one more excursion. We heard from Evan as well as the Americans that Sa Pa is a unique and must-see experience. First we’d break our fast with Evan, have a good coffee, at Puku’s of course. Then we’d scamper around the old quarter, going from tourist office to tourist office. After looking around town for about 20 minutes we booked a round trip for $18 each. Not bad cost wise. We’d be picked up at the booking office at 6:30, and arrive in Sa Pa at about 13:00.
Ouch. Freaking ants here. Have to move my feet up off from the ground. Hold on, lemme just move that chair so I can put them up. That’s better.

After booking the trip we strolled through Hanoi, stopping at a store so Puck and Evan could do some shopping. About 2 units of forever later, we finally departed that store. The literature pagoda wasn’t too far from where we were so we swung by there too. Not that impressive, must’ve been beautiful to walk through and study in the gardens there way back when, now it’s just another gorgeous temple.

We’d meet up with mark later on, had discussed being at his place around 16:00, do some shopping at the market for dinner tomorrow night, then meet the fellas at an all you can eat chicken wings place. We left Johns at around 15:40 and got to Mark’s right on time. Unfortunately my phone hadn’t been honest with me and showed 0 unread messages. In fact Mark had messaged me twice and cancelled because the market would be closed right about now.

Oh well, just kill some time at Mark’s, still had the prospect of unlimited access to wings later on. Today has to be a good day.

Wings night was also the night we said goodbye to Kate, although that was sad, the wings were glorious and tasty, nothing is going to bring us down tonight. Except maybe, the kitchen staff dragging their feet, when it came down to our orders. We saw plates after plates filled with chicken come out of the kitchen, all going to other people’s tables. Not ours. This all you can eat turned into an all you can eat for as long as you have the patience to wait. We didn’t have much patience, especially towards the end, we had ordered our last two servings at 19:50, we left very disappointed and annoyed at 20:40. No chicken. I explained to the staff that the entire night had been good, that this was a very sorry way to end tonight’s service, and that no, we’re not waiting another 5 minutes. That was about the 20’th time he’d said it was coming right out, it’s not about the chicken anymore at this point.

We were fed up, and in the mood to strut, we decided to walk home.

07-28

I’d promised the Americans I’d throw them a dinner party as a means of saying thanks for accommodating us, way back in Nha Trang when we thought we’d be sleeping at John’s. They didn’t forget, and I really enjoy cooking. Time to make good on that promise. Besides, how hard can it be to find European ingredients in a major city? Pretty hard, the answer is, pretty hard. Also any sort of dairy is really expensive. Everything has to be imported and nothing I wanted to use is commonly used in this country. Except maybe all the vegetables, I got about 3 kilo’s worth for less than $3.

So the menu for tonight totaled up to 1.2M VND, that’s about $48, not bad considering we had to feed 8 people.

The hardest part, also one of the more expensive ingredients, was getting the meat. Pork Chops were about $4 a piece and ground pork/beef was around $2 per 100 grams. In Holland this meat is probably about the cheapest meat you can get. Definitely felt the sting of that in our purse.

The menu; Starting out with some bite sized snacks, toasted ciabatta bread, one with Camembert-walnut-honey, the other with pesto and a tomato based tartar. Followed by piced up pumpkin soup, all the while enjoying some craft beers, courtesy of Mark and his friend Bret. The main course was meant to fill up the table with several dishes. It worked. We had Dutch ‘hutspot’, meatballs with gravy, pork chops marinated in two different ways, some cauliflower with cheese sauce, a big bowl of salad, and stuffed capsicum for the vegetarians among us. It was all a bit hectic to get it out on the table while still being hot, because we only had 2 hotplates. I had to get everything hot and ready while also getting the sauces there alongside them. Turned out rather well all things considered, and I think everyone ate to their hearts content and left the table with round bellies.

Because we were leaving for Sa Pa in the morning we were happy to grab an early night and get some sleep.

07-29

5:15; the alarm goes off, I curse at it, it keeps playing that song. Damn it doesn’t listen to reason. Better turn it off and get out of bed. I had been dreading the trip up to Sa Pa, apparently it was all windy and mountainous roads up there. Turned out that only the last 30 minutes is dreadful, the first 4 hours is actually quite fine. The both of us were still extremely tired from last night’s sleep, or lack thereof. The old ‘get in the back ASAP’ trick worked and we had 3 chairs between the two of us. Score. Managed to get a couple of hours of sleep in, before we knew it we arrived into Sa Pa.

The drive over there is one to make when you’re awake, the constantly shifting but ever stunning views from the bus alone are worth the trip. That is, if you can stomache the ever shifting, constant winding of the roads, along with some death defying overtaking maneuvers from the driver.

The Americans had told us about ‘Mountain Bar’, to meet a guy named Dong there and he might take us out trekking. He would, but he charged $40 per person for it. We said we’d think about it.

We took splurge Sunday to Delta bar, they supposedly had good Italian food. We shared a pizza and what looked like a spaghetti carbonara. It wasn’t really. Not compared to the one we had eaten on Koh Rong island. The Italian chef in that island dive really knew his stuff. This Vietnamese chef surely didn’t. Unfortunately it was expensive too, $20 for a meal that wasn’t worth more than 5. Meh.

