Once again winter ;-) (Day 89 of the world trip)

02.12.2019

I shouldn't have written it: O :D

This morning I woke up at 6:00 a.m. but even though the sunrise had already officially started, it was still dark in the room. As I cautiously moved the curtain to the side, I saw that it was cloudy/foggy outside and drizzling. Great :p

So it was better to go back under the warm blanket, because I had the premonition that the day didn't want to show its best side weather-wise^^

Actually, that would be okay, but it did mess up our plans a bit. Yesterday evening we had booked accommodation for tonight in Sapa and the plan was as follows:

Today we would check out, go to the city and explore the Cat Cat Village on foot. This is another hill tribe village where you can walk through the (residential) houses like in an open-air museum and see the old craftsmanship and the everyday life of the villagers (and of course there are now souvenir shops there ;-) ). There are still water wheels there that grind the rice with their power and also a few pretty little waterfalls <3

Tomorrow we would have breakfast, check out and store our things in the new hostel, then take the cable car up to Fansipan and walk the half hour from the top station to the summit cross. In the evening we would then take a bus or van to Lao Cai (about a 45-minute drive) to take the sleeper train to Hanoi there.

That actually sounds pretty cool, right? ^^

Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, the weather changed and well, today AND tomorrow it would be completely cloudy and drizzling with temperatures well below 10°C (and on Fansipan with snow and below freezing). What a shame!

When we had breakfast in full gear at the cold entrance door, which for some reason is always open (Jonas also ordered pancakes today. He knows what's good <3 ), we decided to take a bus to Hanoi tomorrow morning. So we would only have to plan the day today and could "escape" the weather tomorrow :D :D

After breakfast, we packed our things (we had dropped off our laundry the day before yesterday and got it back yesterday evening, still partially damp^^ so some pieces were hung over the mosquito net overnight ;-) ), watched a bit of YouTube under the warm blanket, and then checked out around 10:00 a.m.

We also asked if they could call us a taxi for the ride back to the city. It would take about half an hour and cost 200,000 Dong (50,000 Dong less than we had "negotiated" ourselves when we arrived :D ).

To pass the time, we treated ourselves to a game of billiards :) We had already played two rounds the day before yesterday, which was really fun! Today started out pretty cool too, but after about 10 minutes our taxi was already there. Almost a shame^^

On the drive back to the city, we saw some tourists in rain capes and with one of the local village women (with children) as a guide. They had apparently booked a trekking tour but had chosen a bad day for it. Cold, wet, muddy, and often slippery because of the clay - that doesn't sound ideal :p

Arriving in Sapa, we were taken to our guesthouse for tonight and were energetically greeted by the landlady. At the entrance, we had to take off our shoes and each received a pair of slippers. Pretty cool! Because the floor would be ice-cold with socks^^

The house is really pretty on the inside and with its furniture and staircase, it reminds me of a typical German old apartment with a certain charm in the furnishings that I could also find at my grandma's house. Bull's eye! ;-)

The bathroom is also okay - even with a boiler that is supposed to provide hot water after 15-20 minutes (we might test it tomorrow morning). The only drawback is that the bathroom has a ventilation hole in the wall, where a stone is missing from the facade, and at the same time you can't close the bathroom door, so the cold from outside seeps into the sleeping area...

But on the high bed there are TWO thick blankets, so you definitely won't be cold there^^

After checking in, we went out to give Sapa a chance without morning fog and see a few "sights". Then we would buy snacks for the 6-hour bus ride to Hanoi tomorrow. Our hostess would organize tickets for the bus tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. - perfect! :)

The first (of two :p) stops on our "sightseeing tour" was the Sun Plaza. It is located in a huge, colonial-style building consisting of three floors. On the ground floor, you can buy tickets for the tram that takes you to the starting point of the cable car that goes up the mountain (you could also walk the 3 km, but apparently the tram is worth it^^).

There are also a few shops there and on the second floor where you can buy winter clothes and trekking equipment. Adidas, Nike, and especially The North Face - the latter is actually from Vietnam, which I didn't know before :O - are offered there with price tags in yen (??) :D

In addition to clothes, you can also buy souvenirs and there is even a small "supermarket" where local products like rice wine, spices, but also imports like Nutella or Belgian chocolate are sold.

But my personal highlight was the big Christmas tree in the entrance hall <333 (okay, it wasn't a real tree but its design made it clear what it was supposed to represent :D ).

All in all, the Sun Plaza wasn't really worth it^^ On the third floor there are supposedly restaurants, but the escalator there was blocked, so I don't know if it's true. Oh, and separated by a small garden, you could also go to the city's only 5-star hotel. But yeah, it wasn't anything special - but to kill some time and have a look at the building itself, it was quite nice^^

Almost opposite the Sun Plaza is the old Stone Church. Especially Asians took selfies there, but since a few of the village women were sitting on the entrance stairs to sell their goods, we didn't go in or get closer :p

Instead, Jonas had the brilliant idea that we should treat ourselves to a hot chocolate and a piece of cake in one of the countless cafes :O <33 He is and remains the best :p :D :D

Said and done! In a cute cafe, whose outdoor terrace is built around a tree and whose interior was very cozy and inviting, we finally had the planned hot chocolate and for Jonas a piece of matcha cake and for me a banana cake, which was about three times as big as Jonas' piece but cost the same :p But of course, I shared it with him^^

After a fresh boost, we only went to the supermarket (to the same one we had already visited a few days ago^^), where we got snacks for tomorrow and a pot of instant soup for each of us to pass the time until dinner, and then back to the guesthouse.

Unfortunately, our hostess told us that there weren't enough interested people for the 8:00 a.m. bus tomorrow morning and it would therefore not run :( But we could leave at 1:30 p.m. However, when we asked where it would depart, we didn't get a sufficient answer. She would explain the address to us tomorrow when we check out... I found that a bit strange, but well. It will be fine :D

Back in the room, we didn't leave the spot under the blanket until it was time to go downstairs for dinner, while YouTube (bouldering and climbing videos on YouTube each last almost three hours, so there's a lot to watch :D) and soup kept us company.

The entrance area of the guesthouse is also the living room of the apparently four-person family. Like everywhere here, there doesn't seem to be any houses with heating (except maybe the 5-star hotel?), so the family sat on the sofa next to a portable heater. Wow!

When we went downstairs for dinner, only the mother and the maybe 7-year-old son were there. Homemade potato chips were offered to us, which were really delicious, and when we ordered the food, the mother disappeared into the kitchen while the boy watched a horror movie with violence on his phone, which might partly be rated FSK 16 :D

Earlier, the boy had already entertained the house with a whistle, and when we finally started eating, he threw paper planes around. I had a hot soup, so it took me a while to finish. Interested/bored or just to provoke us, the boy stood at our table, blew the shrill whistle of his whistle into our ears and threw the paper plane onto our table as if he was aiming at the soup.

The mother didn't notice everything, but when she looked in occasionally, she also didn't say anything, so it's no wonder that the boy takes a few liberties and tests his boundaries ;-) Nevertheless, I was glad when we could escape the whistle (he still blows it occasionally as I write this) :D

Tomorrow morning will be quiet, and at noon (hopefully on time^^), our bus will leave for Hanoi.

Although not much happened today, it was somehow nice to enjoy this "winter day" because from tomorrow on, we will have warm weather again for quite a while :D But I'm not really sad about it when we can move around outside again without wearing double jackets and double pants ;-)