On our last day in Hanoi we walked to the old Prison and looked at the conditions back in the early years, many prisoners sleeping in a row with leg irons on. Some American pilots were also kept here during the Vietnam War. We also walked to the Opera House but weren't able to go inside. The day was extremely hot and humid and we were give a room at our hotel until we were able to leave for the train. We were also treated to dinner cooked by the hotel - a traditional Vietnamese meal of spring rolls, chicken, cabbage and tomato with rice.
Our train left Hanoi at 8.30pm and the photos of the sleeper carriage look more luxurious than it was. I can't say that we'd had much sleep by the time we arrived at Lo Cai at 5am. From there it was a 32km drive to Sapa.
After breakfast and a freshen up in our hotel, which is up a large flight of stairs, we headed off on a 6km trek down the mountain with a H'mong guide. We walked through rice paddies on hillsides, saw buffalo grazing, stopped at a waterfall and watched a music and dance performance before having lunch and being driven (back up the hill) to Sapa. Given the early start to the day we spent the afternoon catching up on some sleep.

Our second day saw rain falling in the morning which thankfully stopped before we headed out on our 10km trek, again downhill and through beautiful scenery with H'mong ladies walking with us as we were travelling to their village for lunch. The walking got harder as the morning went on and our lunch stop was enjoyed by all, except for the ladies from the H'mong tribe and the next tribe - red H'mong I think, hassling us to buy their goods.

After lunch we still had a few kilometres to walk, the farming land seemed better here and we were in the valley floor. There were many more houses in the villages and many more livestock. We saw men preparing a pig in the river and many buffalo, pigs, ducks and chickens. The path we walked on was quite good as this area has been developed for home stays. All the local villages still dress in their traditional dress which is lovely to see.

We got back to our hotel at about 2.30pm and were collected at about 4pm for the hour ride down the mountains to Lao Cai for the overnight train trip back to Hanoi.