Sapa

We just got back to Hanoi after spending three awesome days in the mountain in Sapa. The weather, scenery and people were completely different from anything else we've seen in Vietnam, which was a nice break. We felt cold for the first time since we arrived here a month ago, but still managed to really enjoy ourselves thanks to my cousin Antoine who was the perfect tour guide. The picture above is the view we had from our hotel. It was perched on the mountains and we even had our own fire-place in the room. Needless to say, it was incredible to wake up and be able to watch the fog roll into the valley every morning.

This spot (above) is probably my favorite we've seen all trip. Antoine took us there on our first day. We rented motor bikes and explored villages in the rain. When we got to the top of a hill, he made us climb down to this hidden spot. It cleared up right when we got there and we managed to get some great shots of the rice paddies. The whole mountain is carved out to grow rice and the color change year round.

Our second day, we followed our Mong tour guides (see above) to visit some local villages. They could not have been any nicer, and we really enjoyed hearing about their daily lives and their traditional dress. The different tribes each have their own language and traditions and you can see the diversity all around Sapa where they walk around, trying to sell things to tourists.

Finally, on our third day, we visited Antoine's hotel, saw him "in action" welcoming guests and even got to spend the afternoon using the pool and sauna before taking our night train back to Hanoi... all in all, not a bad deal!

We are in Hanoi for another day before heading to the Halong Bay where we will be spending one night on a boat. After that, we fly to Bali on the 6th and are already so excited to lounge on the beach and maybe learn to surf?