Hotel Saomai Sapa

... but they were very heavy. I was told that they could weigh up to 5 kgs. <br><br>I also watched a man making a drum out of skin which I assumed was buffalo. Unlike the women the men were very uncommunicative. On the way back to Sapa I saw some women returning home after a day in the town selling their wares. I assume that when they got home they would have to do the cooking, and the same cycle the next day. Although their life seems to be hard they were always smiling.

... fricken bomb for sure. After that we got some dinner at an outside cafe. I was warm with my new coat, but everyone else was hatin' the cold. <br> It was really cool though, while we were waiting to be seated I started talking with this girl named Ha. She is a Mung, who is 14 and knows 5 different languages. She's so smart too man. I had such an interesting conversation with her about how the majority of the Vietnamese ...

... been. Along the way we were joined by a couple of minority ladies trying to sell us ****. We ignored them but they followed us for about an hour and half, until finally they got the message that we weren't interested and left us be. <br><br>Lunchtime we reached the river and sat down for a "picnic" (Tomato &amp; Cucumber Sarnies and some apples!). After that it was time to start walking again, this time uphill all the way to our homestay. We finally arrived there ...

... and doesn't want to be an old woman with droopy ears) and<br>finally she doesn't like wearing the headdress that the others wear<br>because it's too hot. We like her immediately!<br><br><br><br>On our trek to her<br>village we are accompanied by two older women who do not speak that<br>much English. At first we have no idea why they are following us and<br>making us little animals out of grasses but as we get further into<br>the hike and the path becomes more ...

... for the hour ride in the dark to Sapa. The sun was coming up towards the end &amp; it was beautiful mountain scenery with high mountains &amp; terraceed paddy fields. The air is brisk &amp; cool &amp; jumpers were needed for the first time in weeks.<br><br>We were dropped off in the middle of town &amp; just started walking to try &amp; work out where to ...

... as her dining area. The kitchen consisted of a small fire in the centre of the wall for cooking, a small table and chairs not even knee high which she used to prepare and cook the dinner with. Everything reminded me of rural Ireland back in the day, apart from the tiny furniture. They are so used to squating that they cook squating too!<br>We went for a short walk after ditching our bags, around the village and down to the river. There are schools in the ...

... services. On y croise donc des touristes en recherche d'authenticite dans ce coin recule. Et ceux-ci sont perdus dans la cohue des habitants des villages environnants proposant leur ceuillette sur les etals du marche. Hmonfs noirs, Dzao rouges, Tay et Sapho...<br> Perplexes de les voir tous ici mixes, melanges dnas leurs tenurs traditionnelles, se cotoyant a deguster du 'pho' au co;ptoir d'un des etals du marche. <br> Et perplexes aussi de cette authenticite, simplicite malgre ...

... to come with us. Just as we were leaving town we got a call from the hotel. In typical lame Vietnamese rip-off style they told us that they had given us the wrong price for the motorbikes and it was actually going to be DOUBLE what we had agreed. Pathetic stuff, but in typical Vietnamese capitalist style the guides told us that they would take us for the original price if we went back and pretended to the hotel that we were giving ...

... of jerky, and the back wall was lined with different kinds of homemade whiskey, none of which we ever got into, thank Buddha. 3 Huge glass jars held mammoth sized cobras soaked in whiskey, each about 8 or 9 feet long from what I could tell. The cobra heads were poised to strike with different objects in their mouths, one with a big scorpion the other with an egg or some round object. Not gonna lie, the place had tourist trap all over it, but not once I did I see a Westerner in ...

We really can't do our visit to Bac Ha Market justice without photos so we will just point out the highlights:<br><br>1) 2 hour drive to Bac Ha seeing a car crashed in the side of the mountain<br>2) Went shopping for livestock - cows, buffalo, horses (which look more like ponies)<br>3) Went food shopping - chickens, ducks, pigs, puppies, rice wine, chillies, vegies (yes, I said puppies, apparently they taste like crocodile but more tender)<br>4) Motorbike ...