Lost in Vacation: Sapa

Hi folks,

The weather is playing pranks on us at the moment. After having a wonderful couple of
days at Ha Long Bay we returned to Hanoi. As soon as we arrived it started raining cats
and dogs and didn't stop until we left two days later. There were heavy floodings and
about 20 people died in Hanoi. We heard that it even made it into the news in Austria.
But luckily it didn't affect our part of town too much- the kneedeep water on the
streets didn't seem to be something extraordinary for most of the locals.

As we unfortunately had to skip the Parfume Pagoda because of the heavy rain, we left earlier
than planned to Sapa. We took a night train and spent the money we saved by not visiting
the Parfume Pagoda on some soft sleeper tickets. Was a great idea because we had a night
of good sleep during the 10 hour train ride. The Chinese businessman who had to share the
4 bed-compartment with us probably didn't, as we had reached a serious level of
smelliness by then. :)

Paid 2 Dollars for the 3h-Busride from Lao Cai to Sapa. The armada of Busdrivers and their attendents will try to charge 10 at the train station. Just walk away in direction of the public bus station and they will come after with more intereresting offers.

Now to Sapa. We have heard a lot of great things about Sapa. The problem is, we haven't seen them because of the fog that is lingering over the town 24/7. What we could see is that the towns motto is "ethnic minority". From "ethnic minority silver" to "ethnic minority herbal foot bath" you can get everything a colonists heart can desire.
The lonely planet, our guide and master, writes, that the flourishing tourism of the recent years has corrupted Sapa and that ripoff by and prostitution of the ethnic minorities is taking overhand. We can confirm the first but have to doubt the second. If a Black Hmong or Red Dao comes up to you saying: "Kiss me, wanna buy me?" she really means "Excuse me, you want to buy something from me." So the only thing taking overhand here may be bad english...

A Black Hmong girl

I have to stop writing now. Getting hungry. By the way, some exciting news for all our dog loving friends. We are one of your kind now...