Alpenblick Sapa

... chris we can only figure was suffering from altitute sickness as he is fine now, we hit bed on bamboo beds in 5 degree heat, so wasn't the greatest night sleep as neither of us had packed for cold weather. Got up early on day 2 to make the summit attempt made it by 9 in the morning for a celebratory beer and to appeciate the stunning views which was just 360 degrees of mountain views and as it was early in the morning the mist hadn't ...

... Ryan's place and pack up. Mel, Kait and I were all on the same plane home so we left to catch the bus to the airport which never came, so we took a taxi which took less time. We were able to catch our plane on time and made it home safe. It was a great adventure, one that I am excited to tell, but I can't wait for the next one!! YEs!!<br>[thanks for reading, please feel free to write me! I would love to hear from ya!}<br><br> <br>

... out her cell phone (decorated with<br>the tribes' pattern cloth). As we hike to our final village we see<br>more men &#8211; and none of them are wearing traditional dress. We ask<br>Chinh about this and she says the men don't wear it except for<br>special occasions: ceremonies etc. Some women she said don't wear it<br>but a lot of the women wear it for respect reasons &#8211; the older men<br>and women wear it and expect their family members to wear it. When<br ...

... br>We arrived at our homestay in the villlage of Ta Van around 2.30pm &amp; wandered through the village down to the river where we dipped our feet in the freezing water.<br><br> <br> <br> <br>Met the others staying there for the night with their guides &amp; had a great evening chatting over dinner. <br>There was Darren &amp; Shona from Canada - surprise ...

... in the heat. sapa, and the surrounding mountainsides are an unbelievable looking collection of terraced paddy fields cut into the hills in such a way that they must actually look like the contour lines on a map if viewed from above. the scenery is breathtaking, and the mass of stepped fields are almost hypnotic to look at. it is difficult to believe that they were man made in a effort to create farmable land on steep hill sides. we ...

... Cat Cat´ village. It was a 5-10km trek through the paddy fields, over streams and past waterfalls. The locals (all in traditional dress of black with colourful embroidery) are all friendly and keen to show you round (albeit for a small cost..). Entertained some of the kids with the standard digital camera / toy game. Managed to find the same group ...

... really of us on the trek, Mei, me and a polish lady who lived in Barcelona named Anya. Our guide named "Lin", was born in one of the minority villages in the mountains, each tribe also has their own language but most of the younger generations speak Vietnamese too. We walked down the valley and were surrounded by rice fields in steps up the mountains, it was really beautiful. We had lunch by a river and were surrounded by women and children from ...

... had been appropriated by the table of men next to us and was having to drink shots with them all. Raj and Ritchie (slightly less exotic) soon had to follow. Jie was asked to take the pictures. <br><br><br>We stopped in Hanoi briefly again, just time for Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and a particularly drunken night out that started at lunchtime and was all over by about 9pm before we bade goodbye to Carolyn who had to fly back home. We made ...

... able to be sold. We went back to the hut that the first pig was purchased at and tried again. They got through, but were only able to acquire one pig. We tied him up and got out of there. The guys got to know Luke a bit while we were walking around. They mostly asked about his size and asked if he played basketball and football. One of them compared his height to Peter Crouch, a ridiculously tall soccer player. <br><br><br><br> We got back to the hotel and agreed to meet two hours ...

... was worse but I arrived at the bus. <br><br>A few minutes later I see Luke coming up the hill arms wrapped around the son like a koala. Please take the time to picture this. The son is a fair bit shorter than Luke so he looked like he was really getting cosy with the guy but the look on his face was saying "can't believe I am hugging another bloke". Another priceless moment. Unfortunately Luke also got a burn on his leg the size of your palm for his troubles ...