Sapa: Trekking & Homestay

After our trip to Ha Long Bay we returned to Hanoi and had a day free in the city before we got the night train to Sapa in the North West of Vietnam.

We spent the day walking around the Old Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake.  We also saw some kind of Vietnamese game show being filmed near St Joseph's Cathedral.  We couldn't work out the point of the game though - something involving throwing shoes!

Hoan Kiem Lake

A quiet street in Hanoi - very rare!

At 8pm we went to the station to catch our train. I was a bit worried about what our sleeper carriage would be like, especially coming from the luxury of our cruise. But it was actually fine, even the shared toilet in the carriage wasn't as gruesome as I'd imagined.

Our train carriage

We had a 4 bed cabin shared with an Australian couple. Rosie claimed the bottom bunk so I was left with the top. It was a bit of a challenge getting up and down when the train was moving - I'm not known for great balance! The top bunk had a really thick blanket because it was near the super powerful air con. I think they must have turned the air con off to save money during the night though because I woke up SO sweaty under the massive blanket!

The train ride itself was very rocky. We hadn't taken travel sickness pills but 10 mins into the journey we decided that we better had. I slept pretty well after that, just waking up a few particularly bumpy sections, oh and the sweaty time!
Rosie slept so well that she didn't even wake up when the train people came knocking of the carriage in the morning-I had to climb/fall out of my bunk and wake her up!

The train arrived in Lao Cai early in the morning and we got a mini bus the rest of the way to Sapa. We had showers and then breakfast and then met up with our Hmong guide who would be taking us trekking around the hills and villages.

Sapa was actually cool (weather wise I mean, although it was also pretty cool)! I even wore my hoody for the beginning of the trek. That didn't last though and by the end of the day we were both sunburnt. I am blaming the sun screen for this - we were both using Rosie's Nivea factor 20 from the UK and it was useless-the back of my neck and arms are so burnt. I'll go back to the Coles 30+ from now on, that's never let us down before!

We spent the day walking around the villages and learning about life in the Hmong and Red Dao tribes. That night we stayed with a Red Dao family where we had herbal baths in barrels, and an amazing meal cooked for us by the family. Rosie and I helped make the spring rolls-we are much improved thanks to our cooking class on the boat!

Herbal bath water

Our baths! 

Our beds for the night

Helping prepare the spring rolls

Dinner time! 

We were supposed to continue trekking the next day but unfortunately the rain started during the night and didn't stop! So we decided to cut the trek short and just hike out to the road where we caught a bus back to Sapa. We spent the afternoon in Sapa before getting the bus and night train back to Hanoi.



Hiking back in the rain

...in our makeshift raincoats!

Rosie wasn't feeling very well on the train so we have checked into a hotel room for the day so she can relax and recover. We are catching the night train south to Hue at 11pm - I have already been out to stock up on travel sickness pills!