Day Two in Sapa

On the second day of the trek, our guide led us through Sapa, where we saw eye catching tapestries (I later bought a red and indigo blue blanket after 30 minutes of intense bargaining...believe me, no friendship bracelets where exchanged after that!).

That day, we visited two villages which entailed trudging through rice terraces, walking on dirt roads, climbing over boulders, and splashing through small rivers. This time it was an elderly group of French tourists who were yelping and grumbling along the pathway that provided us all with a good chuckle. Again, I shook my head and wondered, "How can you sign up for a TREKKING expedition and not know that you will be TREKKING????"

The Super Sapa Girls accompanied us on our journey and made us little flowers and trinkets out of leaves and long pieces of grass. They were absolutely delightful, and made the experience really memorable. When either of us had trouble crossing a road, the Super Sapa Girls pointed out other routes or held out their hands to carry us over. And all the time, smiling and smiling and smiling with all of their hearts. The rest of us looked disheveled and drenched in sweat. They sailed through the trails, almost skipping across the rocks like something out of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

We had worked up a good apetite for lunch so our group devoured the simple egg, cheese and tomato sandwhiches at the rest stop. It was here that the girls bid us adieu since they had reached their village. We went through the friendship bracelet "ritual" after lunch and headed to the second village, this time sans entourage, which actually felt kind of lonely. Our guide showed us how the villagers dried herbs for pot pourit, how tea was made and rice shucked.

At the end of our trek, the buses were waiting for us to be transported back to the hotel, where we said goodbye to our guide and tipped generously. If you ever happen to travel to Vietnam, you must travel to Sapa. If only to befriend the Super Sapa Girls.