Sapa Goldsea Hotel Lao Cai

... who, in turn got stuck with Pierre's snoring... he he he... They were quiet and discreet and in no time at all, everyone was snoozing away lazily.<br><br>After checking into our hotel early this morning, we met our guide and 7 other travellers for an easy walk to Cat Cat, a Hmong village. These are ethnic hill tribes who live in the mountains around Sapa and they have their own language, culture, ways of life. They're friendly and kind and are very used ...

... to 2 sticks to protect her family from weather. She said that<br>sometimes she would see this Australian named Peter and he kept<br>asking her &#8211; &#8220;Siu when can I visit you and your family?&#8221; And<br>she would keep saying no because she was embarrassed by the way that<br>she and her family lived. Finally, he did see her house and later<br>helped build the family a better a home. She said she will never<br>forget Peter and that because of tourists ...

... brilliant!<br><br>I discovered, sadly that my waterproof jacket is not quite as waterproof as I thought, and by lunchtime I was soaked through. Had a yummy lunch, then walked a bit further through the villages, and at the end were collected by motorbikes to take us back to Sapa.<br><br>The other girl went pale at this idea, and was terrified, clinging onto her driver, and making him stop at dangerous points so she could walk. Admittedly ...

... at the walkway, dammit. It was a tour group, and they clogged the walkway for the first thirty yards, I made short work of dodging umbrellas and group photos and slipped right through. Hmong villagers were set up on the sides of the sidewalk on the way down to the bottom hawking anything from hand carved jewelry boxes to clothes. Some of it was pretty impressive work, but I have no need for it. Passed a few families with some cases of the naked baby. Saw a dog nip at a young boy ...

... chuck stones at girls!! he then threatened to hit me with his helmet before swearing and going off. (obviously this dude was way smaller than me!! I am not that mad!!) Anyway eventually made way back to hostel and end up with hot french girl in my dorm and to not go in to too much detail the danish girl checked out to an all girls dorm the following morning, dont think she enjoyed us all having extra company at night!! <br><br>Anyway ...

... on yet another sleepless bus (we basically got zero sleep during our 18 days in Viet Nam) ride over. Since the girls already had a friend waiting for them at the Pinocchio guest house we got a room at the same place to make things easier. The view from the balconies was just incredible with looming green mountainsides and huge paddy fields below- amazing. <br><br> We were followed all the way from the bus to our guest house the entire 15 minute walk or ...

... slapping from me. <br><br>High in the mountains, Sa Pa is a wonderful change of scenery in Vietnam. Although somewhat similar to Da Lat, the surrounding countryside is much more remarkable. Where Da Lat showed a hint of terraced rice fields Sa Pa reveals splendid agricultural valleys that have grown over generations. Rather than paying $10USD each for the typical guided 1-day trek Garret and I simply took off for the ~16km walk ...