At about 6:45 I arrived in Lao Cai. From there we went with the bus to the village Sa Pa which is in the hills. Alone the way to the village is awesome you have such a nice view on the rice terraces *-* The nearer you get the foggier it gets, at least at this time of the year. It’s freaking foggier than in silent hill, no kidding look at the pics. When I was there I went to a nice hotel recommend from the travel guide I bought, the Green Village Hotel. I sadly forgot to take pictures of the interior but it’s alright, the room was pretty small, just enough space to fit three beds inside and a little bit of space to walk. The bathroom is inside the room and was okay, not the cleanest but really not gross or anything. The beds even have heating blankets which you can plug in to warm up your bed. This is really good because up there in the mountains it’s really pretty cold. The village itself is very pretty even though I didn’t see so much because of all this fog^^ The Hmong, which is the folk that lives there, specialized themselves on giving tracking tours through the hills. They all walk through the village and ask you if you want to book a tour with them, sometimes they are a little obtrusive but they’re still nice and don’t get mad at you if you say no to them. They also shout at every corner asking if you want to buy weed or opium from them xD. I ate some stir fried noodles with chicken but somehow I had not that much appetite… After that I went to a tourist center and booked a bus back to Hanoi, I went back to my hotel, canceled my booking (I still had to pay the first night but it’s understandable). There works a Polish guy who speaks pretty good English and helps you with everything you need. At 3:30 pm I went to the place I booked the bus, I drank green tea with honey and ginger, the ginger was pretty strong in it but it was perfect for the cold weather there. Then one of the employees drove me with a motorcycle to the place where the bus waited for me. It cost nothing. The bus seats were damn high class, almost better than in the plane! You had so much space for your feet. The bus drive is 100k cheaper than the train ride ( bus 300k and train 400k) and even was faster, I would recommend the bus now over the train, although such a sleep train is a nice experience. I was at 9:30pm back in Hanoi, I checked in to the Hanoi Backpackers hostel again and went out to eat something, I ate again the fried rice with chicken next to the hostel. There I met some American guys with which I then went to a pool bar and we talked about this and that a little, it was a pretty nice evening.
