Sapa - more hill tribe action

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Our next trip was an overnighter in sapa, which as it turns out is a phenominally beautiful; place up in the hills of Northern Vietnam. It started well... despite the negative reports from travellers about the night train up there, it seems they've ust had the cushiest holiday ever, as to us the beds on the rains were nothing short of luxury, and we had the best nights sleep we'd had in ages! Sweeeeeeet. Like all vietnamese it seems, the hill tribe folk have an astute business sense, and on our arrival a hoard of young girls were already waiting there, ready to learn our names for later use! Actually it was cool, they were well sweet, and chose to tag along on our trip, making us flower crowns, small dogs out of grass, and variety of other pretty crap, as well as helping us the the trickier crevices. Again, despite the reports of the boys who had just been on the trip thst the trek was hard, it was actually a piece of piss. The sun was shining, we seemed to stop every 5 minutes for a break, and frankly we at no point felt the risk of falling over and smashing out head open on rocks, as we have so many time before! and the scenery really was completely stunning. overwhelming even! I mean everywhere you looked, everytime you turned round, looked up or down, turned a corner, it was stunning. I mean you got a bit of sick of being constantly stunned by the beauty frankly. Thats how stunning it was! Just hills and hills of staggerred bright green paddy fields, and moutains covered in rich green trees, and the bright blue sky... the photos won't do it justice. Though of course i took a million in an attempt to suitably convey it. You'll enjoy that won't you! Anyway, we trekked along with these kids, who sort of bagsied one of you... mine was a little older, and i chatted to her about boys... she of course did not like them. I told her to give it time. But yeh she was so clever! Could make chit chat in english, french and chinese - the main tourist languages there, as well as a drop of spanish, and she was only about 12. Anyway, after lunch, the time came to 'repay' the kindness of our young guides... we were bombarded with wares. i mean you have to buy something of them. and indeed anyone else you may have crossed paths with on the way. i for example made the grave error of taking a photo of a women with a baby. Forever indebted, i had to buy some of her crap too! That one did piss me off actually, but i didn't mind buying from my girl. I mean iys fair enoguh really, and everything is handmade and costs pretty much nothing. Sofia's girl only had rubbish stuff, and she didn't want to buy anything from her... her little girl cried. It was harsh. Sofia bought some crap she had no use for... but such is the way!Anyway, we carried on, trying really hard to not excpet help from anyone, for fear we wpuld have signed a contract to purchase an embroidered cushion cover or even more bracelets (oh you guys have got some gifts whether you wnat them or not!). I mean honestly, you stumble, you see a hand, grab it to steady yourself, and BAM, you're committed. Our guide, a young villager, seemed to get increasingly drunk as the trip went on, to the point where he was singing Careless Whisper with genuine emotion. That night we stayed in village 'homestay', one of several as it turned out, but frankly thats the only sensible way to do i reckon. anyway, it was a really pretty village, river running through, really quiet... we had our tea, drunk some beers and then were dragged inside by the 'men' to join them in some 'real drinking'. Well, i say real drinking, but for us that rice whisky crap wasn't so strong. no effect whatsoever... maybe us westerners are just dead hard. Anyway, we drunk and played with small kittens. fun was had by all! The next was similar, wandering through beauty, with the odd swimming break. I chatted to a mexican man about the problems of mexico's political system. Everyone else tutted.That was it really... got the night train back again, went to be sworn at by the man at the travel agents, and went back to the mausoleum to finally get our chance to look at an old corpse, which i believe i mentioned ina previous blog. Yeh, wow i can finally send those photos now! You lucky dogs... How you anyway? Miss me!x

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