Our ride. The reclining seats were spectacular.
We stopped twice at these open air rest stations. It was a 5-6 hour journey from Hanoi.
Produce stands just outside of Sapa.
These indigenous ladies greeted the buses as they arrived. They wanted to sell you their handicrafts as well as arrange & provide a guide service to explore through their villages.
Vietnamese beer crates.
We checked into our hotel. This was the view from our balcony that connected our rooms.
After settling in, we headed down into the valley to Cat Cat Village. This was a viewpoint along the way.
"Lily" followed us.
Colorful ethnic dresses for sale.
Lots of goods for sale as you walked through the village.
Lily was actually sweet and not pushy (we met the pushy ladies later). I bought a few woven bracelets from her and she went on her way.
Sapa is quite small, but there was no shortage of Western tourist.
She's cool.
A waterfall at about as far down as you could go. Exploring the village from our hotel in town was a downhill trek.
After they took our picture, they wanted one with our boys.
I think top left are pigeons & top right is quite possibly man's best friend.
These are Sapa trashcans. Several we came across were smoldering.
Finished walking through the village and headed to the road for a taxi back up the mountain. They seriously tried to get us to agree to a few motorbikes.
Afterwards, we went out for a little refreshment.
They start 'em young. Watching little brother and selling crafts.
We talked to the ladies a while; looking into the possibility of exploring one of their villages.
Above pic totally reminds me of this one taken in Cuscos, Peru, 2009.
Anyway, one lady was quite persistent!
Another shot of women waiting/looking for work the next morning.
We decided to head off with a guide organized through our hotel that spoke English and was accountable to someone. We drove to the edge of town & turned down this road to meet the trailhead. This here is a dog restaurant. We had the unfortunate pleasure of witnessing something I can't write about. I ate vegetarian the rest of our time in Sapa.
Off for a day of exploring through terraced rice fields with a few small villages situated throughout.
Rice.
Our guide stopped to pick some indigo (used to dye the dresses and wall hangings they sold) and showed us how it would turn Grant's skin blue.
Happy hikers. They were so good. We got pretty hot by the end.
Taking a little break in the shade.
The clouds would move in and out. It would have been prettier on a clear day, but still, the camera is not doing it justice.
Wikipedia says the water buffalo is referred to as "the living tractor of the East" and they are the most efficient and economical means of cultivation of small fields. Our guide told us that you could tell who had more money by the number of buffalos he owned.
All in all, we walked about 10km.
These pots have orchids in them. I forget the amount, but it was surprising how high each pot sold for. Orchids aren't even cheap straight from the source!
Our guide.
Colter talking to the sweet little ducklings. I think the humidity was fogging up my phone!
More walking!
Up next a cave. I could have stayed longer to cool down!
He of course loved it!
Lots of fun, but not lots of great pictures. We had to pull them out of there.
Our fee for the day included lunch. We stopped in a small village on the way out and were served a gigantic meal that pretty much only Brent would touch. I try. I really do.
One thing that looked odd was the fact that many of these ladies had a cell phone. While we were having lunch, one stood with her phone plugged in and charging and chatted away!
Back in town- The Holy Rosary Church.
Little cuties on the church steps.
Hanging out on the balcony.
The next morning we hired a driver and headed up a mountain pass to see Heaven's Gate as well as do a couple short hikes. We stopped to see the green tea terraces.
At a viewpoint. It was windy which made it so cold!
Hayden, get down before you blow away!
On the way up it was so clear.
Look! There's the road!
More wind!
No road.
Road!
That's about as good as it got, but it was still worth it. Camera wasn't quick enough to catch the break in the clouds.
Back down the pass, we stopped to hike to Love Waterfall.
Then on to Silver Waterfall to stair climb!
The kid on the left was not a fan of stair climbing.
He may have even proclaimed one of his trademark phrases, "this is the worst day of my life".
We made it up, climbed back down, ate a Snickers for lunch (acceptable protein to me and the boys) and went to the market. This is the only picture I took because we had to be on our game once we hit the stalls with the local women. I wanted to buy from them all. It was so hard to choose.
We walked around town, around the (green!) Sapa Lake.
We stopped to get out of the rain and had a drink. These two goofballs thought they'd try to fool me.
Couldn't even fool me then.
Remember how I said they boys and I went vegetarian? I should have taken a picture of their new favorite "foreign" food (eaten 3 times on this leg of the trip)- Margherita pizza! Daddy was braver and ordered this curry that he promised was delicious at a café called, you guessed it, Good Morning Vietnam.
The sunset at dinner.
Ok, time for our third and final stop- Hoi An! We rode the overnight sleeper train. Notice they put us in the King Express.
This was very exciting to 3 little people! Unfortunately, Daddy had to sleep next door with strangers. Fortunately they ended up being friendly Brits and they did not snore.
Come back to hear all about Hoi An!
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