Up for the basic egg and toast breakfast at the Sapa Starlight, checked out, and then joined the group tour arranged by the hotel to go to Bac Ha. the two hour drice was back through Lao Cai to pick up some people at the train station and then on to Bac Ha. The plan was to spend a couple of hours at the market, regroup and eat lunch together.

This market was unlike any place I have ever been. It is a market primarily for the Flower Hmong, an incredibly colorful group of people (at least the women). Their ethnic dress is amazing (check out the pictures) and the at the market the fabric and yarn and some premade clothes are sold adding to the color. Of course, there were the food vendors selling all parts of the animals and a variety of fruits and vegetables, those cooking food and selling it at the sit down restaurants (I tried some very good little cooked rice dumplings), the buffalo market, and even a c*** fight. I couldn't stop taking pictures and was just so enthralled by all I saw.

Our group met for lunch in a nearby restaurant. We were then supposed to walk to a small village, but i we drove and visited a couple of houses which may have been part of the village. It was interesting seeing the homes, especially the television sets. In this part of Vietnam it seems as if every home has a satellite dish and a TV. They don't seem to use electricity for much else, but the TV seems to be so important.

After visiting the homes we drove back to Lao Cai. We stopped to look at China across the Red River. there iat a gate at teh Vietnam entry and a small park and a pagoda nearby. We spent about half an hour there and then went back to the train station. It was a few hours before the train departure, so I just walked around. I found a residential area, talked with some children at the elementary school, and saw some homes and street life in what seemed to be a nice area. It was very different than what I had seen in Hanoi. Activity on the street included a woman with a small brazier cooking, a woman using a hula hoop, men playing something like checkers, and so on. I visited the local market and then made my way back to the area near the train and found a restaurant for dinner, Viet Hoa, I think, that seemed very busy so I thought would be good and it was.

Then off to the chaos of the train station. So many vendors outside trying to sell me drinks, fruit, gum, and all sorts of things. I wanted to buy a banana for the train - first woman I went to wanted to charge me $1 for a banana. I finally found someone honest who charged me about $.10, a much more reasonable price. This train station was just as chaotic as the one in Hanoi except just about everyone getting on the train(s) was not Vietnamese and was a tourist. My compartment this time did have a Vietnamese man and a German couple. I was sharing the story about the horse's penis alcohol when the Vietnamese man shared that he has this to drink. I wasn't too comfortable asking him if it worked or not, although he did share with us what it was supposed to do. He had the lower berth and did not want to switch, so I had to climb upstairs. Fortunately I did not have to get up during the night to use the "facilities" and actually slept much better on the top - away from the wheels and the tracks and I think the ride was smoother.