After the melting humidity of Hanoi we decided that there was nothing for it but to head for the hills. Nestled in the luscious hills on the border with China, Sa Pa is a peaceful former hill station with some spectacular scenery that is frequently shrouded in mist. We took the overnight train arriving at Lao Cai at 5am in the morning (who the hell does the scheduling for these trains!). Lao Cao is the last Vietnamese town before you reach China and was totaslly destroyed in the war short with China in 1979. Just a short journey away through the rolling hills was the quiet town of Sa Pa. Until very recently this has been a difficult location to reach with such things as WWII, the guerilla war against the French, the Vietnam war and the border war with China. Well, we certainly got what we asked for as at 5000 feet above sea level the temperature was considerably cooler than Hanoi. No sooner had we stepped off the train than a steady drizzle descended from the hills to give a freshness to the air that we can't remember experiencing in the last 6 months. At least now we were damp from rain rather than perspiration! There are a large number of ethnic groups in this region, all of whom still wear their traditional costumes and live a largely traditional ifestyle in the surrounding hills. These small communities are still plagued by poor education and poverty, although we were soon to learn that they are open to strong arm tactics when plying their wares with foreigners. They also have very traditional religious beliefs, with Buddhism, Taoism and Confusianism (or should that be Confused) the main tennets of their lives. We also learnt that many of the tribes also believe in the power of the Genie, which is a new one on us - anybody got a spare lamp!. Their traditional handicrafts are in silver and dyed wool wear which they are keen to sell to supplement their limited income from agriculture. The older women in the tribes were particularly persistent in plying their trades, sometimes even trying to nudge you into a place where no-one else could get near you as competition. The younger girls were much more shy and would stare at us in amazement as we sat in a cafe drinking a cup of tea, then would laugh hysterically if we waved or smiled at them. Our hotel was perched on the side of the nountain and we enjoyed fabulous views from our balcony where we would just sit and admire the view or read in the cool mountain air. On one of the days, we decided to take a trek into the valley to the local village of Cat Cat to meet a few of the H'mong tribe in their own setting. A sudden downpour found us loitering in a makeshift shelter on the side of the hill for a while. Once we had been spotted there was no escaping a few of the young children (read urchins) that came over to say hello. We took a few photos and some video of them and played it back to them which they found absolutley hysterical. Chris took great pleasure in telling them that the Genies in the camera had captured their souls and they would be improsioned in our genie lamp - thankfully they did not understand! The areas around the village offer a stunning vista of misty mountains and the stepped paddy fields growing rice. We had fun playing with the water buffalo who were pretty friendly and were thankful for some bamboo we offered them. At the bottom of the mountain, we were able to watch the locals girls washing their hair in the river which also contained some picturesque small waterfalls. Carol persuaded some of the girls to have their photo taken with her, but the came up to her shoulders and thought she was rather strange being so tall. Whilst our trip to Sa Pa was short it was a pleasant relief from the chaos and heat of Hanoi. Now we are off for some different scenery altogether - the limestone karsts of Halong Bay in the South China Sea.