Here's where the city meets the country side. The night before we packed up and went down to the train station to catch a 9 hour overnight ride to Sapa. Sapa is an old French built village that is home to a native tribe called the Hmong people. They are indigenous to the area and are considered like the aborigines of Australia or the native Indians of North America.
I've never been on a real train on an extended ride so this was very exciting for me. Once we got on board and settled down in our cabin we departed at 8:30 pm and headed to Sapa. I couldn't go to sleep yet so Tam and I headed over to car 1 to have a few drinks. After that, I turned in with my iPod on high to drown out the sound of the train over the tracks. Even though it was a bumpy and loud ride I slept like a baby. We were than woken up at 5:30am by the train operator that we'll be arriving soon. After departure we meet up with our tour operator and took a bus up the mountain. We checked into our hotel at 7:30 am and grabbed breakfast. Sapa is also a central meeting point for backpackers as there was probably several hundred European and American backpackers in this little town prepping for their trek.
At 9 am our operator took us on a 2.5 hour morning hike to go look at some waterfalls and tour around Sapa, after lunch we again went on another 3 hour hike up a mountain near town. I was very impressed with my dad and the others for completing this hike. I was exhausted after this hike but for an 83, 75, and 63 year old in our group to make it with me I was very proud of them.
Over and out!
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Vietnam - Day 5 photo album
