Sapa

Hi everyone, time for a decent entry finally.

We arrived in Hanoi on Saturday morning, what an amazing place - I love it. We stayed in an area called the old quarter which is just a labyrinth of streets, people, motorbikes and cyclos - quite the culture shock for Tom. You can see the French influence in the architecture. Apparently next year is the biggest year for Hanoi, 1000 years old on the 10/10/2010. We'll spend another day there on the way back from Sapa as we only had our first day there really. I am still battling this chest infection and the air there was like soup, so it's best to stay away for a few more days.

On Sunday we went on a trip to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island. This was just amazing, we both had the best time. We stayed on an old chinese junk boat which was incredible. I'm in love with these boats, I've just got to figure out how to get one to Australia! There were only 5 of us and 7 crew, so we were very well looked after. The food was unbelievable, but we are fast discovering that the Vietnamese are complete 'foodies'. Tom is trying everything and enjoying it as much as me. We went sea kayaking through some grottoes and lagoons where there were monkeys. We also did a couple of treks which were really pretty hard going, but very interesting. We went on one through this island where this old couple lived, he was 72 and she was 68, living in the middle of woop woop completely self sufficient. I tell you this place is a permaculturalists dream!

We then had one night on Cat Ba Island which was pretty flash for my standards. The town has been pretty nicely developed though compared to other places. We had a great time walking through the local market where we became the local freak show. I had women poking and prodding me everywhere! The Vietnamese are incredibly friendly and helpful. I actually dropped my debit card in this market and 10 mins after I had walked away I felt a tap on my shoulder, when a man handed it to me. I wasn't even aware I had dropped it. So despite hearing bad reports I found this completely the opposite.

Yesterday we arrived back in Hanoi but decided to come straight up to Sapa on the night train. Three days of fresh sea air has helped my cough alot, so a few more of fresh mountain air and I should be able to handle Hanoi again! Sapa is a goreous town, very quaint, it reminds me alot of villages in Nepal. The hill tribe people are everywhere and very much add to the atmosphere, despite mobbing us everytime we walk out of the hotel. Can you believe a 2 dbl bed room with tv and sensational views, only $8.00 a night. Tomorrow we aim to go an a trek again to some minority villages, so will add some more later. Hopefully these photos will upload OK!

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