So then Sapa. We had to get a sleeping night train up to Lao Cai and then catch a mini bus to Sapa. The night train was our first of the trip so far and took us about 9 hours, I think it is safe to say that if our budget allowed it we would take them over buses everyday of the week. Much more comfortable than buses and able to get a lot more decent sleep. Although the air conditioning was not great so it was a little clammy. Then out of no where came a knocking at our window, there stood a woman waving a can of Beer Hanoi at me shouting 20,000 dong (60p)...my saviour! Arrived in Lao Cai at around 4:30am, soon found a mini bus to take us to Sapa. We had to endure 1 and half hours of very loud European/American dance music on the bus, it was that bad ever a remix of a Justin Beiber song!

We had some food and a much needed nap, in what seemed like a slightly damp bed. It turns out that there is a strange mist that runs through Sapa (you can just about see it on the photo), this gets into all the rooms and gives it that damp feel. The mist, along with the altitude, also makes the place fairly cold. We ended up wearing trousers and long sleeves even during the day, this was quite strange to us. We spent the rest of the first day exploring the town. The whole town is filled with H'mong tribal women trying to sell you many of their hand crafted gifts, from braclets to large blankets. They are different to others we have come across selling things on the streets, they are extremely joyous and have a permanent smile on their face. We took a wlak through the market, something we seem to do every place we have visited so far. In the evening we sat down with Slava and Karina, a Israli couple we met in Halong Bay.

Our second day began running a few errands, picking up some laundry and my back pack. On the train up to Sapa my bag broke yet again, one of the main shoulder straps had a large rip in it. Thankfully I was able to drop it off with one of the ladies in a store who repaired it for me, a really good job done too! We planned to spend the rest of the day exploring outside of Sapa so we hired a motorscooter to get around. First we went in search of famous bridge. We found what we thought was the bridge as we came across an impressive one, turns out the one we were looking for was further down the road and we had already spent lots of time here when we were informed of this. However, the bridge we found was good, although very bouncy and took us to a small village where more H'mong people lived. Again we were swamped by the ladies trying to sell us things. A highlight of the morning was playing with the local children and teaching them to play pat'a'cake. On our way back to Sapa to get a bite to eat and drink before going in search of some waterfalls, the bike cut out. Stuck on the side of the road I tried to get it started again, Zo was really helpful with the camera in her hand taking photos of my frustration! Eventually I did get it going again. The two waterfalls, silver and love, were both beautiful in different ways. The silver had different stages and was very high up into the clouds. The Love waterfall was smaller but a straight fall, also the rocks below the pool at the bottom gave it a golden glow. We got wet driving back, everyone driving past us had already put their ponchos on before it began to rain so we thought they probably knew something we didn't. Sure enough we got soaked. Being the gentleman I am I gave Zo my poncho as she had forgotten hers...plus she had the valuables!

Our last day in Sapa was slightly spoilt by it raining all day, like being back home! So we had a lazy day sat in a cafe called Baguette and Chocolate. I am attempting to read my first book since leaving school, 'The Girl In The Picture', so this kept we occupied while we waited for the bus to catch the night train back to Hanoi.