Muang Khua, Laos, Dien Bien Phu, and Sapa, Vietnam – February 21st – 25th, 2017

It took us three days to travel overland from Nong Khiaw, Laos to Sapa, Vietnam. We chose to think of the first day as an excursion rather than a travel day seeing as it was on a boat up the Nam Ou river. The boat was a long skinny canoe with an engine in the back. It was lined on each side with a total of six old airplane seats. Just because there were only six actual seats does not mean there were only six passengers. No no, we started the trip with about 18 people plus the driver. Luckily most of them disembarked the partially submerged canoe within the first couple of hours of the eight-hour journey, leaving us with plenty of room to spread out. The going was slow, but the scenery was epic! When we arrived in Muang Khua, Laos we found a basic hotel and walked around the small town gathering snacks for the following two days of real travel (via bus… wah waah). After visiting the town’s only attraction, a long suspension bridge, we seized our last opportunity for delicious Laos curry and sticky rice.

Boat trip up the Nam Ou River and Muang Khua, Laos.

We got up early the next morning to catch the local bus across the Vietnam border. No kidding, I originally mistook our transportation for a broken down abandoned bus, thinking there was no way that it could possibly be our bus, let alone operate. I was proven wrong when the driver got back from wherever it is that Asian drivers disappear to, and it started right up! We boarded the fully-functional, but decrepit bus, offloaded our baggage into the rear row of seats (which were missing), and took off towards Vietnam. After traveling a few hundred feet we stopped to pick up a massive fish which was folded into a small cardboard box and added to the pile of baggage in the back of the bus. This fish, as I discovered hours later, ended up falling over and landing on top of my bag, spooging all over it! I was not pleased, especially since when the fish first boarded the bus, I turned to Andy and said, “That fish better not end up on my bag!” Go figure… besides the looming chore of ridding my bag of fish stank, the four-hour bus ride and border crossing went surprisingly smoothly. We didn’t even have to pay any bribes at the border crossing!!!

We arrived in Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam in the early afternoon and made our way to our guesthouse. Unbeknownst to us, our guesthouse was inconveniently located about 40 minutes (walking - we are too cheap for taxis) from the bus station where we were dropped off at and needed to leave from the following morning. Besides being border-line hangry, it turned out okay because it allowed us to get some errands done along the walk. Thanks to the 3,000,000 Vietnamese Dong ($131) ATM limit at the ATMs around town, we had to use our bank card about eight times in a row in order to get out enough money to pay our motorbike guides a few days later. Around withdrawal #6 Andy’s card assumed it had been stolen and quit working (good thing mine still worked). Now millionaires, we headed to the mobile store. With the help of a language translator app and about an hour of time, we were able to get a working Vietnamese SIM card for data and in-country calls. Now three-hours later and in full-on hangry mode, we found a coffee shop where we settled on eating fruit and yogurt parfaits (it turns out finding vegetarian Vietnamese food in a non-tourist town is close to impossible). I say close to impossible, because when we finally arrived at our spotless guesthouse and asked the family where we might find some vegetarian food, they said that the only place in town is a vegan restaurant that happens to be owned by them!

After settling into our massive room, we rented bicycles and set out to tour the city. We soon discovered that Vietnam is drastically different from Laos and Cambodia. While undeniably different, we found Laos and Cambodia to have similar food, housing, and cultures (except we thought the Cambodians were much more outwardly friendly). Vietnam on the other hand, was a different world. Like Russian or German, the language sounds a bit like yelling and we instantly struggled to tell the difference between a casual conversation and a fight. Regardless of the intensity of the language, the people were quite friendly, waving at us as we passed on our bikes. The women also appeared to take-on a more equal role in society – there were just as many women partaking in evening badminton and volleyball competitions as men and they were regularly competing against each other, something we hadn’t seen since… ummm I can’t remember!

Just before dusk, we stopped at A1 hill, the location of the historic 1954 battle in the first Indochina War for independence from France. We walked around the preserved battlegrounds and through some of the trenches to a massive explosion crater at the top of the hill. It was pretty surreal and left us wondering why time and time again, conflicts escalate to the point of killing each other before compromise can be made.

Overland travel to Vietnam and Dien Bien Phu. The center-left picture shows us eating Washington apples! 

Now hungry again (pesky hunger, we are so sick of eating out), we made our way to the vegan restaurant where we met up with three French people and an American who were all living and working in Dien Bien Phu. The meal was not only delicious but creative too! They made vegan chicken wings with a lemongrass stalk as the leg bone and pork ribs using coconut strips to mimic the ribs. Perhaps the most impressive part of the massive meal, was the price - each of us paid about $4 which included multiple drinks.

Early the next morning, we departed Dien Bien Phu for the dramatic mountain scenery of Sapa. The eight-hour bus ride was perhaps one of the smoothest so far and the scenery as we climbed into the mountains did not disappoint. It was dusk when we arrived, but we could already tell that the region was spectacularly beautiful. Rather than make our way to our homestay right away, we made the mistake of eating in Sapa town before hiring motorbike taxis to take us the remaining 12 km to the village. The problem with this approach was that a storm rolled in and by the time we were ready to leave it was dark, cold, foggy, and raining. Several motorbike taxis attempted to charge us double the regular price and then drove alongside us cock-blocking our bargain attempts with ever other taxi driver. Out of options and more than a little irritated at the audacity of these a-hole drivers, we settled on calling our homestay and having them come pick us up in a regular taxi. The downside was that the cost for the taxi was equivalent to an eight-hour bus ticket (travel lesson: they’ll always find a way to milk you in a tourist town). Alas, the upside was we were dry and comfortable in the taxi. The fog was so thick that it took almost 45 minutes to arrive at our homestay. When we arrived, the owners had to come find us in the fog because the house, and your outstretched arm, were not visible.

Over the next day and a half, the fog and rain never lifted. We ended up rallying the remaining travelers (many arrived and left after looking at the doom and gloom forecast) and spent the entire first day playing cards and drinking Vietnamese happy water (rice wine). With the artificial warmth provided by the wine, we had enough to spare to keep the five four-week old puppies warm! Yup, you read that right, PUPPIES! 

Cards, fog, and puppies! The photo that shows some scenery was taken on the way to Sapa. 

With the fun addition of a hangover, we ventured out with some of our new friends the next morning to walk through the village. We eventually made it low enough in the valley that we were mostly out of the cloud that had permanently engulfed our homestay, granting us about 100 feet of visibility. The visible terraced rice-fields and village houses made a beautiful foreground to our imaginary mountain landscape! So, although our time in Sapa came and went and we only imagined the amazing scenery, we did make some friends and had ample time to cuddle/play with the puppies. I suppose bad weather was bound to plague us at some point. 

Walk around Tavan village. The top-right picture shows our friend, "FX" (a Mexican TV star from the Netherlands), with his adopted dog, Paul, which followed him back from a previous walk and now lives with the family at the homestay. The bottom-right picture shows a motorbike with half an animal carcass on the back.