Vietnam: The hills of Sapa

 After the (fairly ) rushed pace of the Harlong Bay tour I took a days break in Hanoi to relax before booking an overnight bus to the mountainous region of Sapa.

After the unique experience of taking the sleeper bus, I took a quick snooze before heading to explore the mountain town. The first impression was one of overwhelming beauty, in Sapa huge alps like hills are cut with layer after layer of rice paddies. Tribe people wander the town in the most colourful outfits imaginable and the rivers that run through the forests turn into spectacular waterfalls.

I started my first day's trek by exploring one of the local villages, where they sold the most lovely clothes imaginable. I then treked down through the town to a nearby waterfall, by this point I was ready to have lunch so I sat enjoying the scene and talked to the friendly locals who provided my lunch. They advised me to stick around until the performance of a local traditional dance, in which the tribal girls danced coquettishly with their male counterparts.

To round off the day I took a walk through the hills that ran from the centre and found a particularly lovely and isolated trail through the undergrowth. I stopped by the nearby river and just enjoyed the view.

After a night spend teaching English to local orphans and enjoying the delicious food there I took a tour to the famous flower market, where every possible product, animal and item of clothing vied with the local people to be the most spectacular sight there. We then took a tour through a traditionally village before returning to relax and enjoy the Christmas festivities in the local town square.

I took one final day to relax and wander around the region of Sapa before booking my bus on to my next destination.