So we had booked a four night three day trekking trip to Sapa which is the opposite way we had planned but part of the trip was staying with a local tribe so we decided it sounded like fun

Night One - We got picked up from our hotel around nine o clock and taken to the train station we were booked on an 10 hour overnight sleeper train to take us to Sapa , we checked into our four berth cabin which we shared with two local vietnamise and tried to settle to a good nights sleep as when we arrived the nextmorning the trek would begin.Did not sleep as well as on the China sleepers the ones here in Vietnam are a lot older and you feel every movement but it was still fine.

Day One - Arrived at Sapa early the next morning and got met by a guy from the hotel where we would spend the first night, the bus journey which took us to the hotel was amazing we went up for about 35km into the mountains really beautiful (if a little scary as they love to overtake on bends and when there is a sheer drop the otherside it's a little scary!) we evenutually arrived in Sapa which was a little mad as we saw loads of women obviously part of a tribe and they started chasing the van we were in shouting to us hey where you from they were all dressed the same and it was a little overwhelming.We got off the bus and taken to the hotel the women and children were all still chasing us not threating but there was that many of them it was weird they did not come into the hotel but stood outside shouting after us, they all wanted us to buy from them.We checked in and were told that the first trek would start at9.30am so we just had enough time to dump our bags and have breakfast down in the restaurant.The room was amazing panoramic views around the whole os Sapa as we were so high up it was breathtaking, we ate breakfast and went to recpetion to meet our guide to begin the half day tour, it turns out that our tour guide was one of the members of the tribe that had been chasing us the tribe was called the Humoung tribe and they lived in the village where we would be spending the night the following day!!Her name was Pan and she spoke great English we left the hotel still being followed by all of the tribe some of the childrenfollowing us were only about eight or nine years old they all asked the same questions where you from? How old are you ? etc etc We met up with another two that would be coming along with us for the half day they were from Singapore. We had a three kilometer trek (into a village called the Cat Cat village and the women and children followed us all the way until we came to a part where they were not allowed to access and we said goodbye.Pan told us not to buy anything from them and if we wanted to give any money to the tribe to buy from the local market where they made all of the clothes that the tribe wore.The Cat Cat village was an old village with lots of amazing things like a weaving machine that they made all of there clothes from (from plants that grow wild) we saw a house that nine people lived in it was unreal and made us a bit uneasy about what we would be staying in the next night!!!!We then made our way to a huge waterfall that was beautiful we stayed there for a while then headed back to the village the trek was all uphill back it was so hot it was quite hard work the Singapore lady caught a motorbike back as she was exhausted we stopped on the way at a small hut where you could sit and have a drink overlooking the mountains and rice fields the Singapore guy had a chinese tea we had a beer!!!Pan had nothing to do in the afternoon so we hired some motorbikes I went on the back with Pan and Joe had one on his own we drove for miles it was amazing up to places we would not have gone if the girl from the tribe had not taken us thouugh I did look a bit strange a tribe member with her helmet on and me we looked a bit odd, we stopped for loads of photos the roads are strange you see things like young girls hearding buffalos and ladies of anothertribe carrying huge wicker baskets on their backs (the tribe ladies all have huge dresses on totally covered up they must have been boiling as it was nearly 40 degrees) one of the tribe members jumped on the back of Joes motorbike and said Sapa so he ended up taking her all the way to Sapa on the back of his bike!! Very funny.

Day 2 - After breakfast we met the Pan the tour guide and the two singapore people and two french/canadian girls, we had a 15 kilometer hike to do 12 kilometeres to the homestay the weather was gorgeous so off we set the Humong tribe all following us we looked quite funny marching down the mountain! We had plenty of stops along the way again beautiful scenery it's a really stunning place the weather was scorching the tribe all carry unbrellas as they don't like the sun. Westopped and had lunch made for us and we then arrive in the village that wewould be staying for the night, it's mad how some people live not at all like Stoke-on-Trent we were in the middle of nowhere beautiful but very remote. We arrived at the house we would be staying at and it is a traditional house but has lots of beds in there to equip them for homestays. Aswe were first there I think me and Joe got the best pick really, we met the family we would be stayingwith then the children took us to a natural river and waterfull where we went swimming in themiddle of the mountainsit was beautiful. We arrived back to meet the rest of the people that would be staying with us I think the house was equipped to sleep about 20. There was a real mix of people some australians, canadians and french! Wehad a huge meal prepered for us Joe helped as you can see from the photos the family were amazing you cannot believe how they live its so different. After dinnerout came the rice wine which is superstrong and we all cleared up and they taught us dancing with the wooden sticks and different types of dancing it was fun, after more rice wine we went for a walk up to the mountain to look at the stars I have never seen anything like it the whole sky was full of stars it was unreal we headed back and on the way called at a local house who had just picked some sweetcorn for the garden he cooked it for us and then we headed back. Had a fantastic day and met some great people. (did you see the size of the beetle that was in the bathroom oh my god it was huge).

Day three - After loads of homemade pancakes we said goodbye to the family and set of for the final part of the trip think it was definatley the hottest day unless it was all the rice wine and beer we had drank the night before!! It was all uphill and on the way we met some local families I gave them some little gifts from my bag (only a fan and a brush)they loved them it really was quite sweet the people do not have much at all the most any of them earn is 40p a day!! We arrive at another huge waterfull and springs to cool down in very much needed then we headed up to the last hill apsolutely exhausted where the bus met us to take us back to Sapa.

We showered and had dinner then headed to the train station to get the overnight sleeper to take usback to Hanoi.

Sapa was totally amazing we loved every single minute of it was hard at times but one of the best trips we had ever been on!!!

Slept like a log on the sleeper train arrived in Hanoi, they forgot to pick us up so we got a taxi to the hotel where our bags were had some breakfast then headed to the airport to get our flight down the cost to Hoi An.

Sorry this blog is sooo long, hi to all at home hope you are all well. xxxx