Sapa

Hey hey,

Just thought (as I'd written this in an email) - that I might as well put this up. We weren't having a great time in Hanoi but luckily in Sapa now and it is lovely! Worth the overnight bus...

The bus company came 30 minutes earlier than we were expecting (well 2 hours earlier than the original time) so we ended up sitting in the bus terminal for 1 hour waiting for the wretched bus. But... the bus itself was looooovely. Three seats across, very comfortable, and managed to sleep well despite the crazy crazy driving and the winding roads! Even slept through the military coming on board to check passports etc... apparently they took a look at us and decided not to bother! (Although don't think H or J slept as well as I did as they told me about this!)

Had to wait 2 hours instead of the specified 10 minutes in Lao Cai town to transfer to a smaller bus for the hour journey up the mountainside to Sapa, but we eventually arrived and found a lovely hotel for $4 each a night. The climate here is soooo nice - we actually need jumpers even during the day, and the humidity is virtually nil. Hanoi at the moment is about 35 degrees celsius with 85% humidity, which feels kind of unbearable. So this is such a welcome for us, we keep on sinking back into bed and sleeping very heavily!

Sapa is so much nicer than Hanoi. The people here are friendly and helpful, and the traffic is much less. It is a little town in the mountains - we were 3km away from China when we switched buses in Lao Cai, and we can see mountains and rice terraces from our room, which is beautiful, clean and the beds (and DUVETS!) are wonderful too. Everything is easy here, shops sell souvenirs, as do the markets, there are lots of restaurants and internet, and we are going to walk to a village, Cat Cat, tomorrow morning sometime, as it's only 3km away.

The villagers here are wonderful and speak excellent English. They are dressed so crazily (to our eyes!) - really look incredibly different. I took some photos today of us with them, and they are very friendly (of course wanting you to buy their wares!). I will eventually put photographs up when we get back to Hanoi on Sunday.

So far happier in Sapa, where it is beautiful, easy, clean, friendly and we can sleep well. We will be around Hanoi for a day and a half before we go to Laos on Monday night on a 20 hour bus. Nice.

Lots and lots of love from us all,
Al xxx