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We woke up to the sounds we figured we were going to hear first thing in the morning. Loud rooster calls, these chickens were everywhere! Roaming through the house, outside , in cages etc.
It wasnt too hard to get up because it was chilly in bed all night. There wooden walls have holes cut out for windows and it's open to the outside as well as no heating. We're talking a very very basic house. It was pretty much 2 rooms. One room had 4 beds in each corner, a little table in the middle if the room, a tv and that's it. The other room was the kitchen but there was no cupboards or counters. It was a large fireplace where they cooked everything over the fire, food was prepared on the ground as the woman just squatted and cut things on a little cutting board then of course chickens roaming. Some in cages in the kitchen ( they were next for dinner) and some outside. A very simple life that's for sure!
So after hearing the lovely sound of chickens first thing in the morning we took a look outside and the early morning view was unbelievable. The fog sits so low were in the clouds and can't see much past the house next to us. Buffalo are roaming around, pigs ,dogs etc. very picturesque.
Our legs were kind of sore from the day before. We obviously aren't used to hiking in such rugged terrain. What we didn't know was today's hike would be much worse or more interesting, depending on how you look at it. The early morning fog makes everything super wet so basically we walked on a very muddy rocky slip and slide for the day! Fighting for our lives and a ton of close calls! Hiking on edge of a muddy very slippery mountain will wake you up fast! We were amazed at how the local woman hiked in sandals with babies strapped on their backs! Needless to say we had no excuses but it was very fun!!
So after another 6km hike we made it to another village for lunch as buffalo strolled by us and the clouds lifted. However i guess we couldn't end our hike without being stocked another few minutes by more sad faces saying "you buy from meeee" haha. It was cute the first 2 minutes we arrived and got annoying very quickly so as soon as our bus came we pretty much ran onto it!
For any of you motion sickness people you would've just loved the bus ride down. Racing around cliffs (with no railings ) with turns every 20seconds for about 45minutes until we finally reached the town to have dinner and hop on our train back to crazy Hanoi.
On the train we shared a room with a couple from south Africa they were lots of fun we had some great conversation some beer and headed to bed as we had to get up at 5am which came very quickly!
So as soon as we step off the train it's time to get bombarded with taxi drivers all wanting to drive us ( and of course at a low price " just for you " as they say ). So we try to pick the one that looks most reliable and always determine price before you get in. But of course we ended up getting a taxi that took us the long way and apparently didn't know some major streets were closed (even though we knew this 2days ago!) so we angrily got out paid our $2.50 and walked the rest. Ughhh so frustrating sometimes.
Found our way back to our amazing hostel had our breakfast buffet and were off to ha long bay to celebrate new years!
Happy new years everyone! May 2012 bring lots of happiness !
T&M
- comments
Janice McDonald Happy New Year Ty and Michelle! So great to read your postings and have a chance to enjoy your adventures too!
tylermichelle Thanks Janice :)