We walked back to the hotel, grabbed something to drink and snack on, on the way there and watched some Hannibal.

07-30

We thought about the $80 trek, decided against it, no way that it’d be worth that much money, better to just try and walk the trek on our own. On the way there we were kind of stalked by this cute, but determined, old lady. Mama Vu had spotted us from a distance, and almost ran to catch up to us. She started making small conversation and without much effort convinced us that she was a fun and educational tour guide. One of her selling points was that she could circumvent the ticket office, saving us 150.000 VND. We factored that into what we eventually paid her. For $10 per person we’d seen as much as we would’ve with any tour company. The difference being, the tour company stretches it out over 2-3 days, with 1-2 nights at a home-stay and they ask between $30 and $40 for it. I think we did alright. Also it included lunch, so that’s cool.

After walking for 2 hours straight we figured “we must be close now”, we asked, she responded in the same inaudible fashion, we just sighed a bit and kept going. When we finally arrived at her house, we had hiked over 15k’s, our feet were sore, our shoes were wet from when we crossed a couple of flooded roads, and we were terribly hungry.

Mama Vu introduced us to her family, made us lunch and tried her best to overfeed us, as any grandmother would.

After lunch she took us back into Sa Pa town, her son and husband driving the motorbikes, me on the back of one, her and Puck on the back of the other. Glad we didn’t have to walk all that way back we kind of forgot about our pains until we got back off the bikes. The worst of all bum rashes had snuck up on me, my feet were killing me and I was totally willing to take a taxi for the last 200 meters. We didn’t, I suffered. I just wanted to be back at the hotel, take a shower, lie on my belly for the rest of the night, and watch a movie.

After granting half of my wishes we went out to dinner, had some pasta at another place, it was actually alright, not terrible, not too expensive, not great. We got back to the hotel around 19:45, Puck heard one of those doom sirens going off in her head. She checked the hallway, a group of Chinese tourists had moved into the rooms next to ours. From 20:30 till I yelled at them around 0:00 they were making SO much noise, had the doors open between rooms and were yelling back and forth between them. Playing children’s card games, all the while giggling. After saying something to them they shut the doors, but kept the volume the same. There’s no point in talking to these people, we just tried our best to sleep. Apparently there was a party going on right beneath our window, so we had to shut them too. I slept through the night, puck didn’t.

07-31

At about 6 a couple of buses arrived, they played loud music and made all of our lives miserable. I got out of bed at 7:30, decided to be that annoying chaperone at camp that sits out in the hallway and monitors everyone’s behavior. This way at least puck could get a few extra hours of sleep.
Decided not to have breakfast in the same hotel, it was really disappointing and we knew that the pasta-place from yesterday served good coffee. Admittedly I had a bit of an altercation with them yesterday, but Puck said my wording was too harsh. I’m not allowed to put it into the blog in my words, then I’m not bothering. Suffice to say, these incompetent barista wannabe’s made a mocking of my coffee, and made matters worse in trying to ‘fix’ it. This time they got it right, I’m a happy camper.

For breakfast I ordered a croque madame, I got grilled cheese toasties, and a fried egg. I don’t think that’s how they’re supposed to be. Whatever. Fine.

The bus left early for the first time ever, this unfortunately meant the bus was there early as well. We couldn’t get in the back of the bus, instead were stuck way at the front. High up. Not. Comfortable. Around 18.30 the sun sets, the sights just about tripled in beauty. There was a purple-ish sheen over the lakes we came across and it reflected the sky above it. I forgot all discomfort for a moment and just enjoyed the sights. At 20:00 we drove into Hanoi, circling around the old quarter, dropping off all the locals. It wasn’t until 21:15 that we were dropped off. This pissed us off, we might’ve well have taken a cab at 20:00 and be there at 20:15. Oh well, lets grab the bags from the tourist office, head over to our hotel and try to sleep. The both of us weren’t feeling well. Puck was running a fever, my shoulder was out of whack. It stopped me from being able to look right. Though to some people I guess I’ve never looked right. Luckily we got to the hotel quite fast, took a shower, hopped onto the bed, found out the hard way that it was about as soft as a sheet of bricks. This did not help my shoulder out. Not. One. Bit.

08-01

Morning came, the last day of Vietnam was here. Today we’d fly to Laos, on to new adventure. Before we go, one more Puku coffee, one more Puku eggs benedict, and some emotional goodbye saying to the small hearted, but otherwise giant, Americans. The trip to Laos wasn’t that impressive, we were just happy to be at the next destination, Puck was looking too hot. That fever wasn’t breaking and the hot weather wasn’t helping. I think she ended up sleeping for about 12 hours (21:00-9:00), with the odd break of waking up covered in sweat, in between.

08-02

Right now we’re kind of stuck at the hostel, Puck needs to get as much rest in as she can, I just want her to get better soon. I’m typing away at these stories but unfortunately I’ve caught up. Meh.