We made our way to Luang Prabang's airport at 2:30pm, we found a local place about 10min walk from the airport where we had the greatest lunch. Our flight took off at 5:10pm.

The taxi ride from Hanoi airport revealed just how crazy this place is. Cars and scooters weaving interchangeably between lanes with more hooting I've heard in my and many other peoples lifetimes combined I'm sure.

Hanoi means in the middle of the river. There used to be a large river around the city but now boasts with a lovely lake that houses yet another temple. Shopping is easy to do in Hanoi with still a strong bargaining trend as per the rest of Asia. Great markets and the best food I've had in Asia. History is also big in Hanoi with the Prison that they used during the Vietnam war and Ho Cha Mien's museum.

We arrived in Hanoi at 6:10pm, shared a taxi with 2 other girls we met and went straight to the central bakpackers. We had dinner at the lake and exhausted, went to bed.

It was a new day so Paulette and I explored Hanoi. It was so scary crossing a road with all those motorcycles - I have never seen so many motos in my life before!! We found a travel agency and decided to buy a tour up north to Sapa for her remaining days.

We had local juices and did some shopping. As this was the home of North face it only seemed appropriate to bbuy a North Face backpack.

After all the walking a foot massage sounded about right, we went for one at the Spa next to our central backpackers. That was by far the best foot massage I have had, in fact the foot massage turned into a full body massage with focus on the feet.

The taxi picked us up at 6:45pm to take us to the bus station for my first night bus experience. We got onto the bus and had seats that were reclined, the back of the person in-front of one was just high enough to have one's feet under, interesting concept. We had two lady monks in front of us who could not speak a word of English, we managed to communicate somehow and eventually did language exchange, English words for Vietnamese word, was entertaining at least.

Had a limited sleep. We changed busses in Ca Cai at 5am and got another bus to Sappa at 6am, arrived at Sappa at 7am.