Sapa

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Arrived at Lai Cao train station at 5am yesterday morning after 8 hrs on the train. Good thing we both slept really well and the noise and swaying was kinda soothing in a way lol. Huey is our guide while we are in Sapa and he took us to a local restaurant in Lai Cao for breakfast (western style which was nice to test my tummy out on food that tasted familiar - all good!) Boarded a four wheel drive for the day. Went to Bac Ha town which is a more traditional Sunday market than Sapa. Mixed and mingled with the local flower Hmong ladies who were doing their monthly shopping and looked spectacula (will load some photo's tonight). Brought a lovely silver braclet and silk scarf. We were asked if we wanted to buy a water buffalo for around $900US (cheaper for a baby!) and they swim so our guide suggested we could always make our way home to NZ on it lmao! Watched them making cauldrens of hot horse soup and we could have brought a cute little puppy for a pet although we suspect that once the puppies are big enough and fattened up they wouldlnt be pets anymore. The clothes the local tribes wear are all stunning and our guide said they wear them for themselves not for us - nice.

We walked around a local village - bit like being back on the farm in the Waikato (mum!) and lots of baby pigs and chickens and huge veg gardens. Back to Lai Cao and stopped for lunch at a local restaurant. Ella had some yummy traditional vietnamese dishes and I had rice. Got the photo at Lai Cao of us standing on the border of China - very busy processing centre. Lots of Vietnames going across for the day to do business. The Victoria hotel in Sapa is amazing - feels like Heritage in Queenstown with all the fog when we arrived. I have a 2.5 hr spa booked for 4pm today after hour hike ($75US!) looking forward to that! Exploring Sapa this morning as well so will blog again tonight. Missing our friends and family heaps! Keep messaging you guys😊

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