Sumptuous Sapa!!!

That evening we got a night train up to the North of Vietnam to a little place called Sapa. We had done lots of overnight buses but hadn't been on a train yet so it was very exciting. Apart from the ridiculously rude and unhelpful people at Hanoi train station, once we found our carriage it was lovely - all wooden and we shared a little cabin with a Vietnamese mum, dad and little baby which was cool. I slept really well on the train and only woke up once, at least I think i was awake...! Everyone else in the carriage was sleeping and I looked out the window to see the most beautiful view I have ever seen. I realise you all probably think I was just dreaming but I really don't think I was and wish so much I had taken a photograph. I could see we were passing by a lake, and there was a huge full moon reflecting in the water and everyone was kind of hazy and blue. Honestly it was the most amazing thing i have ever seen.

Anyway. The train didn't go straight to Sapa because it is too high (about 1600 meters up) so we got off at Lao Cai (not a nice place!) and got a minibus up to Sapa. We checked into our hotel - 'Mountain view'', which is exactly what it says on the tin, and very nice too apart from the smell of damp. We met possibly my favourite Vietnamese person there; a guy who worked at the hotel who sounded just like d*** Van Dyke off of Mary Poppins. He had the most hilarious cockney london lovely jubbly accent - very strange in Vietnam and especially in Sapa which is full of ethnic minority peoples. Sapa is really lovely - its a nice quiet mountain town, apart from the constant chatter of 'buy from me buy from me...ok...maybe buy from me later?' of the hill tribe women, mainly from the Hmong tribe. They don't pester you at all though and are really really sweet so its not a problem. And they sell some beautiful handicraft which I honestly would have bought it I hadn't heard about how the colour bleeds and then seen the completely stained hands of those sellers!

After checking in to the hotel we went for a little mini-trek (I call it that to make myself sound good - I hate walking and it was knackering!) to Cat Cat Village - no cats but lots of dogs. That was...nice. We saw some nice views anyway....even if we did nearly die from falling down cliffs and dodgy old bridges. Trek over it was time for dinner which was a very Vietnamese affair - sat on plastic chairs eating noodle soup and drinking apple wine which actually I think was whisky. The next day was my 100th day away! Unbelievably. And what a day it was! We did absolutely nothing except sit in the hot sunshine at a bar drinking beer looking over the beautiful mountains. And in the evening we went for steak and had lots of red wine! Perfect!

The following day we had to leave Sapa to get an overnight train back to Hanoi. We got to Lao Cai about 3 hours early so I decided to have a quick massage while we waited. I found a little place and asked the guy how much for a foot massage. He said it was 20,000 Dong (about 60p) for half an hour, which is a little pricey but reasonable enough. I made him repeat this number by the way...! Half an hour later my poor overworked calf muscles were feeling a lot better so I went to pay (giving a bloody tip!) and he got all funny and said it was $20. Which is RIDICULOUS!!! I refused to pay and he got all aggressive and was demanding the money and said he would call the police. I stood my ground but got a bit scared after he wouldn't let me go so paid him some more and left. So angry!!!! Everyone in Lao Cai that we met were like that - trying to overcharge you obscenely and then being really rude when you wouldn't pay. And then, just to top it all off, we got on the train and these 5 horrible men were shouting at Jen because she was in the wrong carriage. Really shouting and standing in her way so she couldn't get out! Anyway, she escaped and our faith in the Vietnamese was restored a little as we shared a cabin with a woman and a really sweet old guy. I offered him one of my banana's which obviously means something different in Vietnam as at this he started talking to me...a lot. Obviously I had no idea what he was saying, and he knew no English, so I got out the trusty Book and started saying words to him in Vietnamese. Much to his amusement!! Although I suppose you would think it funny too if a foreigner started randomly saying 'banana' 'soup' 'where is the police station you theiving bas***d'. He was lovely and we had a good laugh together, over what I'm not sure. Then Jen and I thought we might watch a bit of Sex and The City on her laptop. So we popped it in, got all comfortable, and then realised our new friend was watching it with us too. There was not a chance in hell we were about to watch Sex and The City with an old Vietnamese guy so we quickly changed DVD's to a film...where upon the first scene displayed some rather raunchy...well you get the picture. Thankfully, thinking us some perves, he lost interest and went to sleep and we happily went back to Carrie and the girls.

Really loved Sapa a lot!!

Hope all is well, lots of love

Ella

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