Homestay homies

So the 6.30 bus to Sapa was a sleeper bus. And it turns out a sleeper bus is quite fun; firstly it’s shoes off at the door this is your house for the next 6 hours you know, then you get a bed, pillow and a blanket. Snug. Throw in a bunch of mates and you’re in for a great time. Jack the giant got the whole back row of three beds to himself, traveling in style has nothing on him…..

Once we arrived, had food eaten with more crappy chopsticks technique, and found accommodation we went shopping for snacks. Now as a pair we’ve always been good at snack shopping covering all bases of savoury and sweet but as a group we are powerful. Anyway we stayed at Zizi’s Homestay up in the mountains for a “proper authentic” taste of Sapa life. Animals walking by, mosquito nets, big communal sleeping area (for guests only), mattresses on the floor, and a litter of puppies.

Big thanks to whoever told us to bring warm clothes because it was so cold. And damp. Double socks and sleeping in jumpers was the dealio.

Sapa is in the north west of Vietnam, high in the mountains and its beautiful countryside made up of tribes each speaking their own language grows rice.

Rice field and bamboo forest trekking is the deal in Sapa, so thats what we did on Friday 12th. Luckily we were able to use wellie boots Zizi had, and thank fuck we did because a trek here is not like a trek in the UK. Mud. Thick mud. Slippery mud. Deep mud. For 4 hours. We were joined by some locals too who made us little animal gifts out of grass and helped when we got stuck in the mud, how kind. Well No. Not how kind. It was all a sales tactic. A bloody expensive one. “I help you, you help me. You buy”. A bag, scarf and 500k lighter and we returned back to the homestay crying. Though we did get free friendship bracelets thrown in. Highlights of the trek were the bamboo forest, the waterfall and the constant breaking into song. There is a song for every trekking mood.

After the madness of Halong Bay it was nice to detox up in the country. Amelie taught us how to play a card game called Cambio and we drank coffee all day. Most of the bill at check out was coffee. Like, Zizi’s coffee was the best so far.

On Saturday 13th we hung about all day, had dinner down in a fancy cafe after walking a mile in the rain avec backpacks to find it and caught the 10pm night bus back to Hanoi arriving at 3.50am. The bus was rammed there were people sitting in the isles and everyone was cold and soaked from getting caught in the rain. We went back to central backpackers hostel where we were able to sleep in the movie room on old bean bags until 8am and get our laundry done. Nicola had completely run out of clothes. As a group of 6 we descided to continue travelling on South together to Ninh Binh on Monday so stayed at Central for another night. – If your looking for a good place to stay then go here, super friendly staff, happy hour and free beer everyday. Plus Bill (real name Dux) translated a letter for us into Vietnamese, so we did his English homework for him.

The Sunday before we left for Ninh Binh we hung out in Hanoi, went to the Post it Coffee cafe and took the other guys to the railway street cafe to see the train and for more banana coffee. I’m not sure what they put on the coffee over here, crack maybe? Who cares we’ll have another. We also finally found a gym in Hanoi.

Monday 15th

We took the 8am bus to Ninh Binh, a short 2 hour trip and stayed at TA Mountain Homestay. Ninh Binh is like Halong Bay except no water. Just huge limestone rocks erupting from the ground. Insane. As a group we hired bikes and went to watch the sun set and had to climb 670 huge steps up for the privilege only for the sun go behind a big mountain. Obviously of course Jack is a pro at riding bikes. Nic, not so much, sticking at a sensible 30-35kph.

Tues 16th.

So we’re currently on our way to Phang Nha on yet another night bus, there really is no better way to travel….except when the toilet is 50 degrees and dangerously blocked, one big bump in the road and I reckon it’s game over. After a late start today due to some group horoscope reading, accent impersonating and a flawless rendition of the rap from ‘My Humps’ by The Black Eyed Peas by Jack, Will and Bree we decided to have a chilled day (backpacking is tiring, really) and headed into Ninh Binh town for lunch, where Jack bought a banana and a pineapple shirt (2 separate garments, not one really shit fruit salad one).

The last few days have been filled with laughter and Cambio. Where Jack of course is good at yet another game and Nicola is yet to win a game, however is showing great improvement since first learning. We have played at every opportunity waiting for the bus, waiting for dinner, before bed, evening entertainment, in bars and in the tattoo shop……