Not so sunny Sapa....

So we get off the bus at 7.30am into steady rain & freezing cold....didn't expect that at all. We grabbed our bags and avoided the hotel people trying to get you to go with them & went to a cafe across the road for a cuppa & to see where we were going to go. A very young man came over to us & gave us his card and told us where to look at his hotel on the internet...it looked ok so we went with him. There were lots of hill tribe ladies walking around and they look very different to the Vietnamese....almost Mongolian or Eskimo looking. They speak very good English but are very persistent in wanting you to go to there village or to buy goods from them. After a short walk we got to the hotel & had a look. It is quite descent with a little balcony & a nice view (although it is so foggy you can't see much). For about $11 we were pretty happy and I was even more happy when he said he would get me a soft mattress. We had a hot shower, put on our warm clothes for the first time since being here, got the ponchos out & went in search of food. Once again we were tracked after by the ladies, who ended up taking us to the markets for some Pho. The food was good and cheap. Tanya spoke to a lady, Susu about trekking to her village tomorrow and staying over night, but after talking to a few people and also due to the awful weather we have decided we will do a day tour to a few villages in a car instead.....yes we (& in saying we I mean me....lol) are wimps. Susu gave us these cute little traditional cloth bracelets which was really nice. We went back to our room to catch up on the blog and have a sleep, which was awesome on the nice soft mattress. We headed out again (with ladies in tow, not taking no for an answer) & Tanya was very excited to look at North Face clothing very cheap. We went back to the same place we had breaky & had spring rolls & apple wine, not half as bad as rice wine but still not my favourite.....Tanya really liked it though. We went to the bus station to ask a question but might as well as hit our heads against the wall for all the help they were. We are amazed at how little, if any, English so many Vietnamese speak, yet the hill tribe woman all speak really good English....go figure. We hung out in the room for the late arvo as the weather is really crap. We have booked our tour for tomorrow & it doesn't leave till 9.30am so no early wake up....yay. We went to a little family restaurant a few doors up & had some really nice bbq skewers, a fried rice dish & ginger tea....love finding nice food. So it's only 8.30pm & we are snuggled up with a doona & our comfy mattress....what an extreme weather change. Alvo xo