Vietnam Day 4: Sapa (Part 4)

27/06/07

Continuing the trek in Sapa mountainous areas, we were heading back uphill and we were a little exhausted. Many tourists took motorbikes uphill all the way up to Sapa town for just US$1, but we were not going to succumb to the temptation.

Captured tiredness

We trekked all the way from the valley and went up to the highlands where we came from.

Cute Vietnamese children playing on the grass

Corn plantations

A nostalgic B&W photo of Sapa mountains

What does the signboard mean?

We took a shortcut which cuts a meandering lower gradient road and we went into small trails with higher gradient.

I'm the leader of the pack! Yay... Ha...

The second shortcut that we took was disastrous. It was a forested trail and the gradient was almost 45 degrees uphill. We had exhausted much of our energy to get out of the forested trail and Terence was almost wasted. Oops... Ha...

Anyway, we were almost reaching Sapa town when i felt a sharp pain in my eye. My sweat from my forehead had dripped into my right eye and a tiny but sharp object entered my eye socket. It was painful to open my eyes and I tried blicking many times to allow the object to settle at the side of the eye. It was a futile attempt and i constantly felt that something was in my eye. Terence helped to pour some water to cleanse my eye and it felt better. I was really really worried that my eye might get infected or something.

Almost reaching Sapa town

A market that we passed by

We headed back to Sapa Summit Hotel to have our dinner at the restaurant and my eye pain was subsiding. As what Gs had said, the object had been expelled from my eye (as they checked my eye many times but cannot find anything) but the micro-wound in my eye made it feel as if the object is still in my eye. (For people who watch Wimbledon, Jankovic had the similar eye problem a few days later during her match with Bartoli)

After our dinner, we decided to tour Sapa town another time.

Sapa Market

Dusk

Clouds sitting on the mountains in sunset

Gs decided to try some roadside food and got himself a corn stick. Edwin bought another corn stick and they tried the bamboo rice and eggs as well.

Roadside Vendor

As we were walking back towards our hotel, we passed by a community centre. There were many children on stage and they seem to be rehearsing for a dance.

As we settled down on the chairs, they started their rehearsal and it was so nice to watch the dance. The music is so cute and the children reminded me of childhood days. We all loved the music they played.

Dancing children on stage

After watching part of the dance, we decided to leave and head to Baguette and Chocolat, a French cafe near our hotel but it was closing and we headed back to our hotel to play our favourite game, Bridge.

Playing bridge

After playing for about an hour or so, we decided to go to bed. While Edwin and I were preparing to go to sleep, Terence and Gs rushed over from the other room carrying their pillows and blankets.

Ok, i shall now begin the ghost story. People who are afraid can refrain from reading on.

Terence and Gs were about to sleep and they turned off the lights. Terence who was sleeping on the bigger bed, faced upwards and thought he saw something on the painting. The painting of a beautiful female woman was directly above his head but it was facing forward, not downwards. He blicked his eyes and saw the painting become 3D! The woman seem to be popping out from the painting. He couldn't believe his eyes and quickly turn on the lights. The painting had returned to normal and Gs was wondering why Terence had turn on the lights when they just turned off.

Terence told Gs to lie under his bed and he switched off the lights for a short while. Gs saw the same thing and the woman indeed seem to be popping out from the painting!

They rushed over immediately to Edwin and my room grabbing their pillows and blankets. We were all discussing frantically and checking my rooms paintings. Luckily, my room got only fruits painting and fat harmless looking roman empire woman painting.

We were discussing whether they should leave their valuables in the scary room or leave it until the morning. We decided not to as Terence said that he will wake up early the next day to wash up and take his valuables. Anyway, we checked whether their door is locked and we spent the night with the four of us squeezing on the queen size bed and a normal sized bed.

A rather terrifying night.

PS: The painting with the woman was captured in my last photo of this post. See it for yourself.

End of Part 4 (3.40 pm to 12 midnight)