After getting back from Halong Bay around 5pm we then had to fit a few jobs into the 3 hours or so that we had before the taxi picked us up to take us to the train station and we started to get really excited, if a little nervous, about what the next 3 days would be like. We had this cute girl escort us all the way to our beds in the train, and then eventually managed to block out the ramblings of a Vietnamese woman in our cabin chatting to her boyfriend on speakerphone well into the night. We rolled into Lao Cai at 5am and then found our connection bus for the windey drive up to Sapa Town where we got dropped off at a hotel and were able to get a welcome shower and try to warm up by getting into bed with an electric blanket for an hour, where Hutch duly fell back asleep!

It was pretty clear already that the weather was not going to be great as it was freezing cold and a thick fog meant you could literally see nothing but white out of the window. We met our guide Duan and were a little put out when his first question was "do you have motorbike licence?" - erm no, nut nobody had said that we needed them! In the end he seemed happy enough to gloss over that one, together with the fact that Katie wanted to only go on the back, we were happy with what we had on, and that we were doing a homestay that night and not in a hotel - but none of it really gave us any reassurance that this was a tightly run trip!

So we eventually set off on the bikes and started descending through the fog where visibility was literally 5 metres, and I was pretty pleased that I had been able to get just a little bit of practice in on Cat Ba. After stopping to buy sone much needed gloves Duan took me to a junction and pointed down a rocky dirt path leading off the road and just said "can you?", and I was like yeah I guess - what choice did I have?!

Riding down this path was pretty challenging and the steep descent was made even harder by having to avoid a steady stream of tourists, villagers (who seemed to think that despite clearly having to concentrate fully on what I was doing, I would want to stop and by some colourful handbags or blankets?!) and buffalo along the way! Overall I thought I handled this part pretty well, but my major downfall was in thinking I could handle it like I bicycle and manouveour it easily with my arms to correct my course if need be, but it weighed an absolute ton and was impossible to pick up. All this meant that at one point, where the path resembled more of a rock climbing wall, I just had to stop and let Duan take over! This definately constituted the 'off-roading' that our insurance cover excluded!!

We carried on driving and passed though a few small ethnic minority villages, and stopped off at a school and one of Duans friends for some green tea and a much needed rest after a stressful and tiring start to the day. Luckily, the weather was getting better as the fog cleared the further we descended so that we could appreciate a little more the landscape - with stepped rice fields carved into all sides of the valley.

I had just started to get my confidence up when we were well into the next section, but I could tell that I was always struggling a bit when the ground turned softer and muddier, and despite trying hard to follow Duans lead I lost control of the bike and fell off to the side. Luckily for me the ground was soft, and I just ended up caked in mud all down my left side rather than actually hurting myself - and the worst thing once I checked the bike was ok was bruised pride and knocked confidence!

For the next hour and a bit we cruised along easier roads and I slowly but surely got my confidence back, even if I think Hutch was by now more than a bit worried about me and Duan thought I was a bit of a dingus! When I drove it well and right you could tell and it felt really good, and it was quite liberating to feel the wind blowing past you as we weaved down the valley and into the village of Ban Ho where we were to get lunch.

We literally had only 10 metres to go, having already successfully navigated some ridiculously narrow lanes where locals sped past you in the opposite direction, and I approached the final corner of the morning feeling quite proud if myself at having overcome my little setbacks during a challenging morning. And then disaster struck!

It all happened so fast, but the end result was that I veered off the path and took out a fence, driving through it till I flew off and landed on top of it, with the bike then landing on top of me - sandwiching me between the fence! I couldn't move since the bike was so heavy and so I had to wait for Duan and Hutch to come along and heave it off my legs. By this time what had seconds earlier been a quiet village path had now turned into the centre of attention, with literally every man and his dog seemingly now right on the scene - pointing at me, the bike, the fence, and some laughing amongst thenselves. I didn't know whether to laugh with them or to cry, and in the end I think both Hutch and I just stood there in quiet disbelief at what had just happened - whilst what must have been the oldest man in the village was bent down rubbing my leg and a group of girls pointed at my cut hand!! All in all, a pretty unbelievable scenario!! The irony of it all was that we weren't even supposed to have been going to this place for lunch, and the only reason we had had to do that damn corner was because the first place was closed!

We sat quietly and had lunch by ourselves - thankful that all I had were a few cuts and bruises, and hoping that we would not have to do any more biking and we could maybe get a lift back up to Sapa. No such luck though - and despite Hutch's gentle protestations to Duan, I had to overcome some serious demons to get back on the bike and drive for an hour and a half back uphill with only one break working, since I had broke one of them in my little accident! It was the biggest relief ever to get back to the hotel, and even only having to pay $10 for repairs seemed like a bit of a bonus!

There was little respite though as pretty much straight away we were back on some bikes (this time both of us were driven by guides!) as we drove for half an hour into the middle of nowhere somewhere amongst all the fog and rice terraces to our homestay for the night with a guy called Dat and his family. As far as homestays go, this one was really good and the whole family was really friendly and welcoming, and there was also an American couple there who we got on really well with. Their two kids (a two year old and a 6 wk old baby) were absolutely adorable (to the point where Hutch asked if we could adopt a Vietnamese baby!) and we had a feast for tea as we all sat around the table to eat and drink 'happy water' together. We even had a treat that is quite uncommon as they cooked an extra dish which was some unidentified wild animal (we think it may have been a possum!) that they had caught and caged that day. Hearing it squeel loudly as Dat killed it in the kitchen had put us off slightly, but it actually tasted not bad!

It was absolutely freezing in the night (despite the tiny helectric heater) and we slept with everything on under two thick blankets on a mattress on the floor of the upper level to the house with the sound of the river coming in through the unsealed windows! We did sleep surprisingly ok and were woken in the morning by the cockerel outside signalling the start of my birthday on Thursday!

It started like any other really - noodle soup with water buffalo for breakfast with the family, after seeing a beheaded buffalo strapped to the back of a motorbike outside!!

We said our goodbyes to the family and then Duan led us two on a hike back up to Sapa for around 4 hours which was good but all we really wanted to do was get back and relax a little! By the time we got hot showers and clean clothes in our new hotel, with the heating cranked up to the max, we felt much better and had a cosy few hours as Hutch pulled it out of the bag big time with cards, pressies and even a Vietnamese birthday cake - I, naturally, contributed the tears!!

In the evening we went out and walked round Sapa Town for a little bit, which had a kind of ski village feel to it but you could hardly see anything because of the fog! We had a really nice meal to cap off a birthday that definately could not be classed as ordinary!

We had a bit of a lazy morning on Friday and then headed out into town to do some haggling with the locals as we bought loads of different things - we are definately getting better at it! And at 28 years of age I am finally getting more decisive at shopping! All the tribeswomen who walk up and down the streets all day in their bright coloured headscarfs saying "you buy something from me" constantly seem to circle round you but we actually found them quite endearing and funny. One in particular seemed to take quite a liking to us and followed us for ages until we finally gave in and bought some crap postcards just to make her happy!

After meeting up with Joel and Gina for a drink we grabbed something to eat and then got our transfer back to Lao Cai and another night train back to Hanoi to bring to an end our little adventure in the colourful mountains.