Ham Rong Hotel Lao Cai

... with anything but the sound of music. <br><br>I've become a very light sleeper due to the fact that all the mattresses in the entire country of Vietnam were built for people with no spinal cords: they're harder than the granite countertop in my sister's kitchen!<br><br>We're still in Sapa, for a second day of trekking through the breathtaking Tonkinese Alps. The dogs in the village (those not yet made into pot pie) have the responsibility to guard shops ...

... and chilled on top of a waterfall. Because it didn't rain that night, thankfully, the dirt was dry for the most part!!<br> The homestay was cool but a little dissapointing because it was a home that was built for people to stay in. There was a few rooms on the main floor and then in the attic there were 8 mattresses laid out with bug nets. I slept like a baby though! <br> The food they fed us was ...

Lazy rest day in Sapa. Went out for breakfast &amp; to use the internet over the road to Highlands Bakery &amp; left Nath to sleep till 11.30am. Had my favourite baguette &amp; cream cheese for breakfast before waking Nath &amp; checking out at midday.<br><br> <br><br>Wandered around town in light rain for an hour or so. Lots of markets &amp; sellers &amp; steep narrow streets, guesthouse &amp; restaurants. Would have like to do the 3km ...

... Tribe. We crossed rivers on bamboo bridges, passed herds of grazing water buffalo and harvesting rice farmers, skirted pristine rice paddies and marvelled at the fresh, sun-bathed scenery. The poverty was sobering....but the simple life of these hill tribe people was in some ways enviable. Lunch was simple village noodles and then another 2 hours of trekking brought us to the welcome waiting minibus! The next day was a slightly gentler ...

... qui est la juste pour depenser son argent, etc...<br>Je crois que je suis venu juste au bon moment, les hotels poussent comme des champignons mais grace a Mat et Jason, nous avons passe 5 jours fantastiques!<br>Le climat est beaucoup plus agreable qu a Hanoi et l ambiance beaucoup plus sympathique.<br>On a teste le massage vietnamien apres une journee de moto: c est plutot violent mais ils fonctionnent beaucoup par acupression ce qui est tres ...

... rain starts to get heavy and the mud tracks under our feet are lethal, so bad that on the steep bits it's impossible to hold balance and everyone starts sliding and getting covered in mud. After an exhausting hour or so of sliding around the mountainsides we arrive at our homestay! <br><br>The homestay is as described, 'basic accommodation' (a barn really), but the people are very welcoming and give us some tea while we slowly wash and dry off. After ...

... natural Indigo which turns their clothes, and hands and fingernails, a dark blue color. <br><br><br><br> Mud ox grazed on grass as ducks and chickens ran around pecking at dirt surrounding wooden huts and fences. Dogs and pigs wandered without constraint from yard to yard finding whatever they could to eat. Adorable little kids with dirty clothes and faces took care of each other as their parents were either in the fields working or in Sapa selling goods. There was a school in ...

... to draw blood so I was on pins and needles the whole time. After shaving my face he started shaving my ears and my neck. Next he cleaned the wax out of my ears with some strange metal instruments. It was definitely a full service shave!<br><br>I made a fatal mistake with the barber though. I didn't negociate the price in advance and when he was done, I asked him how much I owed him. He told me 200,000 dong which is the equivalent of $11. I tried to talk him down but he ...

... stalls. <br><br> It's true that we have rushed through Viet Nam and haven't given it the proper chance we wanted to. We have done our best to try and get off the beaten track by renting motorcycles to see the more &#8220;real&#8221; side of Viet Nam. This all said, we have had the most negative experiences from the locals than any other country combined! These negative experiences all seem to be associated with exchange of money and during the ...

... the biginning is quiet easy. we are all eager to conquor.<br><br>Lunch was good, much better than I had expected. We had baguettes, tomato, cucumber and cheese followed by pear. I had read someone else's blog about their trip up Fansipan and they had eaten rice, noodles and an increasingly rancid piece of pork for 4 days.<br><br>After lunch we actually had to loose hight to get to the camp 2 where we were going to sleep. There was ...