Sapa 30th April to 2nd May

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Sapa adventure

Train ride okay. Train travels to a place called Lao Cai. Cleaner train and they reserve carriages for tourists on 'The Pumpkin Express'. Arrived around 5.30am and we were met at the station by a guide who led us to a restaurant for breakfast before our bus ride up the mountain to Sapa.

Very windy road with non existent safety barriers most of the way. Started raining on the way up and was bucketing down when we arrived in Sapa. It was a holiday as it was the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam so there were people and buses and cars everywhere. Finally got to our hotel around 10am and was met by our Sapa guide Chai. We couldn't check in until 2pm so she took us for a 2 hr walk around the Cat Cat people. Chai was telling us that a lot of the tourists give the local children lollies which is very bad for them as it something they don't normally have and is having a long term affect on their teeth. We noticed that a lot the Chinese tourists were handing out lollies to them on our walk.

I had been told previously that the local village people are very persistent in trying to sell their local handmade goods and they were but found if you say no and just keep walking they will leave you alone. We were shown how they dye their cloth to the indigo colour that they all wear. The walk was exhausting as it was steps all the way down and quite a few coming up. Some of us opted for a taxi back up along the road to the hotel as it had become very hot by then.

When we got back to the hotel we were able to check in so had a quick shower and went and found somewhere for lunch and had a wander around the shops. Didn't last too long as it was so crowded with people.

Enjoyed the rest of the afternoon having a rest and then just went out for tea later.

Tomorrow we start our 2 day Sapa trek down through the local villages.

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