A Trek in North Vietnam

It rained, a little more than I was expecting. March should be one of the best times to visit Vietnam, but during last week's walk on Runnymede's soggy meadow I was immediately reminded of that Vietnam trip.

It was my first trek. Officially it was a charity trek raising funds for Action Aid, for projects I have supported for years. It quickly became a proper holiday.

I’d been worried about keeping up but the local trek organisers were very experienced and very professional and they paced us perfectly.

We started in 2 nights in Hanoi, then a 5 night trek in the beautiful nature reserve of Pu Luong; then (a bonus not normally included in holidays) a visit to a village the charity was supporting. The perfect ending was seeing Halong Bay from the deck of a sailing junk.

Hanoi: Hanoi is an Asian city, noisy and colourful. I was initially nervous about seeing the Old Town from a cycle rickshaw sitting low down in front of the driver. We visited an ancient Temple complex, and the famous water-puppet theatre.

The National Park: Then to Mai Chau, an hour or two away, the entry point to the beautiful Pu Luong nature reserve. There we were able to visit local craft shops and a market (anyone who wants a photo of a bucket of live frogs, please ask). Being a city girl myself, I was amused that the people of the area had abandoned traditional wooden houses in favour of a style I can only call "rural stand-alone townhouses". Mai Chau was at that time surprisingly fully of young Vietnamese tourists enjoying a weekend break. I accompanied our guide in the evening and he introduced me to their holiday street food, like sticky rice sticks in banana leaves.

Our Home-stays: Our own accommodation was to be in “Home-Stays”. The one in Mai Chau was purpose built for tourists, but the next 4 nights were in peoples’ homes. Each had just one large room raised on stilts above an undercroft, with a separate kitchen area. They had minimal furniture: a living room in the daytime, when the bedding and mats were rolled up and put away in cupboards, and a sleeping room at night. When a group of tourists wanted to stay, one of the local families would carry their bedding to a neighbour or relative, and our group just took over their home! Our guide told us that in each village on the walking circuit there would be several homeowners who had signed up to do this and they would take turns to host us.

The Trek: Some of the walks were easy, through level rice paddies. Others were strenuous, climbing through stunningly beautiful hillside terraces. From time to time we passed through villages.

Our tour company transported everything except our day-packs. Each morning we and our guides would set out, and the rest of the crew (cook, bed-maker, driver) would take the minibus to our next stop and cook us lunch. Then goodbye again as they drove to our overnight stop, and arranged the room/s. By the time we arrived, our bedrolls would be unrolled, mosquito nets strung up, dinner cooked. It looked like local cooking but I’m sure they adapted their traditional cuisine for our tender palates. The seating was not adapted: mats on floors, except on the final night when we had a grand feast with table and chairs.

The Wonderful People: We were told that the people would be friendly but shy. The adults were shy, but the children were not at all. They found us incredibly amusing and would pose for photos, the little ones giggling madly.

The Project: Action Aid arranged for us to visit a village they were supporting. We were welcomed as VIPs at the school and entertained with singing and dancing. Then to visit some farms with the cleanest pigs I have ever seen, probably washed and groomed just for us. In the evening the whole village gathered in their social hall to demonstrate folk dancing. Having been warned we also performed for them: we showed them - singing in English with a translator - "Old MacDonald had a farm”. (More giggling, this time both adults and children). This was followed by a feast which sadly we were warned to eat sparingly. (A reminder to travellers of non-European background, just because you can handle SOME spices, it doesn’t mean you can ignore instructions.) Halong Bay: Our last day was spent sailing on Halong Bay, one of the most beautiful bays, where thousands of limestone islands (karsts) rise out of the sea. Many local families live on boats and rafts and make a living farming fish. Some junks have cabins and take people further out into the bay for overnight trips, but we had a plane to catch.

So after a late lunch on our junk we headed for the airport for the overnight flight home, and I was tired enough to sleep through it. Next time, the rest of the country: The ancient capitals of Hoi An, and Hue (with the beach resort of Danang between them), Saigon in the south, and the Mekong Delta.

Meanwhile I’m delighted to find that at least one of Travel Counsellors’ tour operators will arrange something similar for walking holidays in Europe and Britain, booking the night stops and transporting baggage for people who want to walk but not carry.

Who’s up for Hadrian’s wall without a backpack?