Hi everybody,
A bit of a travel day today, but we still managed to pack in some morning excitement!
We began the day by checking out of the hotel at 9 am, and taking the bus for 30 minutes to the entrance of the Love Waterfall and Golden Spring. We hiked for 20 minutes downhill, during which Toa showed us games played by the local children. For example, he plucked two fern leaves, locked them together, and pulled to see which fern was stronger. The winner would fight another fern, and the winner of the round robin becomes the champion. Another game Toa showed us used a green pine branch, of which he plucked a small bud and hid among the leaves. We took turns guessing where the bud was hidden, but didn’t have much luck. While we focused only on the other buds on the branch, we failed to notice the intersections, where the hidden bud resided. At the Golden Spring, we took a break to play some more games. Toa challenged us to hit targets with rocks and see who could stack the tallest rock tower.
At the waterfall, Toa told us about the story of seven fairies who descended from heaven to bathe in the mortal realm, one of whom fell in love with a mortal man. However, heaven denied their love and forbade the fairy from staying with the man. The waterfall was created from the tears of the fairy, who wept as she watched their forbidden love wither and fade. They named the falls Love Waterfall after this story to honour the two, and also because Sad Waterfall wouldn’t attract any tourists.
We then travelled back to Sa Pa for a quick museum tour, we reinforced our knowledge of the local people and their ways, and saw pictures of the region during the 1920s. After the museum, we had lunch.
After lunch, we said our farewells to Toa and travelled for 5 hours back to Hanoi. At dinner, we had the most amazing beef noodle soup, mixed with a variety of vegetables and spices. Words cannot describe how delicious this meal was.
We ended our day tired but full, and returned to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s trip to Cat Ba.
