Sapa arrival

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Yes, Sapa was everything I wanted it to be. Rolling hills, relaxed, small time streets, colourful women wearing traditional clothes and clean, fresh mountain air!

I caught the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai last Monday night. It wasn't so bad but I was glad that I had nearly a week before I had to do it again as it takes alot out of you. You are constantly waking up as things lurch and bang and squeal. Once in Lao Cai I jumped on a mini bus ($1.50) bound for Sapa City. An hour later we arrived and I was able to check into my guest house (Family GH) pretty much straight away. I had lovely mountain views and hot water for $7 a night.

The only Sapa thing I wanted to do that wasn't negotible was to climb Fansipan Mountain so, after a quick recovery breakfast of noodle soup I went walkabout trying to find the best price on offer. Unuckily for me the travel agents in town only wanted to accomodate me if I had a group- otherwise the prices were astronomical. Just as I was about to give up on the idea I walked up to 2 guys on the street who I had seen at a travel agent earlier that day and asked them what trip they were trying to book. It turned out they were also trying to get to Fansipan so within a matter of a few hours the 3 of us were booked in to climb the next day.

That afternoon my new friend Claudia from Mexico City and I went and had afternoon tea at a cafe called Baguette and Chocolat. In the days to come I would attend this cafe 5 times. It had the most devine cakes and drinks. I'm going to miss that place.

So my first day in Sapa was magical. I rounded off the day by planning my activities for the remainder of my Sapa week. Everything looked set for a ripper of a week.
NB: Next instalment: Fansipan Climb.

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