Our first night in Sapa was spent revelling in the delights of a wonderful little cafe called the Camellia. There we indulged in the potent alcoholic delicacy of Vietnamese Snake wine. The liquid is produced by fermenting rice, and varies between 30% and 60% alcohol. A selection of coiled snakes was pickled in this particular variety of wine, with any venom being absorbed by the liquid. This produced a rather foul tasting and potentially lethal exotic refreshment! The wine has medical origins, and is thought to induce resistancy to venom, thus immunising the drinker from natural snake bites!
I suppose we were actually enjoying the novelty value of such a beverage until the lovely restaurant owner forced us to try his leaf variety. He followed this with beetle wine, and finally his rancid bear’s foot specialty. What on earth were we thinking?
Swimming in the transparent river waters is another wonderful memory, and the walk down to the river from Sapa was pretty spectacular too. Numerous fields of Marijuana preoccupied Pete, while Matt took more photographs than was necessary. Four films in half an afternoon, I think! We got to hear the “animal orchestra” again too. That’s what I call the fusion of insect, amphibian and bird song, with the occasional kingly cry from a hidden mammal of exotic description that we often heard by the river.
Although an enormous pair of water buffalo occupied the water, we were not deterred and went for a swim anyway. We played and swam with some tiny tribal children, and whiled away the day just relaxing and just messing around.
The next day was just as eventful as we woke to see an awesome rainbow spanning the valley below us. It was like an enormous watercolour palette, used by nature to enhance the already immense beauty of the Muong Hoa Ho Valley. The rainbow seemed to provide the most stark and colourful contrast imaginable when compared with the luscious greens of the terraced paddies.
After breakfast, it became a day for motorbikes, and we hired a selection of Russian Minsk’s and rode off in the direction of some of Sapa’s surrounding communes. The communes are places where ancient traditions are still in force today, and for that afternoon, it was almost as if we had stepped back in time. On our return to the town, we sauntered idly around the market, and met some of the local children. Dressed in shimmering indigo decorated with delicate embroidery, the girls showed us around the town. Shu, Ti, Tu, Mu, G�, Ju and the rest of the girls each gave us wonderful friendship bracelets, and I have kept in contact since.
Camaraderie and friendship is at the core of all the best adventures, and making friends with these minority children is undoubtedly the most prominent and fond memory of any of my travelling experiences to date. I will retain the memories of our short-lived fellowship forever.
We left Sapa hesitantly because we were leaving good friends and a place that we love. Our time in Sapa yet again proved to be one of tremendous happiness, and I will certainly make it my ambition to return once more.
We still had four weeks of travelling to go, so we headed back to Hanoi, and on to Hu�, Vietnam’s Imperial Capital. Hu� is situated on the exquisite banks of the Perfume River, about 450km south of Hanoi. Hu� was traditionally Vietnam’s cultural, religious and educational centre, and is home to the splendid tombs of the Nguyen emperors. The city also has several pagodas and most notably, a colossal Citadel.
The streets of Hu� gave all us a deep-rooted sensation of history and far off grandeur could be felt everywhere. This grandeur was personified when we met Pete once more. After saying our good-byes in Sapa, we really did not expect to see him again. Much to our amazement, we met Pete ambling down a side street on the city outskirts. He had become somewhat mesmerised by Hu� charm, and unsurprisingly he was finding it difficult to move on.
The city is certainly peculiar in its individuality, but a young girl who went by the name of Banana contributed to making it even more extraordinary during our stay. Banana was a nine-year-old girl who worked in a restaurant by the Perfume River. She was the best English speaker we met on the whole trip but that’s not what was so strange about her. On our first night in Hu�, we ate and were subsequently led by Banana for a game of pool in a friendly little bar. After introducing us to a selection of her friends, she initiated a boat trip for the next day.
I must say that I wasn’t shocked by a nine year old organising our itinerary, but looking back, it was perhaps some of the most bizarre circumstances that I have ever been in. Banana basically spent the week with us, taking us on various trips with visits to temples and pagodas. The hospitality shown to us by Banana and her parents is what we had now come to expect from Vietnam. They certainly went along way in making our stay in Hu� so enjoyable.
