Rice Paddies and Little Old Ladies

Suz in our train car
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After months of 90+ degrees with 90% humidity we climbed out of the train from Hanoi at 6am and were surrounded by beautiful green mountains and a refreshing smell of mountain air and rain. After months in polluted hot cities we couldn't have been happier with the clean air and cool weather. We have arrived in Lao Cai in the northern mountains of Vietnam during a rain storm.  Lao Cai is down in the valley bellow Sapa, are next destination. We made are way to our bus and took the one hour trip up to Sapa. It was such a beautiful drive winding up the mountain road in the rain. You looked down into the valley at the picturesque terraces of rice paddies hovering over the edge of the hills. It was beautiful! We were lucky because once we collapsed on our bed we had no choice but to stay in our room because it was a downpour all day, thank god! We were so happy to have the familiar Seattle weather, shhh don't tell anyone!

Sapa Valley From Our Hotel Room
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The next day the sun was out so we headed out to explore the surrounding towns. Sapa is a French town built on the ledge of a mountain. The town overlooks the valley below and a number of small native villages built among the rice paddies. We rented a motorbike and headed south along a small road that winded its way down into the valley. It was a fun ride. We passed numbers of water buffalo on their morning walk, heading most likely to the nearest watering hole or patch of mud that could be found. We also passed old ladies and children in their traditional clothing with baskets strapped to there back full of either corn, leaves, or branches, or empty on their way to be filled.

We were so happy to have the familiar Seattle weather, shhh don't tell anyone!

Sapa Town
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The next day we signed up to go on a hike down into the valley and through the villages. Along with are guide we were happily escorted by three young girls and there aunt from one of the villages. The local girls were tagging along to work on there English which consisted of a set number of questions such as "what's your name? How old are you? Do you have any brothers and sisters? Where are you from?" After about an hour of freely giving away my bio I choose to switch it up a bit and get them off guard. I asked them random questions like..."Do you have any pets" and "what color is this flower"? in response I would get a puzzled look and then would have to elaborate. Unfortunately are new BFF's turned on us toward the end of the walk when they turned into hard sellers of their purses and bracelets. We held strong though. There goes that pen pall...

Us
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After we finished lunch, and shaking ourselves free of the little aspiring used car dealers, we spent the rest of the day hiking through a couple other small villages and then were picked up by a van to shuffle us back up the mountain.  That night we found a place that served cold mugs of beer for 3,000 Dung (which was like 5 cents), so we were able to turn our bleak $4 dinner budget into a four hour party.  Awesome!

We have very much enjoyed Sapa, the simplicity of their life and the beauty of the area will definitely be a memorable highlight.

Rice Paddies
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Tomorrow we board another night train to head down the coast to a small town just south of Hanoi.  Back to the heat it is...