Royal View Hotel Sapa

... were comfortable enough in compartments of 4 people. It stopped several times and got to Lao Cai by about 6 am where I was met by someone from the hotel. The drive was up to about 1500m and through mountainous countryside where the people had used most of the landto grow rice in terraces but unfortunately because of the cloud we saw little.It was also much colder.<br><br>We were given breakfast and went on a hike to some of the villages. Here the majority ...

... treat her and her people. She was sayin that they don't get treated very well at all. That they are oppressed and that they are not given much. Their schools suffer and so do their people and way of life. I was saddened to hear that, but felt like she would be a leader maybe of a revolution for the Mung people. It was a great conversation and I actually ran into her again after dinner. Ryan, Mel and I sat down with her ...

... 4.30pm and I was exhausted, so had a little nap! I managed to get up in time to see the sunset, and that was the signal that dinner was being served. We were joined for dinner by our guide (who cooked it all) and the head of the village and his eldest son. They told us we were the first tourists to visit his family in over 6 months, as it is one of the harder treks so not many people like to do it. We then tucked into the grub, which was delicious (especially the beef ...

... rocky, and slippery &#8211; it<br>becomes more obvious &#8211; they are here to assist us and to ensure we<br>don't break a leg. It's hilarious &#8211; we're wearing Gore Tex shoes<br>with good traction &#8211; they are wearing plastic sandals but they move<br>over the rocks like ballerinas while we look like we're about to<br>topple over at times. Luckily, we have excellent weather and it's a<br>pleasant hike (although we are huffing and puffing sometimes, too ...

... a room to have a nap in.<br><br> <br><br>Our guides name is Sho &amp; she is from the Black Hmong Hilltribe minority group. She is 23 years old &amp; never been to school but been a guide for 7 years, speaks fluent English but can't read or write in Vietnamese or English.. She &amp; all the other hilltribe people in town were dressed in their traditional ...

... outils un peu plus elabores?<br> <br> Une partie de la reponse reside peut-etre dans les rencontres que l'on fait au gre de nos decouvertes des villages environnants.<br> On s'attend a etre harponnes par des villageois en quete de la mane d'argent et de la tirelire ambulante que les longs nez que nous sommes peuvent representer. On s'etonne de la spontaneite, de la fraicheur, de la candeur que l'on y rencontre! Meme une certaine indifference par moments.<br> Nombreux sont ceux ...

... that really made for a nice taste. The beers began with the appetizer, the beer of choice was Beer Ha Noi. The guys had been engaging in small scale competitions with me since I met them, and the machismo didn&#8217;t stop with drinking. Lua Son Pho challenged me to an arm wrestle, I bashfully accepted, but not having the place to do it, we opted for a beer for beer drinking contest. This guy ran through the beer. The next hour is still a bit of blur but here is what I remember ...

... us about how her 15 year old daughter had been tricked into going in to town with the promise of nice clothes and instead was smuggled into China and has still not been heard from 3 months later.<br>8) Looked over the Chinese Border and saw trailer loads of stuff being pushed by hand out of China to sell at the 'authentic' local Vietnamese markets<br><br>So there you have it. That is the end of our travels in Vietnam. Next update will be from Delhi India.