After a pleasant sleep on the train we arrived at Lao Cai Station at 6.30am, where we walked across to a cafe, enjoyed a coffee before jumping on a bus to Sa Pa. The bus trip took about one hour. On arrival to the Cat Cat View Hotel, our rooms were available, so we could check in, freshen up and have breakfast before going into the town for a look around.
In town, we were soon joined by a red Dao woman who was happy to chat and follow us everywhere, no sooner did a black H'mong woman join us. Both women put a friendship band on Lorelle's wrist, now she is a targeted woman. Lesson one was learnt very fast, never say you will buy something off them later or tomorrow, as they will hound you until some wares are purchased from them.
After lunch we were collected by Chi, our local H'mong guide. We hiked from our hotel down into the Cat Cat Village. We enjoyed the beautiful sights, waterfalls, the local craftsmanship and the wares for sale. Down at the waterfall the locals put on a local dance performance for us. As we were hiking back up to our transport up to the hotel, the skies opened up and thank god we had poncho's. The roads were that narrow that at one stage the van that picked us up had to reverse up the road, and still couldn't arrive at the hotel, so the last leg was to walk up the hill to our hotel in the rain. Dinner and drinks were enjoyed back at the hotel.

After breakfast the next morning we had time for a quick massage before setting off with our guide at 9am for a spectacular day trekking down into Lao Chai. Before arriving at Lao Chai, we passed beautiful hills of rice fields, a crop of hemp (right on the side of the road) hemp is used for their clothes and stopped at Chi's house where we met her sons and could again purchase more goodies.

We arrived at Lao Chai in time for an amazing Vietnamese lunch, overlooking a river. At lunchtime there were girls as young as three, trying their hardest to sell you their wares, certainly a sight to be seen. Pearl was a target from one young girl, who had the saddest faces..... please miss you buy??? After lunch, we hiked onto Ta Van village, where here we heard pigs being slaughtered, saw c*** fights and young children out helping parents plant the rice. The children were currently on a couple of months holidays, and their time is spent helping with the planting. Once past Ta Van village we hiked for another 15 minutes before being picked up by a bus and transported back to our hotel. The 13 km hike was filled with the most amazing views that we had seen, beautiful people and we were very lucky to has such an informative guide.

Once back at the hotel, we had time to freshen up before getting back on a bus back to Lao Cai. At Lao Cai we had dinner before boarding our train back to Hanoi. 

Our Sapa tour was certainly an amazing tour, fantastic place, people and views. Certainly a must if visiting Vietnam.