Hanoi - Day 6

Back to Hanoi early morning... 5am..@@ sleepy... The sky was dark, where's our driver? What! nobody picked us up from the station : ( The Hotel reception must have forgotten about us. We took a cab outside the station to Hotel. What!!! another shock! hahaa the Hotel door was closed, we have to knock hard on the door. Fortunately, the noodles stall beside was opened, and the boss helped us to call the Hotel staff up to open the door. : D

The blurred Hotel staff, opened the door with his sleepy eyes. He looked awakened upon seeing us : D wide awake! Apologized and apologized..ok we understand & forgave his overslept. We were only here to rest our feet before flying back to SIN so it's ok, they were kind enough to give us a place to shower and freshen up.

1st, warm our stomach : ) a hot noodles soup (Pho). The stall beside Hotel, we must show our gratitude & patronized the helpful boss **P Indeed good pho, great soup base cooked over charcoal stove! We gonna missed this Pho thingy soon..

Our all time fave, Pho

Enjoy! : ) yummy yummy

It always taste better to cook over charcoal stoves

The stall just beside Splendid Star Suite Hotel

ION, Hanoi : D

Bean curd along the street

We have this back home too, but always nice to enjoy a wonderful dessert along the street : D (my new verdict on street food)

Let's try the Hanoi "Tau Huai" 

Oh..The pretty flower girl : )

The journey ended with lots and lots of good memories : ) I want to be back again. I love Hanoi : ) Going to ditch BKK for Hanoi : D

Thanks to my sis who's willing to accompany me, and tolerate my nonsense : p (I tolerate her more, I think).

I hope/wish someday I would meet someone who loves to travel the way I do, and share our common dreams : )

Hanoi - Sapa Day 5

Cold cold morning...has been raining since our bkf. Hope rain will stop soon and not affect our trekking  : (

After 1hr of waiting, finally rain stopped but was still misty and cold.

Cloudy and cold in the morning

Fansipan Mountain 

The sky getting clearer as we walked down the road. It will be a long trek, abt 7kms from Sapa to Lao Chai. A village of Black Hmong ethnic group, and exploring the Muong Hoa valley.

The beginning of the trek, smooth & easy.

As we walked farther... it getting foggy again.. can hardly see what's ahead. Luckily, was only for a short while and the fog moves passed us. Yea! : p

Misty and foggy 

 Then we saw a white horse haha... must have been lost in the mist, poor horsey : )

Aha..to my surprised, a black Hmong old lady gave me this ''horse'' that she made out of some grass (she picked down a steep slope). Creative! There's 3 of them (Hmong) following us all the way : D they offered to help us to their village.  We were worried initially, but after some chatting along the way we found that they were really helpful & friendly : )  (hmm..wonder do they know how to make a piggy? kk..) 

The creative grass horse

We came across one of the house along the way, a group of kids came running out. Welcoming us with songs and dance :D so cute. A family of 8 kids...haha interesting, leading by the elder sister (the 1 in pink,I guess) started to sing & dance. How could we resisted these adorable children. They are so pure & innocent kids. Heartwarming... : )

The village kids

 1..2..3...4..5..6..7..8... any more? hahaha.. stop at 8. Reminds me of movie"The Sound of Music" the 8 kids with the teacher singing & dancing across the alps. And this pic has became one of my fave : )

do..re..mi..fa..so..la..ti..do..So-Do ^^)

Here our cool guy..he resemble a HK actor (Donny Yen) : D He's a local Vietnamese guide, full of inspiration, ambitious and passionate in his work. At 32, married with 2kids; he owns a tour agency and also a teacher to the ethnic people. He taught them how to be a Professional tour guides in Sapa and recruit those with potential to be a guide. He reads a lot books and research on internet, getting to know how people lives outside Vietnam. Constantly improving himself and bringing jobs opportunities to the people. I hope he would be successful and continue helping people with his positive attitudes ; )

Our young and ambitious tour guide, acting cool.. 

It's a long journey down the Village, the weather was getting hotter. Started striping layer by layer hahaha 1st layer out. : p
Once more, the Hmong gave me another surprised. A hand made heart shaped wand from grass again : ) so cool .. : D

Thanks you so much for this creative gift!

Heart warming.. : )

The beautiful Valley

Finally we arrived at Lao Chai after a long walked, a combination of smooth and steep trek. Phew... I almost fell of the steep slope, it was slippery after the rain and steep! What's more, the walk way was only one foot wide (it's definitely, only meant for the Hmong) so narrow path.. I was blessed to be with the 3 Hmong, they held on to my hand and almost carried me down the slope : D embarrassing..no pic ofcoz : p Thanks to our cool guide who choose this challenging trek : (

Can you imagine, the Hmongs have to walk up and down 4hrs per day to town just to earn some money. Ofcoz they were used to it, but it's really hard earn money. Some days, they earned nothing : ( with a tired body still they have to walk all the way home....

The mountains, the streams & paddies.. beautiful

The old hanging bridge to the Village

Tough terrain & magnificent scenery

Time to take a break and have our lunch. Once again, we were crowded by groups of Hmong. Trying to sell us handicrafts. Ofcoz, we have to buy something from the 3 Hmong who helped us all the way. : )

Somehow, at that moment I felt contented and truly appreciate what I have : ) Life is tough, but I have learnt that nothing is tougher than your will power : ) The spirit of the Hmong, the children, the guide just moved me completely.

My purchase : p a silver bangle, a pouch.
Free friendship bands from the Hmong.

The Hmong ladies waiting to sell their stuff outside the cafe

Children in the Village School. 

The strong Hmong lady

The nicely terraced paddies, looks like a tiered cakes 

We ended the trekking after visiting few more tribal people, the Hmong, Zay & Red Zao. Took a van ride back to town, we not going to walked up the mountain...that's a killer : D

Back in Hotel, do a quick washed up and check out. Another 1hr van ride to Lao Cai for our over night train back to Hanoi. I would definitely miss this place : )

Another 9hrs..train ride... see you in Hanoi.

Hanoi - Sapa Day 4 (Part II)

 Back to Hotel. Some pic of our impressive big room : ) with creative & cute towels fold.

After a rest, we need to walk back to town for our dinner. The up & down slope to Hotel  was quite a challenge err... "heavy" : D It was kind of steep,  forgotten to take a pic of that : ( We saw some Hotel guests running up the slope and started  panting and trying hard to catch their breath : D funny! We were like them too..at the end :D

Dinner at the local Restaurant, Red Camelia. Ambient was good, but the food...big disappointment. Looks nice but tasteless.

Dinner at the local restaurant. 

Unsatisfied with our dinner....walked across the street and packed some BBQ stuff back to Hotel. Hahaha having our 2nd round at the Hotel balcony.  It was cold, good time for some Vodka (what a good excuse for a drink)  : p

Local vodka to go along with BBQ :p

zzzzz.... sleep again.. can't wait for 2nd day programs : D more walking & trekking.