chuc mung nam moi!

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happy new year everyone! it is now the year of the pig, hurrah!

Sapa has been fantastic, I'm really really glad that I was here for Tet because it ended up being a really special experience.
The night train was nothing like the one I took to Hanoi, it was LUXURY man and I slept like a wee babe pretty much the entire way and nobody touched my bum so it gets an extra star. The drive into the town was breathtaking, one of the first corners we turned I almost audibly gasped because the area is filled with hills and valleys that get shrouded in mist in the mornings.
The first day we treked out to a Mung village and stayed in a homestay, which is kind of a hotel combined with someone's house. In my group were an Aussie girl that I'd met on Cat Ba Island and 2 American girls from San Diego (I only mention the city because of Anchorman). At our homestay there was another group too and we met an Irish guy who was one on one with his guide, who ditched him to spend Tet with his girlfriend, so he came and hung out too.
The trek itself was great, I won't go into too much detail because I think we all know what a hike is like and I described the scenery a bit before. Tet was the amazing part. At dinner the rice wine started flowing and it would have been rude to turn it down so we obliged by joining in. The lady who ran our homestay was this cute little lady we called mum and she did a toast in the Mung language and it all went down(or up, depending on how you look at it)hill from there.
Needless to say we were all in pretty rough shape for the trek today but we persevered and I fell once which added some hilarity to the day.
the hotel we're staying at now is the nicest one I've had by FAR. I have 2 big beds with fresh white cotton sheets, a fantastic view of valleys, my own BATHTUB!!! it makes me dread the shithole I have waiting for me in Hanoi that I'm paying $5 a night for. they are storing my pack so I had to agree to go back there for one more night then I can find somewhere that my feet don't get dirtier from showering than they were when I went in. I'll be meeting up with Corrina again in Hanoi too, yay exciting cuz I know she'll be staying somewhere nice, preferably with a pool like the one she had in Bangkok.

alright, time to peace out, I'm beat after the past few days, I've just been gogogo since I got into Hanoi so I'm looking forward to going back and leisurely taking in the sights.

much love
Alexis

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Photos

Halong Bay in sepia tone
gives it that olde tyme feel

Aquafina indeed!
ya gotta put your home brew in something...

post Tet trekking
our guide is the one far right

the pic in my hotel room
I thought our hotel in Sapa was classy until I saw this in my room and thought "zuh?"

me+turtle
the turtle stands for wisdom (the stelae had doctor's names and credentials on them) and everyone else was patting them on the head so I thought I'd join in, note the lonely planet and large bottle of water in my other hand, in other words I gots the essentails

me+Lenin
we're looking towards progress. Lenin is my homeboy

Comments

[Jane]

Sounds like you are having fun--I'm jealous. My friend you were going to meet up with just got home and is so tanned.