Sapa - in the mountains of Lao Cai

Then the sleeping bus continued to the northwest of Vietnam - to Sapa, a small town in the mountains in the province of Lao Cai. The sky remained gray and rainy, somehow it doesn't seem to be sunny in Vietnam. My bus started at 2 p.m., it was strange to lie in a kind of 'bed' in the bus, but with a blanket it was quite cozy. Plastic bags were distributed when boarding the bus for the shoes. They were not allowed to be worn on the bus. The beds were arranged like bunk beds in three rows. I was lying at the top by the window and found it quite cozy. There was WiFi;-) at least partially. We made 2-3 stops for food and restroom, and arrived in Sapa around 8:30 p.m. I had booked a homestay there, a room with a local family, a bit outside, a few villages away. So I had to take a taxi. The streets were quite rural, so it took us about minutes for 9km. But at some point we couldn't go any further because a huge machine blocked the way. Fortunately, the taxi driver called my accommodation and then my host came to pick me up and carried my heavy backpack. Then we had to walk a long way, 15-20 minutes. It was a steep narrow path, I almost slipped because it was so muddy, it was pitch dark and in the middle of nowhere. We passed a small 'village' - a few small huts and animals. The dogs growled and barked at me angrily. I was glad when we finally arrived. It was like an old farmhouse, everything was very simple and no one was there. The host made me tea and noodles because I was hungry. There was still a dog there, so at least I wasn't completely alone. I had a private bedroom. It was quite cold, so I was glad about the heated blanket in my bed. The next morning I was woken up by the loud rain. 'Great' I thought. Fortunately, it stopped raining after breakfast. A group of English people were still there, but they checked out after breakfast. So I decided to go hiking there on my own. The view was of course great: rice terraces everywhere. The mountain peaks couldn't really be seen due to the fog. The path was quite muddy. After a few meters I met a local girl who offered to accompany me to the waterfall. So I walked with her through bamboo forests, past rice terraces, downhill, uphill to the waterfall. Then we continued over a bridge to a village where she lived. She offered to show me her house. It was more like a hut. I wanted to take off my dirty shoes, but she said it was okay. In the hut, her parents, two younger brothers, and her older brother with a baby on his lap were sitting on small stools and an old bed around a fire, in which a plastic bag was burning...it was quite dark. There was nothing else - no furniture or rooms or anything. There was still a ladder going up - presumably the 'bedroom'. We walked a bit further, then she, La, the 13-year-old girl, wanted me to buy something from her (bags, hairbands, bracelets). So I bought a little bag, she gave me bracelets as a gift. I gave her 200,000 Dong for that, about 7.60€, I had the impression that was a lot of money for her. A bit further I met an American guy again, with whom I had shared the taxi the night before. So I went with him and a few people from his hostel to have lunch and then walked back to our accommodations through a few villages - since my accommodation was a bit outside the village, I got lost of course and took an hour longer to get back. In the evening, I went to have dinner with the same people at another local family's house. There was rice, vegetables, spring rolls, and rice wine. It was really delicious and we also learned a Vietnamese toast there: Mot hai ba yo. It was also very tasty and we had a fun evening.