sapa 3

I stole this photo from Jan's facebook page, hopefully he won't mind.

So, I made it back to the comfort of the hotel. And waited. Ate some more mediocre food and had a beer with some Australian guys. Finally, we hit the road to Lao Cai. I had a big bottle of water, a few snacks, and about 40,000 dong ($2.50). I had planned perfectly. When I got in the room for the ride back, I was happy to see an actual mattress (I don't know why) and all foreign roomates. 2 girls from Quebec and a young dutch guy named Jan. I had a few million dong waiting for me back in Hanoi - I was excited for a few relaxing days, buying a few gifts and seeing a few sites I hadn't had a chance to see. I went to sleep feeling comfortable and happy, with silent, respectful roomates...

And I slept very well. But when I woke up, we had only travelled about 20 km. The tracks had been washed out and there was no way through. We were woken up and told to get out of the train. It was a mess in the train station with people pushing and yelling trying to get $ back. Finally they closed all of the ticket windows. No one was saying anything. I was still hanging around with Jan and the girls, we weren't really sure what to do. Then we turned around and the girls were gone. Jan and I noticed some people getting on a train and we headed on and back to Lao Cai. We sat on hard wooden seats, surrounded by smokers and watched the flood go by. Saw at least one dead cow float by in the river that was practically touching the tracks. Made it back to Lao Cai and tried to line up again to get $$$ back. Lots of pushing, which I'm good at. Cop told me to get out of the line and pointed outside. "Where should I go?" More pointing and impatient attitude. I'm not looking to mess with vietnamese police so i went. where? I don't know? It's raining hard and I'm not sure what to do. Jan and I ended up back at this restaurant where we met the vans that took us to the hotel. A long haired vietnamese guy, "Ding" starts talking about how he's getting vans together, for only 1/2 million dong. Which is fine, but I have 40000. uh oh. But he says I can pay when we get to hanoi, no problem. We wait a long time and finally jump into vans (I refuse to get into the very back, explaining that i will vomit). I'm soaked by the time i get in (my shoes had already been soaked earlier, i'm wearing plastic sandals) and am lucky that this m.i.t. guy will lend me his dry shirt as the fans are running. We travel over terrible roads, floaded, parts washed away, rockslides covering the streets. I'm out of motion sickness medicine. ugh. finally we stop for dinner. at someones house on the side of the road. Ramen soup. And this guy's homemade rice wine. Which I'm tempted by - these australian guys are enjoying it a great deal, shouting and joking with the vietnamese guys without any shared language. But I weigh the carsickness possibility and decide to stick with the crappy soup. And some stale cookies I bought. yuck. when we are done (we've been waiting for the road to clear) we head out for a few more minutes. and stop again. the road is closed again. Drunk australians with no shirts or shoes run to help clear the road. Eventually they come back, minus the energy. i get to see one puke. nice. it's dark and raining hard. apparently mudslides have blocked us of in front and behind. we're trapped for the night in this tiny mini van, basically a typhoon outside, all the seats are full, and we have to open the door for some fresh air. But I'm next to the door, so it's raining on my feet. I'm hoping no mudslides come in the van. or malaria carrying insects. Oi. And my shoulder is banging into the spanish guy next to me (luckily a couple, so they can get closer and give me some room). Somehow, I managed some sleep, in the middle of nowhere.