Hanoi Hotel Lao Cai

... stalls and as such, they bark whenever they hear an unfamiliar sound, which is very often. When one barks, others follow suit and this happens throughout the entire night. Just like it did when we trekked on the Lares Trail to Machu Picchu and camped outside. It was sheer hell to get to sleep. <br><br>The Catholic Church, in its infinite wisdom, decided that at 4:45 AM, all the lazy ass bums had to awaken so it tolled its bells precisely 49 times (4 long and ...

... For supper we had a feast of rice and different things to choose from to go with it such as: Tofu in tomatoe sauce, boiled chinese lettuce, carrots, onions, chicken and other different vegetables I'm not really sure what they were called... just knew it was good! <br> We arrived back in Sapa around 2pm and plan to catch the night train back to Hanoi tonight then head to Halong bay on Monday. <br><br>

... to Cat Cat today but not in the rain. Actually my legs particularly my hips &amp; shins are still sore from the trek yesterday &amp; going up &amp; down the hills.<br><br> <br> <br><br>Sat in Highlands Bakery for the rest of the day &#8211; time passes so past!!! Talked to some Aussies &amp; English who had just come from China &amp; they shared their horror toilet &amp; bus trip stories!!Caught 5pm mini bus from our hotel to Lao Cai ...

... to Cat Cat village with beautiful waterfalls and fabulous rock pool river scenery, followed by a massage and another night on the train to Hanoi.<br>Arriving in the dim dawn light at 4.30, we stumbled around the station environs to try and find the next cafe meeting place for our onward travel to Ha Long. 5 hours later, having found the place (closed of course) and partaken of a roadside coffee, our tour guide turned up in a taxi to take ...

... De plus ils utilisent un baume du tigre blanc, une pommade tres efficace dont j ai deja fait acquisition :-)<br>Un autre jour nous sommes partis a la decouverte de la tribu des Zao, une autre ethnie presente dans cette partie du Vietnam. Nous avons fait la connaissance de Mai, une jeune fille de 18 ans qui nous a servi de guide pour un apres-midi et nous a montre son village. Le contact avec les gens me touchent beaucoup, tout parait tellement ...

... while we're joined by some other travelers and, after a masterclass in spring roll making, supper is served. Supper consists of plenty of different dishes and plenty of rice wine that we drink at random times during the meal, a shot straight down every time. Around the table we start drinking to the Polish, Hmong, Vietnamese, Dutch, French, Karen and many other translations of "cheers' - including of course, Iechyd Da! After a few card games and a fair ...

... Cat Cat and the first village that I came to that was having a graduation ceremony. About 60 little guys and their parents sat in front of the school as a speaker gave them kudos for completing another year of school. As I neared the third village I saw a sign near a modern looking building with some English on it. It explained that the village produced mostly rice and was inhabited by Black Hmong people that practice subsistence farming. I was getting my read on when I noticed ...

... that I had no leverage since the service had already been rendered. Finally, I just caved and paid him the money. I'm certain I would've paid less than $3 if I had just negociated the price before the shave... oh well.<br><br>On the subject of Vietnamese dong, the exchange rate is incredibly high ($1 = 18,000 dong). When I first came to Saigon, I went to an ATM and pulled out 4,000,000 dong. Although, I only really took out $222, I was technically a multimilltionare. The ...

... process but even just asking for help with directions or trying to speak the language is met with an ugly face and NO!<br><br> There have been many times when people would laugh at us as we try to pronounce the words in the book. I distinctly remember a group of girls visibly making fun of us and laughing at us as we walked behind them on the street. Since this happened towards the end of our stay in Viet Nam I was beyond frustrated with this treatment ...

... big river to cross but this time there was a bridge so we got across with dry feet. Camp 2 was just on the other side and consisted of a couple of wooden buildings.<br><br>After getting cleaned up and changing into dry clothes we were served up a massive banquet of really tasty food. We had stir fried chicken and mushroom, beef and onion, tofu, potatoes, cabbage, rice and more. There was twice as much as we needed.<br><br>After ...