Again I have my alarm set for 8, and up I get, surprisingly fresh considering my rice wine consumption last night. We have pancakes again for breakfast, with local bananas, they taste the same but have seeds in the middle, are slightly more yellow in colour and have a stickier texture, but good all the same. We get to explore the village that we are in this morning before walking back up the rocky path to the main road later. We walk through the quaint village and pick up a couple of women, again. They walk with us for a good while before they give up and go back. We cross over an iron bridge over a river, it is rusting away, I am not convinced that I will be able to cross it, then I hear the 'beep beep' and a bike cruises past me over this bridge. Must be ok. There are holes in it and everything, sections that have just worn away over time. One of these days a bike is going to fall straight through it. We walk for another bit through the village, just watching how people are living their daily lives, before we head back to the river where the girls take off their shoes and go for a paddle.
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Lenh starts throwing rocks near to where I am, trying to splash me. She is so small that she is only throwing little rocks. I lift up on some what larger and hurl it towards her, she screams as she gets soaked by a wave of cold water. Ha, i'm mean. She then sets up rocks on a piece of wood that is on a large rock in the centre of the river and we stand on the shore and try to knock the rocks down. Do not underestimate how much fun this was. An hour passes easily and we are joined by the tour guide who drank with us last night. We check the time and we have to make our way back. As we pass through the village the girls buy some spicy snacks. It is like a stick made from rice, then covered in a spicy, oily sauce. I love it and grab a couple of packets for myself. Once back at the homestay my friends are doing their best to ruin my day. So with that I mind, and the fact that Lenh forgot what time is is, we decide to get bikes back up instead of walking the rocky trail. Good news for me. The bikes turn up, and I am on one and the 2 girls are on the other. Would you believe that this is my first time on a motorbike. I get on and the guy tells me to bunch up, there is a pace to hold on at the back. The road is not even and there are a few times, where had I not been holding on, I could very easily been dislodged and left crippled on the road. The bike doesn't go that fast as we weave our way up the winding road. It's nice to have the wind in my face and get to look down in to the valley as the sun peaks through the clouds. Off the bikes and on to the bus.
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As i'm on the bus I start thinking about the past few days. In particular I think about the home life of Lenh and her family. She is so happy despite her harsh and poor living conditions. It is a real credit to her as a person that she is so positive and open. In the western world people complain about so many things even when they have so much. Yet here, nobody complains, they are all just happy for what they do have. I have never felt any obligation or emotional pressure to give money to charities. It in not something that I have experienced, until now. I feel this urge to give Lenh some money, because something so small to me, will make such a massive difference to her in her life. I think I will give her something later, she has been so kind to us for the past few days, her personality and humour have really made the trip for me.
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We get back to the hotel that we were at the first day. Due to us leaving the homestay too late we get lunch here and I am told I can get a shower. That was a good decision, even though I didn't have any clean clothes to get in to. It was the best shower I have had in Vietnam. All my showers have either been cold, or of such little pressure that I don't even feel like I am getting wet. This one on the other hand, piping hot and good strength. We just wait in the hotel for the rest of the day because our bus is at 6 and I am struggling to walk properly. I get the chance to talk to Lenh on her own and I give her 500,000 Dong, its only about £20, but I wanted to do it. She takes the money and doesn't even look at it, just thanks me very much and puts it in her purse, I feel she is so thankful for anything that she gets. I feel good that I can maybe give something back to her after she has given me so much over the past few days.We get dinner before we are delivered back to the bus station on bike.
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This time when we get on the bus we are given an allocated seat. So I am on the bottom bunk this time. I was hoping I could choose the back, maybe for some more leg room, but alas, no. The journey home is much the same as the journey there, except I move to a seat to watch the kung fu movie, that is until someone goes down and get the driver to turn it off. I was not amused. I sleep better this time, probably due to being so tired after Sapa. At one point when the bus stops I get out to go to the toilet, when I return I hear squealing. As I get round the side of the bus there is a woman with a box of baby pigs. They have been in the back of the bus, in the storage for the whole journey. Unbelievable! I got to play the same game of flick the cockroach, until I have up and pull my buff over my eyes. Hopefully I'll survive, ha.
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When we get back to Hanoi the driver doesn't wake anyone, god knows how long we were there before I woke up. When I do I gather my stuff and wake Alex, and Yasmin an Irish girl we met in Sapa. We bundle out of the bus and are surrounded by taxi drivers, quoting crazy prices. We eventually agree to 50,000 each, even though it is over priced, it is too early to argue, though he started at 100,000 each. Back to the hostel at 6.30