So we arrived to early. The train stopped in Lao Cai which is a village close to Sapa. I was a bit curious on how we would actually get to Sapa from here but it didn't take long until we had a ride for 50 000VND(which is nothing). Directly after being let of by the buss about 4-5 women came surrounding us, asking our origin and how long we'd be staying an so on. The insisted on taking us on trekking tours and when I asked the price and then said that we'd time to think they followed us around a while longer. Only when I'd said no in every polite way my imagination could come up with did they relent. And instead started asking if we would not buy some of their wares instead. This being our first encounter with these women ment that I still had patience to say no yet another 4-5 times.

The hotel allowed us to check in early and also set us up for a trekking tour. I figured we rather trust the hotel than the first person we met in town. The tour was amazing. The nature of Sapa is exquisite and I also found very little littering. For the day we were joined by Lisa and Jackie from Australia as well as Emilie from France. Our tourguide Cu was very polite and had plenty of information. More than that we were also joined by "minority women" from the villages we travelled thru. They didn't do much except some sparce conversation and help us down when the road was too slippery. In each respective village they did however expect you to buy a "minor thing" from them and the prices they started at was laughable. I found however that some of the wares was really nice and if you did some hagglnig you could get a semi decent price. However I am not to fond of these kind of practise, it seemed like a convinient way for these people to knock some money of the tourist. Also whenever this happen Cu happened to disappear for the duration the harassment took place. It was a well set up tourist trap. But even the armies of small children trying to sell their bracelet(each child you had to say no to at least 2 times) and the women(which you had to say no to at least 5 times or straight out ignore) could not ruin the day.

After walking for about 14 km a bus from the hotel picked us up and drove us back to town. We ended up walking the streets with Emilie and had dinner before she left for her night bus to Hanoi. After this we spent most time at our room. Martin had gotten a cold and I was also a bit low on energy so just relaxing for awhile was really needed.

View of the valley of Sapa before we started our walk.  

Ricefields in different levels.  

Water buffalo was around in plenty. Seemed friendly enough tho.  

Our fellowship of the day. Here we are followed by the Hmong women.  

Closer view on the ricefields.  

The path was sometimes very slippery, and sometimes also very steep. Made sure to tread lightly and carefully.  

Our guide for the day, Cu.  

Local river that we ended up following for a time.  

Lisa(left) and Jackie(right) with Hmong gifts in their hair.  

Martin, Emilie and me.  

Whereever I go i think I will never end stopping to watch chickens, puppies and other young animals. They are just too cute.  

More of the valley of Sapa.      

Mountains in the background made for some nice views.      

River grew bigger the further we went.     

Back in Sapa itself, exploring the minor streets and watching people go about their everyday life. There was alot of construction(more than usual) going on. Almost every quarter had a building being built.

So tomorrow we will go to see two waterfalls; love and silver waterfall. If the weather is good we will also go to the highest mountain in Vietnam - Fansipan.

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