I had never seen a train in Vietnam in this or any of the previous visits. There was the usual confusion getting on the right platform and the right train. The train was made up into 12 cars, a baggage car and a wagon for the light motor bikes. We shared a 4 bed sleeper compartment with a young Scottish couple. The berth was hard but we all slept reasonably well. The train left right on time at 5 minutes to 10 p.m. and arrived at 6.30 a.m. It was another 25 k.m. bus ride to the hotel where we could clean up and get breakfast. The hotel has a superb view of the valley and the mountain ridges the highest peak is above 10,000 feet and they get an occasional dusting of snow. The aboriginals here are the Black Hmong and there a couple other ethnic minorities here. They all wear colorful embroidered traditional dress and silver jewelry. The women and girls hawk their handicrafts in a rather aggressive manner. The men leave you in peace. But don’t we always? After breakfast we took a serious hike down to Cat Cat village. The air was crisp, morning clouds were drifting low over the valley, the smells of cow dung and wood fires made it feel like I was hiking on a fall afternoon in the Alps. The pink peach blossom branches are being gathered now and shipped to Hanoi and elsewhere for the Tet celebration. The terraced rice fields are now barren in the dry season but a sight to see in a few more months when they change to a bright green. Tomorrow we go on an all day hike and have lunch in the valley.