What's Sapa?

The rains visit only every other day, flowers blush at their initial appearances on branches, and the sun yawns, brightening the overcast skies somewhat.  Spring in Hanoi.  I'm gonna take advantage of the weather and head out of the city next week, north to Lao Cai and Sapa and the mountains, regions that other travelers have noted the most beautiful in Vietnam.

Like the beginning of most trips, I have no idea what I want to do with the trip.  When I was planning vacations, there were set guidelines – parameters – that I had to consider, making the process a whole lot easier.  My vacations were brief pauses between periods of intense flagellation (aka. corporate work), and so, I had to consider one of two extreme alternatives due to the constraint of time: a) pack a whole wallop of activities into the 2 weeks that I had per year or b) like most of the micro-organisms on earth, lie around and do nothing (the key to de-stressing is really not to do much at all).

Any middle ground would be a disaster.  Running around trying to soak in the culture of the place while setting aside time for a good book inevitably causes a scheduling headache.  More so, choosing a location that satisfies the two is an exercise in futility.  How many Caribbean beaches also have museums worthy of exploration? (I don't count water sports really as activities as they really are magnification of the beach experience) How restful can a 10-day itinerary through a European country be?  With all that culture, I wanted to make the best of my time.

And another point, I couldn't very well go very far on these vacations.  The farther I went, the more travel time (trains, buses and airplanes) ate into my precious 'holiday time'.  Weekends trips had to coincide with official holidays falling on a Friday or Monday, or both.  Even then, I couldn't get away far.  From New York, the choices were woefully benign: Maine, Florida, maybe Vegas (casinos and associated hanger-ons are fun.. but no more than 3 days).  The net time I had for a weekend foray was usually one Saturday and three-quarters of a Sunday -- assuming I was flying and not driving anywhere. 

It was infinitely worse for those time where I could take leave for 7 days or more.  Of course, it was almost silly not to take advantage of that time (more than a weekend!) to fly to some 'exotic' place.  Europe and the Caribbean, only 7-8 hours away by flight, made the cut.  The rest of the world: Asia, Africa, Oceania, etc., were conveniently ignored.  And yet, the net 8 days that I had didn't really amount to much when I was vacationing overseas.  The beginning and the end are tied to logistics: renting a car, checking into the hotel, etc.  The middle was usually tied to some sort of established tour, either with a tour group or the assistance of a guide book.  With only ten days or so, some pre-planning had to occur, and oftentimes, pre-planning means buying into some tour so the risk of 'finding interesting stuff to do' is transferred to a professional operator.  It was doubly good for me as the boyfriend whenever I planned a 'couples' getaway.

When it boils down, a vacation didn't have nearly enough time to properly enjoy myself.  I wanted to travel – I didn't want to vacation.  Vacations were chances for me to get away from corporate hell, a way for me to decompress and remove my real life so I could experience a fantasy life. Vacations were ways to explore other cultures from the safety of my tour bus (or behind display cases) or ways to nothing at all. In short, vacations weren't reality.

Traveling, however, is the ultimate exercise in reality.  It's a 24-hour job to live, where realities are thrust into you.  There are no cubicles to protect you from the world outside. Traveling (long term) isn't about getting a break from the real world, it's quite the opposite – it's jumping head feet arms and everything into the real world.

So how will I plan this Sapa trip, when there are so many variables?  Short answer -- I won't try to, cause with so much time, I have the luxury of being able to do what I always tell people I do for my vacations: I'm gonna wing it.

- When do I want to meet up with Yuppienomad?
- Do I want to rent a motorcycle and go up the mountains, or hike around the valleys into the Montangards markets? Or both?
- Should I check out guesthouses before? Or as some people have done, just knock on a villager's door and invite myself in?
- Go west first or east? Terraced mountains or limestone formations?
- What happens if it rains while I'm on the mountain with no sleeping bag?
- Train, bus or find a 4WD? Combinations?
- Bring my big backpack or day pack only and squeeze everything in?
- With no ATMs in the region, where can I stock up on money?

Save some nearby day trips for when I get there!!! Winging is the way to go....looking forward.

Posted by: vinny | March 24, 2006 at 11:14 AM

you mean besides the massage places? ok.

Posted by: j.fisher | March 25, 2006 at 03:51 AM

Um....yeah! of course BESIDES the massage places. THose are a given.

Posted by: vinny | March 25, 2006 at 10:09 AM

Traveling! YES!!!!! That's precisely it! Traveling. Not vacationing....traveling.

Posted by: kyle | March 26, 2006 at 11:41 PM