Sapa, Vietnam

Sapa is up in the mountains of Vietnam (very near the Chinese border - I heard that it was only about 7km away from the border of China, but don't know that for sure). After an over night train from Hanoi we arrived in Sapa around 5:30am. The car from the hotel where we stayed picked us up at the train station in Lao Cai (I am going to misspell many village names in this so just go by the way they sound instead - I will try to get the spellings correct at a later date) and drove us to our hotel. The drive was about an hour and 15 minutes long and up into the mountains.
As we climbed up into the mountains we were going past beautiful hill sides covered in stepped rice paddies. The green of the hills mixed with the steppes made for some breath taking scenery. As we would round a corner more would come up ahead of us. A sight to see in and of itself. The road was narrow, but had enough room for two trucks to pass if necessary, and pretty windy. It was kind of a blur of green scenery that was amazing.
We arrived at the hotel to find that it was one of the only safe "bases"in the Sapa area. As soon as you got out of the van you were mobbed by women (and young girls) asking you to buy something from them. At this point we were still sleepy and wanted to get our room so we did not notice all that much. This would change later. The room was ready at 7am when we got there so we got to check in and chill for an hour or two before heading off to a good breakfast (don't you love it when hotels provide a complimentary buffet brekkie?). The room was amazing with wood floors, our own private veranda that looked out over the mountains and a bathroom that was massive. Much more than any of us were expecting and much cushier than the train we had just come off of.
Around 9am we headed out to Cat Cat village (one of the local H'mong - one of the local "minority" peoples of Sapa) to see what it was like. Little did we know that we were going to be followed for much of the 6km walk by some of the ladies wanting to sell us stuff. The village itself was an interesting mix of old and new (as were all of the villages). The people were dressed in hand made clothing that they made themselves (we were told they even made the thread out of a local tree and dyed it with indigo and other extracts) and many families lived in one or two room "shacks"on the side of the hills. They were either weavers of rice paddy farmers (or both), still cooked with pit fires, and seemed to be very into the traditional life. Upon closer examination, however, you could spot the cell phones, satellite dishes, TV's, DVD players, and sometimes a karaoke machine. Like I said, it was an interesting mix of old and new.
After Cat Cat it was off to another 7-8 course meal (except for breakfast, I don't think we at less than 7 courses at any one meal and all of the meals were included in our trip cost - good deal). Then it was off to see the orchid gardens on the top of another hill near Sapa. Although the orchids were not in bloom (not the right time of year) there were plenty of other flowers to look at and there were some great views of the city. We hung around there for a while and then went to the outdoor market to see what kind of things that had to offer.
Markets in all of Vietnam are pretty crazy. The isles are fairly narrow and there are tons of people, vendor booths, motorbikes and bicycles trying to get through. The amount of fruits and vegetables are amazing and we saw some very interesting things to drink (wine that had snakes and scorpions and spiders in the bottles - crazy and teas that our guide referred to as the drink that "man drink, woman happy." I even saw a skinned and roasted dog (with head not attached, but it the same vicinity). Like I said it is an interesting experience, but one that I would not have missed.
During the beginning of our first day we were told by a foreigner that we would not go anywhere alone and that we would always be in a group. What he meant was that from the moment you step outside the hotel to the moment you step back inside you are constantly asked (and many times followed) by people who want to sell you something (mostly women and small girls). We got very used to the words "you buy from me?" and many other ploys to try to get you to buy. After a while it got annoying and Katie and I learned to just say no and keep going.
Patrick, on the other hand, could not say no and usually had a group of girls following him around. I think he secretly liked it, but I also think it got to be a little too much and frustrating after a while. It didn't, however, stop him from going to hang out with the cute little girls from different surrounding villages. Actually, the girls are very cute and incredibly friendly (when they are not trying to sell you things). We all got new names from them: Patrick is Ya Loo, Katie is Shun and I am Moo or Moo e Voo (I know I didn't spell any of that correctly). It was pretty fun to hang out with the locals, but when the "you buy from me" started again I usually backed out.
The second day was more visiting villages (Lao Chai, Ta Van) before heading to the train station. It was amazing to see the people transplanting rice and working the fields. The surroundings were amazing and vastly different from Ha Long Bay. I would recommend going to Sapa, but just be warned that you will have to bargain like crazy if you buy anything and get used to feeling like a schmuck when everyone tries to guilt you into buying something and you have to say no. The scenery, however, makes it worth it. And the overnight train from Hanoi and back is not bad either.

Again, can't do captions yet so here goes:

1 and 2 - scenes from Sapa. It was a gorgeous time of year with the rice paddies just starting to sprout.

3 - The three amigos - yes we still like each other.

4 - "You buy from me?" They would pick us out in the van as soon as we rolled up and this is what it looked like after we stepped out. Yes, they all followed us for the 2 or 3km trek through their villages.

5 - I got to pet a water buffalo. Pretty cool and very laid back. Kind of odd to touch and don't get them mad, but way fun.

6 - Another view of the Sapa area.

7 - Getting musical on the overnight train back to Hanoi. The instrument Patrick is playing is customarily played while the guy dances and is supposed to attract women to him - if they play well. Luckily it was not too late yet so the noise (can't say it was quite music) was well received and no banging on the door.