I arrived in Lao Cai train station at 6:15 AM after a pretty good night's sleep, considering I was sleeping in a tiny room with three strangers on a moving train. I thought my hotel was picking me up at 7:00, so I waited. And waited. And finally at 7:30 I figured I'd been stood up and took a minibus for 30,000 VND (1.60USD) to Sapa. This was just one of several misunderstandings I had with hotels. Well, actually, I think misunderstanding is the wrong word. More about this later. On the way to Sapa, there was a mudslide. The road was steep, wet, curvy, and by some miracle I did not get sick. Can't say the same for three Vietnamese girls who, thankfully, had plastic bags handy. We sat there for about an hour and ... read more