The night bus to Sapa was just fine. I had a bit less space than I normally had because I packed my small backpack already with the stuff I needed for the homestay and the trekking. We arrived around 06:30 at our hotel and had a breakfast buffet (!). I had a field day on the crepes, toasted buns and baked potatoes with cheese. The view was stunning, with the sun rising from behind the mountains and clouds hanging in the valley. After the breakfast I had a shower and at 09:00 I left with a group to start the trekking.

There were a lot of Aussies in the group with Jamie, Caren, Aly and Luke. Then there was Caroline (GER) and Matthijs (NL). We walked a bit and saw the amazing scenery of the valley with several levels of ricefields (terraces) on the mountains. We went down the hill towards some minority villages but this was one big tourism spot. It was not interesting at all to see, because it felt like as if the traditional way of living was only preserved for the tourism. We also saw a traditional dance performance from the village. We passed by some small waterfalls and rivers and went back towards the hotel again.

The trekking took us 3 hours, way too short in my opinion but we rented some motobikes to ride to a waterfall and 'heavens gate', a viewpoint in the area. It was the first time that I was on a motobike after falling from it, but everything felt just like before I fell. The waterfall and viewpoint were not that interesting, since the HCM trail was quite similar to the scenery but we did pass by some nice terraces along the way. I was very impressed by the scenery in general and needed to resist the urge of stopping too much and taking too many pictures. The afternoon was really cool for getting to know the rest of the people. When we got back, we had dinner and went out to a bar to play some pool and drink some beers.

The next day we had our breakfast buffet and stunning view again. After checking out of the rooms we went hiking through the hills. Some women of the minority villages wandered along, trying to have conversations with you so that at the end you felt obliged to buy something of them. As soon as we walked in the hills the view got better by the second. At one point we crossed the hill top, or maybe even mountain as it had a fair size to it, and then there it was. The very reason to go up to Sapa, to take the nightbus for a bumpy ride without a lot of sleep; the rice terraces.

An entire valley filled up with rice terraces, descending from every bit of mountain that you could see. I am not able to describe the beauty of such a sight, and I can hardly try. People have told me to go up there and that it would be worth it, and I would say the same to any other person who asks me. Two weeks before I got there, it was snowing in Sapa. It was not worth going there in the winter because the rice terraces where brown instead of green, it was cold and windy, so on so forth. Guess it was just my luck to have perfect weather and good company.

After a lunch break we went on with our hike to our homestay. After like another hour we arrived there. We got some tea and it turned out we had WiFi so I was more than happy. After relaxing a bit I put on my running shoes and ran back up the hill for some exercise. It had some steep inclinations, guessing around 15%, and I underestimated it but it was nice to do. The day itself was a 16 kilometer hike but not that demanding for me. When I got back we had some dinner and a shower before we sat around a low table to just talk and sip on ricewine.

The next day we left around 09:00 and had a short walk of 2,5 hours, passing a waterfall and more rice terraces. We had lunch and waited for the bus to bring us back to our hotel. We arrived around 15:00 and the bus to Hanoi would leave around 17:00. We had an early dinner to fill our stomachs at 16:00. My next stop was Laos, and until this moment I didn't really think about how to get there. How do i get into Laos?

Luke and Aly had the same plan and told me that they were flying from Hanoi to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. This would cost them about 180$. So I looked into a flight from Hanoi to Luang Prabang. This is a city in the middle of Laos and from there I wanted to travel to Vang Vieng and Vientiane before taking the train to Bangkok to say goodbye to Philipp who was flying back on the 25h of February. My ticket would have cost me the same, which was way too much. At the reception I asked about options for the bus and they offered me a ticket for 45$. Research on the internet described this bus journey as 'the journey through hell' and I couldn't decide.

Nightbus from Sapa to Hanoi, fly to Luang Prabang; 10 hours by nightbus, spend half a day in Hanoi, fly at 18:50 and arrive around 20:00 = $180

Nightbus from Sapa to Luang Prabang; 8 hours by nightbus, change to regular bus, arrive around 20:00 (24 hour bus ride) = $45

I decided to just grow some balls and save the $135 and just spend the entire day in the bus and arrive around the same time. When I booked the bus ticket, I just sat in the lobby until I was picked up. With enough water and some snacks I got on and prepared for a long day.