Sa Pa, Vietnam_Day 3: Peering through the looking glass
At the conclusion of a large breakfast, we walked straight downhill on marked and unmarked paths through cornfields, bamboo, rice fields, past houses, across small rivers, and over fences to the wide river cutting through the valley floor. We passed the waterfall village from Day Two and much like billy goats, made our way straight up the opposite side of the mountain following a steep inclined path notched in the hillside to the top of the waterfall!
The third day difficulty level was heightened due to the extensive rain fall the previous night which made walkways, footpaths, clay, mud and trail edges dangerously fragile and slippery. The uphill climb to the top of the waterfall felt at times impossible to navigate and tested my ability to balance and locate the small footholds that were the only means of propelling myself up the steep mountainside. When I crested the top, I had a short break to pat myself on the back and prayed to whomever was listening that Moo was not planning to go back down the same way. The waterfall was swollen from the overnight rains which made it impressive to look upon as it roared over the smooth rock walls.
From the waterfall, we took a hard right turn up a muddy trail riddled with ankle high mud sinkholes. At one point, the trail finally flattened out into a bamboo forest, but before I could relax, we literally started climbing using our hands and feet to scale the mountain. The slip factor increased a hundred-fold, which would have been a thousand-fold, if we didn’t have the strong bamboo stalks to anchor our precarious footing. The proverb, the greater the challenge-the greater rewards, was applicable in quantifiable metrics as the views from our elevated vantage point swept away any doubt that the struggle was well worth the present experience.
The final leg of our hike took us through isolated mountain villages where indigenous people looked at us with curiosity and waved amicably as we passed by their meager homesteads. In addition, I observed water buffalo penned in by small wood cages, chickens pecked at bugs and scooted around followed by recently hatched chicks, small dogs barked incessantly from the open air patios, shelters and fences were constructed of rudimentary bamboo and wood slats, old world tools were being used to create clothing and to farm with, and food was being cooked over an open fire.
At the end of the day, we ate a communal meal, said our good-byes to our new friends, and were transported by truck back to the Sa Pa bus station.
Distance Traveled: 5.5 miles
Reflection: My time in Sa Pa was like peering through Alice in Wonderland’s looking glass. I experienced a way of living hearkening back hundreds of years where a self-sustaining life style was connected to developing and maintaining deep relationships with friends and family to ensure survival. The connection to nature yielded an overabundance of food, beautiful clothing created from plants and animals, simple games based on a child’s imagination, and a respect for the environment. Further, men, women and children accepted their designated roles within their community and religion was incorporated into the spider web of customs as a way to commune with the universe. Technology served a purpose: motor scooters transported goods and people to their intended destination, power to the homestays was installed to bolster the local economy, clean running water was filtered through advanced systems, and the internet was provided in certain places to placate the Western style of living. Despite these micro steps towards what I would define loosely as leading to 21st century living, missing from the equation were televisions and cell phones; however, we had “happy water” to keep us busy. The result was night time communal rooms filled with laughter, conversations, and the best sleep one could imagine.