Sunday 15 April 2013

We are finally here in Sa Pa!!!!!   I have been sooooo looking forward to this.   The train trip last night was good, had no trouble sleeping as the bed was pretty comfortable and the movement of the train was like being rocked to sleep.   Can't say the facilities on the trains here in Vietnam are anything to rave about.  The toilets were pretty disgusting and lacked bum wrap and a good clean.  Didn't even attempt to find the dining car as apparently it didn't offer much either, lucky we stocked up on lollies, chocolate and water for the trip.  I was awake at 5am having slept well and the scenery going up through the mountains was awesome.  The mountains as the train climbed them were covered in mist and you could see it was pretty cold outside.   We arrived on time in Lao Cai and we climbed in to the mini bus with a few other guests and did the hour drive up to Sa Pa.  Spectacular scenery and lots of winding roads and the higher up into the mountains the cooler it got.  Arrived at hotel and climbed a mountain of steps to get up to the reception, got there only to be told our room wouldn't be ready until around 2-3pm which meant another 1/2 day of homelessness.  We were still pretty tired and needed to have showers and freshen up and the hotel offers a room for arriving guests to do that but there was a line up of people waiting so decided we couldn't be bothered, we went to breakfast in the hotel restaurant instead.  The hotel arranged for a guide for us to do a walking tour of Sa Pa and she was a really friendly black Hmong lady named Shi.  She took us all through the markets and explained the different hill tribes and how the colours of their clothes and hats distinguishes what tribe they belong along with the stuff they sell at the markets.  We walked the streets of Sa Pa with Shi and stopped at a café for a drink, bought a new suitcase each at a luggage shop and then headed back to the hotel to see if our room was ready at lunchtime, it was thank heavens.  Checked into our room, unpacked some stuff had showers and then a couple of hours nap.  By this time we needed it.  Met Shi again at 4pm and went back to the markets with her to buy something I really liked that I saw there in the morning.  Said our goodbyes to her and then stopped at a café for a latte and quick  snack.  Back to hotel just to relax, its been a full on last 2 days.  Tomorrow we check out of our hotel and then later in the evening get back on the train and on to Ha Noi.  Tomorrow we want to go to Cat Cat Village and do the markets and have a look around, its not too far away (3kms) so hopefully will find a couple of motorbike  taxis to take us there.   I am loving Sa Pa and would love to spend a couple of weeks here.  The people are nice especially all the different hill tribes and the atmosphere is pretty neat too.  Its my 2nd best favourite place next to Pai in Thailand.

Any folks its been a big day out so am hitting the sack.  Hope to keep the photos coming and hey if you want to post a comment to our blog, do it.  Have fun everyone until tomorrow post.  C Ya!