October 22,2011
Weather today on Cat Ba Island - Sunny and 30 degrees
Weather over the past week mostly cloudy, a few sunny breaks, occasional rain
Accommodation - Charming Hotel in Hanoi - $25/night Western or Vietnamese breakfast included and Sapa Luxury Hotel in Sapa - $30/night Western or Vietnamese breakfast included and Duc Tuan Hotel in Cat Ba Island - $18/night breakfast not included
Other Meals vary from $5-$30 for two. Last night's meal was a delicious seafood pasta with 4 glasses of good wine from Chile not Vietnam for $27 total.
We are currently in Cat Ba Island but we will save our comments about Cat Ba for the next blog. This one will focus on Sapa. It has long been recommended that we visit Sapa. The journey began on an overnight train followed by a bus through the mountains. I found the bus ride very challenging because I have always had motion sickness. Doug was fine but I was not.
Originally we were going to spend only 2 nights here but when we saw the view from our beautiful terrace we went to plan B and opted for 3 more nights. This is where flexibility is important in travel - go with the flow. One of the reasons that you come to Sapa is to visit the Hill Tribes-Black H'mong, Zhao and Zhay, etc. We had two all day treks where we not only
Experienced village life but met some great Aussies. The highlight was a visit to a Red Zhao Village;this is the village of our guide May Cham.It was memorable in so many ways:the visit to the village school - 18 eager, well behaved 6 year olds on benches; a walk through a cavern, lunch with May Cham's family that we helped prepare on an open fire inside the house - this gave us some perspective on the challenges faced by these families especially in the winter. They were so warm, generous and hospitable; indeed it was a humbling experience to be in their presence. After lunch we were taken to a separate building which housed a huge boiler containing herbal water. The water was put in tubs and Doug and I soaked in them for about 20 minutes.
The town of Sapa is interesting itself with shops and hill folks Serling their wares. We discovered Dragon Mountain in Sapa filled with lovely gardens and an overall view of the area. This helped Doug plan his runs for the next few days. He is training for a 10 km in Angkor Wat,Cambodia. The visit up Dragon Mountain allowed us to enjoy a half hour presentation of music and dance by local people. Overall our visit to Sapa was wonderful - we met some great people, enjoyed fine food and learned a lot about the Hill Tribes.
Our friend, Fergie from Cape Breton, referred to our trip as argosy of adventure and we are happy to report that it is just that. Our next blog will be from Hanoi on October 27,2011.
I met an Aussie who gave me some great ginger travel tablets that really helped. Originally we
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