Hue to Hanoi to Sapa to Hanoi

So Grant did end up pulling a sicky, he is a sooky little girl after all. So Alan went out on a moto for the day, he saw the countryside and some other cool old stuff about how the Vietnamese used to farm and where elephants fought tigers to amuse the emporers.

That night we took the night train to Hanoi, another awful road! We slept a little between the sudden jolts of a random judder bar in the middle of the road for no apparent reason. So we got to Hanoi, and were told that more than a day in Hanoi was a waste, that we should spend 3 days in Sapa and then come back and fly to Laos, "sounds like a plan" we said. Just meant we had to kill a day in Hanoi. We waited in line for 90 minutes to see the embalmed body of President Ho Chi Minh, not worth it, but a good time killer. Then went to see a Pagoda, that was cool, it had a big ass drum which we really wanted to whack to see how loud it was. Then we went to KOTO restaurant, which is like Jamie Oliver's kitchen for underprivileged kids, except they're all Vietnamese and actually have no hope and not out of choice. Good food. Then sat by the lake, and walked around a bit, then ate dinner (Grant had roast pigeon, not much meat but tasty) and off to Sapa on the train we went.

So Sapa was pretty cool, it's 1650 metres high, and looks over this enormous valley. Photos don't show you the enormity of it, so we won't put one on. We got there and went for a wee wander of about 10-12 kms down into the valley about 600 metres down, with lots of hilltribes trying to sell us their handiwork, with our giude Tao and a couple of German guys. Apparently we were quicker than most others so were all done by 2:30. So we went down to the river and Alan had a swim, and we watched a couple of buffalo fighting. Then we went to a bar in the local hilltribe village. Alan shot a crossbow (he was pretty good, maybe he'll get on the SWAT team in the police force) and then watched the owner of the place whack the shit out of his monkey (it was an actual monkey, no metaphor there you dirty people!) which was pretty cruel. Then we went and drank beer up at the homestay and had a few rice wines, well Alan had a few (stuck to the Beers), Grant had about 10-15. So it was a good night.

Mot, Hai, Ba... Zo!!! (One Two Three... Drink!!!)

Woke up in the morning without a hangover, we want the recipe for this rice wine stuff. It's quite difficult to do so we decided not to pursue. After Alan devoured about 70 Billion pancakes, off we went at around 9:30 up a big hill, then down a big hill. This happened a few times, and we were all done by 2:00 again. So we got back to Sapa town, walked around it, had a nap, had food, had a few beers, but it was pretty quiet so went to bed.

The next day we went down to the CatCat village, this was only a two hour walk. Saw a waterfall and got attacked by sandflies. I don't know how, but we managed to kill about 6 hours until the bus. Beer was involved of course, but not too much. So the bus arrived to take us to the train station and we get on...

And now the fun begins...
So the train leaves at 9 PM, and is supposed to arrive at 6 AM. However, a freight train ahead of us derails and we stop at about midnight, thinking nothing of it we go back to sleep. At 6AM we wake up and find out we still haven't moved. A word that starts with F and rhymes with duck came into our heads a few times. So we missed our flight by about 5 hours. So here we are in Hanoi, bored, hungry, in need of another Halida (this beer is the best in Vietnam in our educated opinion as we have tried every beer possible).
We got a flight for the next morning, so not too much time lost.
LAOS HERE WE COME!