The night train to Sapa was actually pretty good. We'd heard some horror stories about people paying a fortune for cattle class so we were pleased when we found our cabin had four nice bunks and seemed to be in pretty good shape, but don't get me wrong, it was by no means luxurious. The train AC was really refreshing after the muggy heat on the platform. Unfortunately the AC chose this moment to konk out! Pretty soon the entire carridge was milling around in the corridor trying to find fresh air. All of the windows are locked so it got really hot really quickly. A vocal Vietnamese-American lady soon knocked the conductor into shape over sorting it out and the vent in the roof of our cabin was soon wafting out a mildly refreshing breeze.

We shared our cabin with a nice Spanish couple Adrian and Carmen but after a bit of chat we decided it would be a good idea to try and sleep. Well...tried we did! Tom seemed to get off ok, but I just kept waking up with the noise, the crazy (sometimes scary) rocking of the top bunk (both longways with the motion of the train and more worryingly sideways like the train was going to tip off the tracks!) and of course the AC conked out leaving us in what felt like a sauna. We arrived into Lao Cai station at about 5am, and were then ushered onto a minibus for the remaining hour to Sapa (attempted more sleep...failed).

Groggy and confused we arrived at the Sapa Summit Hotel, dropped bags and went downstairs to the breakfast area where we were instantly energised seeing the incredible views. Sapa is 1500m above sea level, and the mountains still went higher and the valley bottom (seen though clouds and mist) was a long was below.

Showered and breakfasted we set off for a half day trek. We were greeted in the reception by a crowd of local tribes women all in traditional dress, one of whom was our guide. We noticed that up here the local people looked a lot more Chinese than further south). As we set off passing through the crowd, 2 young girls (Ta and Zur both 14) seemed to latch onto me chatting as we walked through the town and down the mountainside. Their English was really very good, (they say they learnt it from the tourists) and they were asking lots of things like whether I was married and had children, when I asked them the same they giggled and said they were too young for boyfriends, but they would have then at 15 then get married at about 16/17! They also made two little stick horses out of grass a litle one for me and a big one for Tom.

We passed through catcat village where we got to see how people lived and worked, mostly growing rice and corn and then making clothes from hemp. The traditional dress here is all dyed in indigo and we got to see how they did that too (it made me feel very ignorant, I always thought indigo was just a colour, not a plant). We also saw some artwork, that on closer inspection was made from butterfly wings (i hope they were already dead)! This is when the selling started though and the little girls turned into little horrors; "you buy?", "you buy from me?", "yes you buy!", "maybe you buy?" ...etc etc....We didn't buy. Instead we slogged it back up the hill to the hotel, in some of the best weather we;ve seen in so far. But the sunshine and heat wasnt so welcome when we still had a couple of kilometers left, uphill and with no more water!

Getting back we were able to check into our rooms and check out the view from our balcony! (again, amazing!) Then had lunch with some Austrailian's we'd met (Sue and Baz) and went our to explore the town. We thought about trying to rent motorbikes for the afternoon, but seeing Tom's knees hit the handlebars and his feet too big to change down a gear, stalling after about a meter...we decided we'd just walk! We wandered about the town with Sue, Baz and another English couple, we didnt really find much to do that didnt involved forking out loads of cash. After a while we saw a sign for buy 2 get 1 free on beer and gave in. well, ... Loi Cai local beer is rank!!! Hands down, the worst beer I have ever tasted, watery, herby...yuk! (I'm very glad it was on promotion at least).

The others went off in search of a massage and Tom and I continued to wander around the town and the markets (seeing live animals being sold and transported was a bit of a shock; seeing a pig in a bag put on the back of a motorbike was a little upsetting). With that we went back to the hotel to chill out a bit before dinner. Charlie started feeling a bit ill again, so turned in early while Tom stayed up chatting to the Aussies.

Finally refreshed after a proper night's sleep we headed off for day 2 of trekking, arriving at 9am (the stated start time) in the lobby to find our group (3 Dutch couples) and guide waiting impatiently for us, and without a word set off. Not the best start. The group was again accompanied by tribes women, this time an older lady was walking along side me, she must have been late 50s at least, but she was much faster than me. I'm not sure whether it was our guide or the Dutch people setting the pace, but we seemed to be racing along the mountains, in the boiling heat, hardly able to stop for a quick sip of water, let alone taking a photo or two! The pace was really quite disappointing, as due to the terrain you had to look where you were putting your feet, which meant that you just couldn't look around and take in the scenery. I had tried to do this at the start, but after a couple of slips on some very high, very steep, slippy ground I was pretty shakey and had to concentrate. Here the old lady walking beside me grabbed (really tight grip) my hand to help me each time it was steep for the rest of the trek! (I was very grateful, but felt a little miffed that a tiny woman twice my age with plastic shoes was doing better than me!)

We finally reached our lunch stop in a village of the Black HMong tribes people, who proceded to try and sell us more stuff, including the little girls from the day before. However I decided that I wanted to buy a bracelet from the old lady to thank her for helping me so much. Finally passing the sales crowd we got into the restaurant, which was run by a guy from Somerset who looked like he was on the run!

Setting off again it was an easy, flat trek to one more village where a bus picked us up and took us back to the hotel.

After freshening up and having our "dinner" at 5, we went back to Lao Cai to catch the 8.05 sleeper back to Hanoi. Same carriage, but this time we were sharing with an old French couple who gave us some advice about what to see in the rest of Vietnam, very nice and very helpful people. Then turing in again, the tables turned as i slept pretty well, with the working AC, and Tom lying awake with the noise.

Arriving back at 5am, Hanoi is a totally different place, quiet for one thing! We got a taxi back the the guesthouse and asked for a room, but with none available they said the hotel next door would have somewhere that we could check into. Our man banged down the door, waking up the poor chap next door, gave us some keys and we were asleep in no time. Bliss!