North Vietnam: Sapa II

As well as being an astute business man, our hotel owner, Nam, expressed the type of energy creative types know well. The wheels of the mind are always turning with curiosity about the world while constantly being inspired, questioning everything, inventing, and creating. He built the Thai Binh Sapa Hotel entirely by himself on a piece of land his family received from the government. He also helps his parents manage a bed and breakfast, operated in the same space where they live.

The day after our trek, Nam scheduled a tour to go to the top of Mt. Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam. It was cloudy in the morning, so we weren't sure whether or not we were going to go. The driver of our van had called someone at the top who said it was clear, and we took our chances. The weather was mixture of clouds and sun throughout the entire hike. We hiked on a trail through tropical mountain forest to the "Love Waterfall." There were stone staircases and walkways that led all the way through the river canyon. For a while I thought about the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and the idea of hiking a similar trail for much longer.

After our hike, we went to Nam's other hotel, the Sapa Garden Bed and Breakfast, where his mother had prepared ingredients for a large hot pot. She had four different kinds of meat: beef, chicken, fish, and tofu, all of which got cooked sequentially. Eventually everything was in the pot at the same time. The presentation of the uncooked meat was beautiful: each sat on its own plate with what looked like either scallions or lemongrass tied in candy-shaped balls. Sliced pineapple and tomato lined the rim of each plate. Nam turned from inn keeper to waiter/sous chef as he added each dish to the hot pot and kept an eye on it while he continually served us more food, beer and water. After lunch we spent some time wandering around the property and the beautiful gardens he had created. There were fruit trees and various exotic flowering plants everywhere. Dozens of orchids hung from overhead canopy that looked like someone could get married in. None of the plants were blooming but I imagined what it would look like being engulfed in a sea of color. It was no doubt a very special afternoon. We found out later that he doesn't host hotel guests like that very often.