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hello all
it has been a while since i last wrote a blog so i will tell you what has happened in my last week. we left viet tri for sa pa on the night train - it was horrid. a small cell like cabin with bunk beds that had hardly any space to breathe the pillows that were provided were rank so we all covered them with our jumpers, we slept fully clothed and hoped that we would make it to sa pa alive. i did managed to get some sleep in between the physco train conductor lady who insisted on coming in and ordering us around and the train stopping and starting - everytime it did so i felt as though i was going to fall out of by bunk. definately felt like being in a prison cell. however, we made it sa pa and it was raining!
first impressions of sa pa is that it was beautiful or at least it would have been had there not have been so much fog and drizzle(me being the clever person that i am who had brought two waterproofs to vietnam with me?had left both in viet tri) was not impressed. sa pa also looked some what like a large ski resort without the snow. we happily found an english pub where mairi's desire for cheese was fulfilled and we ate cheese on toast first piece of western food since we have been away! woohoo!
the next day we had to trek to where an ethnic village to where the black mau people lived, we liked to call them the black happening people, the trek was not so much of a trek more a walk on the road that a car or bus could easily have done! however, dressed in our plastic ponchos we made the best out of a bad situation. the views were stunning and the home stay was great. at the home stay we slept in the loft of their house, was quite cosy what with their being 10 of us in a very small and confined space. whilst the home stay was fun we did experience substantial rain and a massive thunder storm that lead me and annabelle to believe that there the roof was going to fall down or at least have a mini flash flood! as it happened we survived the night thankfully! only to wake up to a lot of wet mud everywhere! it was decided that we should take a brief walk around the near flooded village. this would have been fine in theory had we not nearly sunk several times when walking on the raised edges of the paddy field it was fine - pow - saved us yay! i did however, make it clear that i had not signed up for jumping and when i mean jumping, i mean frm one side of falling grass to another side with raging water beneath! ! !
all was good we spent the day again kitted up in plastic ponchos and hiked well slid down the mountainside. mairi successfully cut the power supply to the whole of vietnam well nearly - she grabbed on to the a pole that had an eletricity wire on it to save herself frm falling which meant the pole fell down temporarily! was great fun we arrived at the home stay covered in mud and smelling quite bad! this homestay was not as good as the previous one, the people were not as welcoming although that may have been that we were completely filthy and the shower was a bucket! brilliant!
anyway having survived another night of terenchial rain we were in doubt as to whether we would make it back to sa pa centre itself as the bus that was supposed to be collecting us couldnt make it down the path because of too much mud and would be too dangerous, the motorbike idea came up but i did suggest i couldnt really stay upright on a psuh bike so with my backpack mite not be the best of ideas! the other option was to walk 5k up hill which was steep and with somepeople only having shorts and trainers this was not popular either. but thankfully! the rescue jeeps came and saved us! hooray!
lara, kim and myself were in a four by four that had been used in the war our driver was brilliant altho we did veer near the end several times! we overtook the over car whose occupants were too scared and insisted on getting out at one particular point! we did come close to the edge on many occasions which was pretty nerve racking! and when they had to get out to fill the whole in the road with loose boulders that were lying around we realised how dangerous things were starting to get! we bypassed trees and boulders that had fallen frm the mountains and slipped all over the road! it is now known as the killer jeep journey. our main tour guide is actually now debating whether to do the jounrey again because of how dangerous it had been for us - i will be honest though i loved every minute! o yeah and our army car overheated so we had to take a 20 minute breather so it could gather up strength to get us the rest of the way home! yay!
back in sa pa we ventured to the english pub where we ate cheese on toast and drank hot chocolates before venturing out into the elements for shopping and then finally the dreaded night train for the return journey to hanoi where we would celebrate nadge's birthday!
will keep you posted on our experience in hanoi next time!
x x x
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