Home » Vietnam » LZ - Sapa - April 13th 2005

These are entries from my travel journal from www.travelbog.org.
They are descriptions/stories of my trip from Hanoi, Vietnam to Phi Phi Island, Thailand from April 2005 to May 2005.

LZ - Sapa - April 13th 2005

Lt.col.lewin
2006-01-02 03:40:44

Displayed times (last time: )

it for me. There was one seat left and thankfully, they let me in. As I boarded, Sau attacked me with endless guilt trips so I gave in and grabbed two pillowcases and gave her just 50K. At first this pleased her, but when she realized I had two instead of one pillowcase, she came to the window of the bus and showed her frustration.
As the bus pulled away, I just breathed a sigh of relief that the potential for trouble was in the past and I was now heading for a decent night’s sleep on the overnight train back to Hanoi.

As I boarded the Soviet Express, which is actually called, The Reunification Express, I entered my room and sitting there was a Vietnamese family who gave off a good vibe. We both broke into laughter as we knew the communication barrier was in full force. With the parents, were two of the cutest girls I’ve ever seen. Linh, aged 10, and Linh aged 7 were on the top bunk with big smiles of curiosity about their new American roommate. Momma-san and Pappa-san were on the bottom bunk with smiles as well. I just felt like this was going to be a good trip home and, thankfully, my instincts were right on.

The first thing I did was whip out my pictures from home. This always works as a good ice breaker. They loved looking at the places I had been and pictures of my friends from home. Since one of them was vietnamese, they asked me many questions about her. Next thing I did was find out where they lived and where they were going. Nhin Binh was their home and that is where they were heading. After I ran out of things to show them, I started writing in my journal. My left handedness is also a big attraction as there are not so many of us over hear. Pappa-san left and then came back with a few more loaves of bread, a few containers of Vinamilk (condensed milk) and a six pack of Bia Hanoi. Immediately, he offered all three items to me and my empty stomach graciously accepted. We dipped the bread in the condensed milk and it was a sweet combination, sugar and a load of carbs right before bed. Little did I know that he was going to insist that I drink all three of his beers before going to sleep. So, as the train started rolling, we began the feast, just Pappa-san and myself. The girls were looking on from the top bunk, while Mamma-san was trying to get some shut eye on the same bunk that Pappa was sitting on. Later, he asked me if I could sleep on the top bunk while he took the bottom. I had no problem with this and began heading up top when he stopped me. We were to finish our beers first, and then I would move up there. I thought to myself, “this was a good man.” It took a while to get down all of the bread and the three beers. I said “yo” (cheers in vietnamese, but it really means finish what’s left in your can) a few times and downed them as fast as I could. He kept up with me, too. I wanted to sleep and felt bad about keeping mamma from sleeping. I couldn’t think of a more pleasant way to wrap up two very memorable days in SaPa. I don’t think the rest of my time in Vietnam will compare. Then again, there is always Hue, the land of a thousand ao dai. =)

PS - the photos in this travelblog are on loan from other sources since all of my Sapa photos where lost during my travels.