Sapa day 2 it was raining.

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We awoke the second day in Sapa to find that it was raining and very cloudy. We had been told by our guide the day before that if it rained it would be very slippery under foot and would be very slippery, and we would be walking down hill, so,we really didn't fancy it. Added to,the fact that Lindsay was feeling a bit under the weather.



We saw our guide at breakfast and told her that we didn't want to go trekking and she was ok with this and went off to do her own thing. So we asked reception what time we could check out and they said 1pm - bonus! So,we headed back to the room and chilled out, watched telly, slept and did some admin.



We checked out at 1pm and then had lunch. By this time the rain had stopped and the mists had cleared some decided to go for a walk round Sapa until it was time for tea and then to the sleeper bus back to Hanoi.



We headed off up the hill to the town centre and were immediately collared by some of the locals selling souviners and trinkets. We didn't really want to buy anything however they were very persistent and eventually we bought a couple of bracelets, the woven kind.



We then headed to the market for a wander round but didn't buy anything. We also,stopped off at a supermarket to see how much western food was I.e. Chocolate! During our walk around we were hounded by other ladies selling their tourist items but we didn't buy. Walking around it reminded me of a ski resort but no snow. There were shops selling outdoor wear and North Face seems to be the brand here.



We ended up chatting to a nice lady who walked with us from one end of the village to the other. From talking to her and other ladies we had spoken to,it appears they have an arranged marriage and get wed around 15 or 16. The girl we were speaking to said she would expect to become a grandmother around 45! It's a hard concept to get my around as it's a totally different culture to ours, but they seem happy with their lives and think it's very odd that we get married and have children later in life. As for me not married and no children at nearly 50 this they were really shocked at lol.



When we reached the opposite end of town we found a man made lake complete with peddelo swans, so for fun and to idle some time away we hired one and set off on our epic journey around the lake lol. After about 45 minutes we had had enough and went back to dock the swan :-)



We then nipped to the supermarket, had a drink in a cafe and then went back to the hotel for dinner. We then hung around until our taxi back to bus stop. We shared with an English guy who didn't say much and a guy who we saw the day before in reception but had gone to a home stay. We were just chatting and comparing our experiences in Sapa. When we got to the bus stop he boarded a different bus to us.



Our return sleeper bus was similar to the one we had arrived on and I blagged a seat at the bottom again. Initially there were some empty beds, but we stopped off along the way to pick up other passengers, and we even had people lying on mattresses in the isle.



We arrived back in Hanoi at 3.30am and were dropped off near the old town which is where our hostel was. So we walked away from the bus as we had been given a note to say don't get a taxi as they over charge. We were called over bya taxi driver and we showed him the address and we agreed 50k dong which is about $2,50.



We were dropped at the hostel and were allowed to sleep up,on the 5th floor for free.,this is where the TV, chairs, bean bags and computers were. There were other people sleeping so,we found a spot and a fan to keep colon. I couldn't sleep and ended up chatting to the guy from the taxi in Sapa. He was 22 and on a long weekend break from Thailand where he is a teacher. He taught Chinese and science to kindergarten children.



At 6am we got our bags out of the storage locker at the hostel, showered and changed, had breakfast and then headed to the travel agents to get picked up for our trip to Halong Bay.



Xxx

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