The following day, we went to a delightful French cafe for breakfast to chill out and have a good coffee as this week had been a little stressful for both of us with pending job interviews and offers. I left Emily in the cafe to prepare for her interview, and headed down to a small village call Cat Cat, supposedly a 2 km walk, which turned out to be 4 km effort down and back up a hill. This was supposed to be on the 3rd day itinerary for any trek in the area, but I decided just to do it by myself rather be guided around the small paths and villages. The thought of getting lost sometimes attractive as it gets you away from the tourist track, and usually no one offers for you to buy something. ‘Shopping’ is almost a rhetorical question now rather than a pleasurable verb, as every few steps someone approaches carrying their multiple goods and greeting you with a high pitched ‘shopping?’! Cat cat valley was a nice break from Sapa, which seems to have cottoned on to the trekking bug with a frenzy, and expanded at break neck pace. It was interesting to see hotels next to each other, same name, just with a number after them. It’s as if the government has just built a lot of rooms, then forgot they had to market them. There’s a subtle comedy to the pace of expansion here – plenty of signs with English translations straight from google translate. Being a boy, I didn’t get hassled to buy bags and clothes – it was nice just to wander down the dirt roads which were now muddy paths with frequent land slides from the seasonal rain.
Getting back to Sapa, I met up with Emily for a nice lunch overlooking the rice paddy valleys below. We had been on the move quite a bit the last few days so it was nice to stop, read emails, catch up on news, and Skype home.
We met up with Nicky (our new Dutch friend) for our transfer back to Loa Chai for the train. It’s amazing how tour operators smash various groups together in the same bus to save money. After a very quick dinner (the train was suppose to be at 8.10pm, but was hastily brought forward to 7.30pm), we hustled onto the train and were quietly surprised to get the delux carriage, despite paying the ‘poor travellers’ price – bottled water and ceramic cups, as well as neon advertisements in the rooms. Unfortunately being at the back of the train made it incredibly bumpy, and together with the 4.30am arrival time, made for be little sleep.

Arriving at 5am, we got a taxi into town, and headed for our hotel which we had stayed in before. It’s a very nice place (a budget killer), but since Emily had an interview the following morning, and all our clothes were drenched, we were stoked we booked it!
After some breakfast I headed off to get Emily’s rat-eaten bag fixed. It’s a great bag as it clips to the outside of our Macpac packs and has clips to easily carry it on the front. I managed to find a small Vietnamese bag/canvas tailor to fix it for 2 dollars. After a lot of sign language, and gesticulating widely, he had managed to patch both holes beautifully.

That night we headed back to one of our favourite restaurants, a busy food court style place with a huge menu. The food in Vietnam is an attraction in itself; it’s fresh with an amazing variety of styles which change as you move down the country. With full tummies, we headed to the Water Puppet theatre, a Hanoi icon. We were packed in the theatre with a hundred other white faces, to watch a slightly comical ‘Punch and Judy style’ show; a myriad of puppets on long poles controlled by 11 ‘actors’ behind a bamboo screen. There was a comical interaction with the music group and the puppets, who took the opportunity splash them as much as possible.
The following morning was spent doing interviews back home – the wonders of Skype! We then headed to the French quarter, a district dominated by large French colonial style buildings, most which now holds museums and large fancy hotels. It was nice to appreciate the architecture which seemed to be a magnet for wedding photography; 4 couples on the same street outside the old Metropole hotel, with the brides getting changed in a makeshift booth in a nearby park. The New Zealand embassy was around this area, but as with many around world was located in an office block, rather than a beautiful house. It’s a shame that the majesty of embassy’s has gone a little.
We headed back to our hotel who had organised (and paid for – YAY!) a transfer to the train station. We felt a little posh, having a bell boy show us to our train carrying bags. Defiantly not used to this style of travel but appreciative of it none the less.

Overnight Hard sleeper train here we come !