Trekking in Sapa Day 3

When we woke up, our feet were really sore, and my blisters had turned into wounds. We wanted to be able to walk for the rest of the trip, so we talked to our guide about skipping today’s trek. That was fine, and we wouldn’t meet up with the group again until the evening. We headed down to a pharmacy to get some band-aids. It cost 7,000 dong for 10 pieces. Instead of trekking in the mountains, we hiked up to a viewpoint where we could see the entire city. It cost 15,000 dong per person to access the mountain. The climb was tough, almost as hard as an actual trek. It took us about an hour to reach the top, where we ran into a group of young people who were all family. They were super chatty and eager to take a group photo, so they could see themselves on our digital camera. On the way down, we passed by two Red Zao ladies selling jewelry, clothes, and patchwork quilts. They were really sweet, and Honny wanted to give them some money but didn’t feel like buying anything, so he played a little game where he pretended to lose. Back at the hotel, we found out we had a free lunch that we just managed to eat before a minivan came to take us to the train station in Lao Cai. We had to leave earlier than planned because the fog was getting really thick, which meant we had to wait at the train station in Lao Cai. The town isn’t far from the Chinese border, so we took a minibus for 3,000 dong per person up to the bridge between Vietnam and China. It was easy to look across the river into China, but there wasn’t much to see—no people or cars. The bus ride from Sapa to Lao Cai had my heart in my throat the whole way. The driver was speeding, and there were so many twists and turns that we almost ran over chickens, cows, kids, and a motorcyclist before we finally arrived.