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Published: January 6th 2008
Raaaaaa!
After 4 weeks on the India diet Janine attempts to put the pounds back on with the Tiger Beer.Happy New Year Everybody! Have a fabulous 2008....
After a day looking around Hanoi we jumped on an overnight train up into northern Vietnam's mountain country - Sapa alt 1650m- close to the Chinese border. We pushed the boat out and travelled in style in our very own private cabin! We arrived in Sapa on New Years Eve. The hats and the gloves came out straight away as it was a wee bit chilly to say the least!
We didn't expect a big do on New Years Eve as Sapa is a small quiet sort of place so when we found ourselves in the 'British Pub' the Red Dragon with only a dozen people at 11pm things were trundling along as expected....At 12pm a bell was rung (free drinks all round) and we all wished each other happy new year..........then things got a bit messy (bumped into a couple of amenable auzzies, heard a life story or two) and after a cracking night we crawled into bed at 4am!
The rest of our time in Sapa was given to a spot of trekking here and there - splendid scenary up there. On one particular trek we walked 11
All aboard for Sapa
In our cabin for our overnight Hanoi to Sapa train journey. It was a good trip but where did Janine's right arm go??? miles in wellies (reeeeeally thick mud in places - up to Steve's knees - up to Janines belly button ;-) - across mountains, paddy fields and through forests. We learnt that in some of the mountain villages the men don't work - rather they sit around and drink rice wine all day whilst the women do the do. Some of the women think this is a bit unfair. On hearing this news Steve disappeared off for a while to find out if the Black Hmong tribe were interested in taking on any new members... Hmmmmmmmm. Back on the trail we had a moment of excitement as Janine launched herself off the path and into a fairly deep rice paddy field - it was a very close call but fortunately the water didn't quite come up high enough to pour into her wellies. Phew!
Back in Hanoi at the moment, we've been on a trip down a scenic river through some karst landscape to see a popular Vietnamese Pagoda, been on a cycling trip through some of the surrounding villages, seen a traditional water puppet show and had a butchers at the War Museum. The War Museum had lots of
New Years Day Stroll
Blowing away the cobwebs above a misty Sapa. interesting things on display and some grim stuff too that really made us think. For one reason or another the Vietnamese have sure been doing a lot of fighting with various folks over the years.
We had another moment of excitement when Steve caught a pick pocket helping themselves to somebody's camera on the streets of Hanoi. Steve got the camera off said thief and reunited it back with the unawares tourist - said thief actually wasn't bothered in the slightest and didn't run off or anything - rather she just muttered some abuse to us in Vietnamese and then went back about her business i.e. looking for some more easy pickings!
We're off on a boat rip for a couple of days around Halong Bay now and then we'll be heading south on an overnight train in search of beaches and warmer weather again.
ciao for now.
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Neil S
non-member comment
Is that Brian Harvey???
I had to look twice....I'm getting you booked on stars in their eyes for your return. Say hello to matthew kelly!