Sapa!

Hey Everyone!
Since the last time we wrote we went back to Hanoi for the afternoon and then took a sleeper train to Sapa, which is a town in the mountains. It is amazing here - we are surrounded by green mountains and waterfalls and views. The local kids all came up to us when we got off the bus to our hotel and asked us every question they knew "what's your name? Where you from? How old are you?" And then they go "you buy from me later, OK?" and you go "sure" cos they're so cute but then they remember you and your name and everything and you're trapped! They all wear the same clothes and make really colourful material from scratch and embroider bags and belts etc. (and then sell them to you).

On our first day we went for a hike (in the rain) through some smaller villages and to a waterfall, then we took motorbikes back up to the hotel. Then on day two we did a 6 hour trek to our homestay in a really remote village. It was raining again so really muddy and we kept sliding down the path. A bunch of little kids (all girls) came with us the whole way and played games and had water fights and they called Jack "monkey boy" and me "banana" and we gave them all names and then we spent about $4 buying bracelets from them at the end and they were happy!

Our homestay was all 10 of us (plus 2 guides)staying in one really basic house with this woman. Her husband died a couple of years ago and she became an alcoholic and opened her house up to foreigners for company. She makes home-made rice wine and it was impossible to say no because she just topped up your cup and pushed you into it. Our guide told us that sometimes she drinks 50 shots of the stuff! The house had a concrete floor and little light and a room for the kitchen with a fire in it and a massive wok and our local guide whipped up a feast for 15 people with about 10 dishes and rice and potato chips in there! Then they killed a duck for us (Jack and I watched - it was pretty interesting, they cut the back of its neck and then collect all the blood to make blood pudding and then pluck it and gut it and boil it up with spices etc. At the same time it was a bit gross!). So we tried blood pudding aswell which was all red and gooey and they make it by chopping up the chicken's neck really finely and mixing it with hot salty water and the blood.


This morning we woke up really really early and had pancakes with chocolate and banana before walking back to the road and getting a bus for about 2.5 hours to these special markets for the farmers. They sold heaps of animals like pigs and ducks and chickens and dogs in cages for people to buy. Then we took the bus to the border of China so that we could look at China (rivetting stuff) then back to Sapa to sleep before tomorrow when we're doing a motor bike trip through more of the mountains and then going back to Hanoi again!