Keep on trekkin' Sapa

Started off the weekend by going to a water park..didn't know Hanoi had those! Then I had Nam take me on motorbike in the rain to the bus station for sapa. The sleeping bus was interesting to say the least. They either played Vietnamese opera music or western ecstasy rave music. Thankfully I got the single bed on the way there....(foreshadow!!) The bus picked up people on the way there and made a stop in Lao Cai then finally Sapa!

When we finally arrived in the town around 8 in the morning I was so confused because I was supposed to have a you're guide but I didn't see anyone and the local village people kept trying to talk me. Insult there were two exchange students grin Thailand studying in Vietnam and they were confused too. I called the travel agent and he said the the guide is coming soon. After getting picked up and to the hotel, I got my itinerary for my 2 day trek and homestay in the village. I had a nice hotel breakfast and then stayed my trek with 8 other people. The group consisted of mostly Australians and a German.

Sapa is so peaceful and beautiful, and pictures don't do it justice. Looking through my pictures, it all looks the same. Pictures of Sapa don't capture the magnitude is the mountains and the villages and the rice fields.

Our trek was guided by local h'mong people. It's funny cause the tourists have a small backpack and athletic shoes on while the guides are wearing sandals, carrying an umbrella and a child on their backs. And they are still are to move through the trees and rocks faster than us.

Ohmigoodness we walked so much. So. Much. kilometers. Since we started so early we got to the village of our homestay early like around 2. There were only 4 of us staying and the others went back to the hotel. We explored around the village and saw one bar and I tried the lao cai beer and it tastes sweeter than bia ha noi.. Throughout the day we were greeted by a lot of the women and children selling things, mostly the same things like bags and bracelets. They all have the same script: hello what's your name...where you from...would you like to buy something from me? It got kind of annoying.

At night with just the 4 of us and night life seems nonexistent in the village we played cards then other tourists joined us for a bit then looked for a bar..or the bar. They came back when it closed at 10 and were warned about the local gang who are probably just since restless teenagers. Going to bed was kinda scary even with the mosquito net. Soooo many bugs! And even though I was sweating my face off I still kept my blanket around me to ward off the bugs. And I could hear their wings flapping against the walls which was creepy

The next morning we woke to the roosters and had pancakes for breakfast! Pancakes here are actually just crepes yum! After was more hiking, but it was so hot and we were actually in the mountains as opposed to the first day where we stuck by the main road. I lost my hair band the night before so I had to improvise and use a pencil to keep my hair up. So oriental.

On our trek the second day we saw a beautiful waterfall, then continued on and had lunch and the bus took us back to the hotel where I had a much needed shower. After dinner they took me and one of the Australians to the bus station. Our seats were in the way back which meant we had to share with 3 other people. I felt bad for the guy since he was so tall and those seats are not made for white folk. The ride was uncomfortable since we had to share the space even though we asked for different seats but the bus was packed unfortunately. And I didn't want to stow away my bag so I had to keep it by me so I had even less space. Thankfully we got to Hanoi in record time in like 9 hours even though it kept making stops and I had no idea where I was. Along with the Australian, we got off at the first place that looked familiar and we parted ways-I took a taxi back to linh nam at 5 in the morning.

I'm a little bit tired but I want to make the most of my time in Hanoi since I'll be starting my tour down to Saigon Wednesday!