Sapa Goldsea Hotel
Travel Blogs from Lao Cai
Midnight Express from Hell.... or Train to Sapa
Spent yesterday browsing through Hanoi - have fairly well 'done it'. Had organised our overnight train trip up to Lao Cai and then the transfer to Sapa (about an hour from Lao Cai). The tour company had shown us the 'silver bullet train' pictures and we had been given a voucher for the travel. We had the hotel book a taxi (have walked too too much …
Cat Cat Village, Sapa
Decided to visit the closest Hmong village this morning... down the hill from our hotel. The walk is steep downhill. At the checkpoint you pay 15,000VD entrance fee. A track has been made that winds down the valley past rice paddies, vegetable patches and villagers homes. Kids are aplenty along with family pigs, dogs and chickens. There is an …
The heels of the Hmong Women
Had plenty of lightening and thunder last night. Woke to the usual fog that seems to come and go so rapidly here. The hotel isnt the best... internet doesnt work, food is not exciting and the tv only has one channel. The itches are still driving me crazy - Daves came and went quickly. We had hoped to get a bike for the day but the fog here comes in …
Goodbye China - my personal summary
... This time I have seen much more Chinese tourists than I have seen during my first visit of China back in 2006. Unfortunately Chinese tourists seem to come almost always in very large and very loud tourist crowds, often all wearing the same colored (baseball-)caps and sometimes even vests, and preferrably being chased through the sights by a Chinese tour guide equipped with a microphone&speaker and a flag. Believe me, such a noisy group invasion can ruin every great place.
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All I want for Christmas...
... I could strive to achieve and at the same time be motivated by trying to raise funds for just-one after witnessing first-hand only some of their incredible success stories. Things change though and I am now cycling on my own, although I have started my quest to Oz I have decided to dedicate cycling from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam (approx. 1,000 km) starting December 2012 to help raise money ...