In Sapa with Su

Stunning views of rice terraced hills among minority villages while being lead by an amazing local guide makes for a great couple of days.

We got dropped back in Hanoi around 6pm and were supposed to get picked up at 7pm, we ran around frantically stocking up on supplies for the train ride and shoveled food down our throats as fast as we could. Then we sat waiting until 8:30pm for the transfer to pick us up. Apparently I am the only person in Southeast Asia who values my time.

We got to the train station at 9pm and waited until 11pm to board our 11:30pm sleeper train. While waiting we met some nice Dutch girls and cheap beer was readily available. As part of our package we got soft sleeper beds, meaning that there were four of us behind one door, each with our own bed.

We boarded the train and met our two roomies for the night two Spanish guys who were really nice. Our room on the train itself wasn't too bad but the train was really dirty and the aisle to the foul smelling toilets were filled with sleeping Vietnamese locals who would rather sit on the floor getting some of the air con from our cabin than on hard seats without air con.

Our train arrived in Lao Cai, the closest train station to Sapa, at 7am and we were transferred to our hotel to have breakfast and put our luggage in storage. We then met our guide for the next two days Su, pronounced Shue. Su is 19 years old and lives in a nearby village named Lai Chai, she was really good at speaking English, which she learned from selling bracelets as a small(er) girl.

Our tour group was only a young Thai guy and Janelle and I, which meant that we had a lot of time to talk with Su directly. We walked three kilometers to a village named Cat Cat, which is very touristy as a result of its close proximity to Sapa.

Along the way we were joined by several women who were dressed similarly to Su. They took turns speaking with Janelle and I asking the same questions over and over again.

What is your name? Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have any brothers and sisters? How many? Are they older or younger than you?

They all had baskets on their backs as they walked and I asked them what was in them. The women all started to laugh and then answered that they were carrying things to try and sell to us. Inside of Cat Cat village are two really beautiful waterfalls, a performance hall and several vendor stands.

We watched a performance of a traditional dance, which you can see here:

Janelle bought a cob of corn

I bought a purple sweet potato

After the tour there was a bus back to town but we opted to walk the three kilometers back to Sapa which was all up hill and in the peak heat of the day, maybe not the smartest decision. Luckily back at the hotel we were able to check into our room to have showers and eat lunch.

In the afternoon we rented a motorbike and drove all over Sapa and to a waterfall 15 kilometers outside of town.

We were intending to drive further to another waterfall but the mountains started to get foggy and really cold so we turned back to town.

Check out all of today's pictures in the slideshow below: