A planned rest day at last. Absolutely nothing on the agenda till the 5.30 pickup for the mountain road descent and the all aboard call for the Chapa Express.

Loraine has carried her sketch book and pencils with her on the trip but to date has not had a chance to use them. Her plan today was to get them out. Mac had one look from the veranda and commented "Hope Loraine packed plenty of white and grey pencils." It was a whiteout. This constant pall of smog smothered the valley and it was difficult to see the next cabin on our mountainside let alone the silhouette of the "Roof of Indochina."

Breakfast, some washing (note here LO_RI didn't even do that - they sent it out), a bit of packing, reading, a game of Civilisation, a walk for lunch, a check of mail and banking and seriously, that was the day!

And as boring as it sounds, it was exactly what the Vietnam Venturers needed.

The only wrinkle in the blanket was that we did have to walk up to checkout and face the Red Zao ladies again. And they were as persistent as yesterday. We didn't want to buy anything but we did want to say thank you and give them a tip for their efforts in escorting us back up the trail (yes, we know they had an ulterior motive, but none the less it was appreciated.)

There was little enthusiasm for the return journey but the alternate route was a pleasant surprise. There was no need to return to Sapa, Chin took us via a back road that was concreted for the majority of the journey. The views from this side of the mountain were very different with corn interspersed with rice, multiple hydro plants, rivers and dams and the cleanest and most orderly villages we have seen.

And better still, the only on-coming traffic that we had to deal with were multiple herds of buffalo, a few cows (first we have seen), an assortment of villages, a handful of children, six scooters and one car. What a dream run. Admittedly it was a bit longer in distance but what a difference.

If we had to talk about stress points there were only three - how to get out of the "set menu" option for dinner, how long till the next toilet break and the 15 minute wait for the rail to cross.

As it turned out, Chai and Chin had timed our run to perfection and we even had time to enjoy our dinner at the Sapalay Restaurant before heading to the Chapa Express for an uneventful boarding.

An early departure at 9.10 means we arrive at 5 am tomorrow. Glad we are rested because it all starts again tomorrow morning as we rejoin Way in Hanoi.

Steps: 8 123 ( somehow think that total has been impacted by the rough roads)
Temperature: 26 degrees (but Mac got sunburnt sitting on veranda playing Civilisations.)