We have spent the day wandering around Hanoi after a few hours sleep back at the Win hotel. We grabbed a cyclo (bike with a seat on the front) this morning which are not really suited to big westerners but definitely a lot of fun. It was good not having to worry about traffic and was probably better that we couldn't see what was happening behind us. Our rider was about 60 and he definitely found the going tough, although we didn't negotiate with him so he probabl...

This is a picture of our tour guide Lao. She is 16 and as you can see she is tiny although she is one of the tallest girls in her village. We were taken on a hike today to 3 villages. We stopped at her village of Lao Chai after kilometers of trekking through the jungle to a beautiful lunch and a taste of village life. We have trekked about 8k's all up and have come back very muddy and tired but amazed by the experience. The Hmong were lovely once we worked out ho...

After taking everyones advice that the weather would be warm in Sapa we only packed shorts and shirts. Since being here we have been cold and wet. We wandered town tonight for dinner and found that there were plenty of North Face shops. We got kitted out in jackets, shoes, pants and jumpers for $100 US. That is insane. Back home we would of paid close to $1000. At least we'll be fine on our 4 hour trek tomorrow. Walking today in sandals was not a fun experience a...

After a long trip we have arrived in Sapa. We snoozed on the train then arrived at Lao Cai and boarded our bus for the hour drive up the mountain to Sapa. Our hotel is on 1 of the highest peaks of the mountain village. We were greeted by about 20 H'mong girls as we exited the bus. They were beautiful and full of questions about Oz. The girls are tiny, probably about 4 feet tall. We had some brekky then a snooze as we have been lacking sleep. We met our black H'mo...

On our 3.5 hour bus trip back to Hanoi after our Halong bay adventure. It has been spectacular in every way except for the haze. We were hoping that we would have beautiful blue skies but that doesn't seem to happen in Vietnam with all the smog. We are very happy with our driver as he doesn't take the risks every other fool does on the road. Still we prefer not to watch. It is 150 k's back but you don't go anywhere fast by road here. We left the port at Halong...