Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Sapa

Me and the Dutchies out in Sapa
Local friend Mih who took us on the hike
Cat Cat Waterfalls
Up in the mountains in northern Vietnam. It's amazing up here, actually cold and feels like a small alpine village in the town of Sapa. I'm finally not sweating and for the first time in months am wearing pants and shoes.

Plenty of hiking up here around the scenery. Waterfalls, terraced rice paddies and some amazing local women who wear traditional outfits that actually look good. It's a utopia away from the madness of the rest of Vietnam, which was hot, full of pushy people and too many motorbikes.

I'm sticking around here for an extra day cause it's guaranteed to be good. The first two days were rainy and misty which wasn't the best for riding motorbikes around, but still had some good pics with the mist over the mountains. Today was actually sunny, with blue skies and was a reason to go swimming in waterfalls. Super cold water, but was refreshing.

I've been kicking it with two Dutch guys I met on the train and it's been a good time. We've got our own consort of local girls who follow us around trying to sell us local products and playing pool against us. Entertaining and we get to see some of the local culture through them. Big BBQ tonight with the locals.

Off to China in two days, to spend a month there. Had to pay $130 for my visa since I'm American, so going to get my moneys worth and see as much as possible. Looking forward to it and have been getting lots of chopstick practice in Vietnam.

No comments: