What fun- last night we took an overnight sleeper train north to Sapa, we left at 9 last night and arrived before sunrise this morning with a full moon in a purple sky. Sharing the small cosy cabin with two loud spanish men was interesting...but it was actually really cool sleeping in a creaking and rocking cabin. Thought of you dad! We were very relieved to find that it seems we got our money's worth (one can bever be too sure!!) with a smart hotel on the top of a hill in the mountainous and cold Sapa town, with a gorgeous terrace with lovely views of the mountains and valley. We got breakfast and a 3 course lunch (!!!!) followed by 2 deliscious naartjies. Not sure what the waiter would call them... The mountains and the cold here remind us of Loteni actually, where we'd probably normally be over Easter...and is making us feel a bit homesick! Enjoying this holiday from our holiday :)
Today we walked down the valley to see the local village here, the people are so interesting, they are a minority people and dress in fancy black embroidered clothes all the time... Tomorrow we do a longer walk (known as trekking here) to see another village and have lunch there...we'll be back here in the afternoon to catch the sleeper train back to Hanoi.
Hanoi has grown on us...we stayed in the Old Quarter where the streets are narrow and chaotic with people and moto's, fruit ladies, bread ladies, locals sitting on little stools outside their shops, and the buildings are derelict and french looking, and look like ornate old books squashed up against each other on a very full bookshelf. When we get back to Hanoi though we're probably going to be catching a bus asap into Laos for the next chapter of this crazy travel adventure...
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