Friday night was certainly not my best night for sleep. The overnight train from Hanoi to Sapa groaned, creaked and jolted it's way through the night, finally arriving in Lao Cai two hours late, at 7.30am. Lao Cai is the capital of Lao Cai Province and shares the border with the city of Hekou, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China. I had already paid for a private transfer to Sapa, about 32klm away, and the driver was waiting outside the main exit of the railway station with his sign. Once again he was a Trails of Indochina Tours representative and he had a good vehicle for the hour long trip and we wasted no time in getting on the road. I was dropped at the door of Family Guesthouse in Sapa, my accomodation for the
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