A stroll in Sapa (Day 7)
Our final day in Sapa. We woke up to cloudy skies, it was a good thing we did all the outdoor stuff yesterday as the weather was awesome. Thank You Jesus! It would have been a waste if we had done the outdoorsy stuff today – fog was thick and temperature had dropped significantly. God knew our hearts and prepared just the right weather for us. How awesome is He?!
Since it was our final day in Sapa, we decided to linger on in bed snoozing the alarm a few times. We took a lazy stroll downstairs to the bakery in the late morning for another delightful breakfast and Vietnamese coffee to spruce the day.
Since there’s only that much you can do in Sapa given the proximity and time we had, we took several strolls in the market and walked into every alleyway in Sapa town. Sapa is very much like Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, that gives you an idea of how big the town is. It’s just a small square, probably totaling up to 2-3kms of walking. Bought some knick knacks for home and the purchase didn’t come easy as Terence had to use all his “petaling street” bargaining skills to get the best deals. Shoving the calculator back and forth the locals spoke broken English and so did we!
Terence: “Me, no buy – too expensive” *shoves back the calculator*
Lady: *Pushes calculator back to Terence* “Oooooh, you press price”
(Frankly I would have settled for a higher price if it wasn’t for his persistence!)
Away from hagglers and touts, we went for a short climb up to Sapa radio tower. Lonely Planet recommended the climb for its killer views of the town unfortunately visibility was too poor to even see beyond 20m. Still, we went on…and I’m glad we did! We spotted a uniquely different shop. Instead of just selling Hmong tribal clothes, they allowed people to try on the outfits. Costing just 10,000d (about RM2.50), I got myself into one of the outfit and Terence had a good time laughing and snapping pics. The outfit I chose came with a simple wrap around blouse, an extremely flair skirt, a belt, head piece and wraparounds for the legs. I would have passed off as a Black Hmong if it wasn’t for my orange Crocs!
After the eventful climb up the radio tower, we desperately thought of what we could do to get out of the cold. With 4 hours to go, we hopped from one café to another and then onto some street food before catching a bus back to Lao Cai. I think we almost left no street in Sapa un-walked. The next time we return, the only thing left for us to do is to climb Fansipan (3 day journey). Terence is determined to do it soon… a mountain enthusiast of a husband I have!!!
The night was spent on the train back to Hanoi. We have two days left in this country… oh no…the thought of returning home!
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