Baguette & Chocolat Sapa

... we walked to another village with lunch cooked by my guide and then finally arrived at BAt Po for another homestay. Luckily at this village there were hot springs to relax in. Following day was spent trekking back to a road where we picked up and taken back to Sapa and then on to another overnight train. A tiring but wonderful trip.

... Chi to look around. This city is where the train leaves from. We got out of the bus and Kait and I went for a walk around the city. It was nice to walk around in a dark city, but yet feel safe and not a lone. We walked passed many shops and saw how dusty the city was; headed back to dinner and got some amazing spring rolls, hmmm. We also found out by talking to the lady that we can take a bus from Hanoi to Loa Chi for only ...

... than 20 metres! We finally reached the top, and then it was time to walk all the way back down again. This seemed to go on forever, but finally at 1pm we made it to our minibus. This drove us back to Sapa where we could get a much needed shower! We then had a bit of a wait until we could get the minibus back down to the train station for our Sleepertrain back to Hanoi.<br><br>The journey back was largely uneventful and we arrived in Hanoi at 5am. This meant I had 4 ...

... a blackboard, a small mirror. <br>We ventured a bit further than other tourists and sat in the<br>classroom at the back. The children were cute especially when class<br>started and they sang a national song. For a couple of minutes there<br>was no noise &#8211; the teacher didn't say anything as she stood with<br>her back to the class writing math problems on the board &#8211; the<br>children (in amazing penmanship) copied and answered the problems in<br>their ...

... backs working in the fields. All the while you are walking to the sound of rushing streams heading down to the big river in the valley. The downhill did finish at the river, over a bridge &amp; then of course uphhill!! Left us quite breathless &amp; had lots of rest stops! <br><br><br><br> <br><br>On past small villages &amp; schools till our lunch rest stop ...

... bed!<br>Next day treking was a little more difficult.Again around 15km through towering bamboos and jungle greenery. The rice paddys were more visible today as there was no rain and no cloud. we hiked up to a waterfall and got some brilliant shots at teh top! Mark even had a little wash(about time!!) We headed across a rickety bridge before heading for lunch. More treking then, towards the hotel in the village. As you can imagine, nothing was going to ...

... pour discuter. Des mots d'amglais etonnaments comprehensibles. Qui nous propose de la rejoindre le lendemain dans son village pour partir a la decouverte des rizieres. On y va avec quelques aprehension. Ne sachant quelle arnaque nousattend au detour des rizieres. Une embardee en taxi moto plus tard, nous voila acceuillis par 5 fabuleuses coiffes rouges de Dzaos rouges. Coiffes a breloques. Tunique brodee sur l'arriere et aux manches. Et pantalon indigo fonce brode. Chacune porte ...

... bikes back in disgust. <br><br><br>In the glorious sunshine we roamed around the local area, through small tribal villages and up through winding mountain side roads, seeing caves and waterfalls along the way. <br><br><br>Sapa is a hotbed of hiking, with plenty of willing locals to take you from tribal village to tribal village via mountain-top, waterfall and lake. In an effort to steer clear of the well-trodden tourist trail we picked ...

... took care of the bill, which wasn&#8217;t cheap, and refused to let me help him with it. <br><br><br><br> I stumbled out of the restaurant with the group and we made plans to meet up at the hotel at 3, it was about 2 at that time. Heavy rain drops began to fall on my shoulders as I slowly made my way back to the guesthouse. Upon arriving there I found an empty room and realized that Luke had been caught out in the rain. I was drowsy and fell asleep quickly on the hard mattress. My ...

... Beer oclock was on again before dinner (not sure if that is normal or specially put on for Aussies). We shared a delicious meal and plenty of rice wine followed by in-house karaoke. Luke did a good rendition of Tainted Love and I led the group in a good dose of hokey pokey with all the actions. We were a hit. <br><br>A lovely traditional Vietnamese night.<br><br>The next morning we walked up to the Dao Village which seemed to be well off the tourist ...