Sunset

Kayaking

Next we did a little kayaking. It was pretty slow going as most of the group had never rowed a boat before so Hop had a tough time keeping us all together. We got out to swim which was heavenly since its been sweltering all day. I had my snorkel stuff.....didn't see a ton. A school of little tiny fish and Daren saw the tentacles of a big jellyfish. Gladly that was our only encounter with those. From the boat we did see a ton of huge jellyfish so I guess were lucky we didn't run into any. I really wish I could just kayak around this place and explore for weeks. So many little islands and so much to see! We also rowed by this little fishing villages. Hop told us that there are about 1500 people living on boats and houses floating on Styrofoam out here. What a crazy way of life!

Surprise cave

This was our first stop. Probably the biggest cave I have ever been in. My favorite thing about it besides sheer size was the ceiling. It got that scalloped look from being carved out by waves of the sea.

Halong Bay

Today we went to the eastern coast of Vietnam to a place called Halong Bay. We went on an overnight mini cruise on a junk boat....pics to come. There were about 18 other people on board from 9 different countries so that was pretty cool. There are 1900 rock formations out in this bay...its very unearthly and totally stunning. We got to eat of ton of really good authentic Vietnamese food as well.....which all sounded a little creepy, lots of squid and fish and prawns with legs and heads still on but was actually very tasty. Our guides name was Hop and the ship capitam introduced himself as Mr. T :)

Public transport

Haha....

Marguerite garden junk ship

So theses our mighty junk ship. Treated us well. Excellent air con which was necessary. I think the high was only 82 degrees but with about 100% humidity. You can see our excellent guide Hop there. We had him take our picture and at first we were just standing next to eachother and then he said ....no...more love! So we put our arm around eachother and then he said ...no....with the feet. So we were dying laughing and putting our toes touching. After that this lady came up in her row boat with a floating convenience store. Novel at first but annoying in the end. Our room was on the bottom floor and I had to shut the window and close the curtain because they kept floating by saying "shopping?" And "you buy from me?"

Scooter time!

Today we rented scooters and scooted all around Sapa and the surrounding areas. The scenery was again really beautiful and theres nothing like enjoying it with the wind in your hair on a "hog" as Daren called our scooter :) Daren tried to help out a woman with a huge bundle of sticks on her back but through all the gesturing she wasn't too keen. We also saw some cool animals. This is what could be classified as a low rider lok (pig in Vietnamese). Just like life we tried to suck every ounce out of our experience and ran out of gas a mile outside town. Luckily we were able to buy a little bit of petrol from a local. Had a wonderful day!

Dinner!

When we got back we went to the market where the villagers come and got a bunch of different fruit and some yummy coconut bread and had dinner with an amazing view in our room. I kept hoping we would get a show too if a thunderstorm would roll it. No luck....well until three am when I woke up to the sound of heavy rain on the roof. There was a little thunder and lightning and it rained for the rest of the night.

H'mong hill tribes

We got settled in and then headed out with a local on a guided walking tour of three H'mong villages nearby. The villages are in the valley floor surrounded by steep mountains on either side. They have carved their corn and rice fields right into the side of them. We saw lots of people out working the fields with their hoes and water buffalo. People of all ages....even a lady with a baby on her back. Our guide told us that the villagers come into Sapa one of every 5 days to sell their produce and buy what they need. We stopped for lunch and had some wonderful Pho....I can see why everyone is so healthy around here. Hard work and an excellent diet. We walked about 6 miles through the villages and then returned to Sapa by van.

Sapa Queen

We arrived in a van just like the one pictured. And all these little h'mong ladies literally ran to sell us things as we got out of the car....very overwhelming....it was entertaining to watch it over and over again as others arrived. Our hotel was $8 a night so we obviously weren't expecting much.....turned out well! Place was empty so we got the best room in the house! Amazing view and decent accomodations. We found out later that the bathroom lights didn't work and we only had one tiny lamp that sort of worked :) We're still totally jet lagged though so we went to bed at 9 so it wasn't really a problem. All worth it for the view!