February 6th, 2010

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Saturday Feb 6 last day in Sapa

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Another stiff hike to the village of Lao Chai and Ta Vam. Roughly 20 people from our hotel were divided into groups of six each with a Hmong woman/girl as a guide. The as soon as we leave the gate each individually gets an unofficial Hmong woman/girl to walk the trek right alongside. They make sure that you watch for the dangerous spots and then at the end they expecvt you to purchase their handicrafts at outrageous prices. Most of these tribes ladies are from Lao Chai; they live here with the other mountain tribe the (Red) Dzao. The Hmong are usually nothing over 5 foot tall. The Dzao are nearly a foot taller, they wear the colorful red headdress. Today we went all downhill and then were picked up, after a lunch in the village, by the hotel bus to bring us back for an early dinner and the bus ride back to the rail station in Lao Cai. Our night train departs at 8.10 p.m. and arrives early Sunday morning in Hanoi.

Iris will take the night bus to Hue on Sunday and continue on via Hoi An, Dalat to Saigon. I plan to use the February 11 flight ticket from Hanoi to Saigon, that I had bought for both of us in early January. I will try and make a few trips in the Hanoi area and then we will probably meet up on the 15 th in Saigon when Iris flies home. I have seen Hue, Hoi Ann and Dalat in 2006.