Arrived at our hotel bright and early from the train station for breakfast on the balcony overlooking the valley. Sapa feels like a cross between Leura and Positano, with a bit of Paris thrown in. Did a 3 hour trek this morning through some stunning scenery (I know I'm running out of adjectives to describe the scenery but it's getting tough to think of new ones). Had lunch by a set of rapids following which our local guide (Thom) challenged one of us (I volunteered) to follow him hopping and leaping across the rocks to the other side of the stream. After this he challenged me to race him back to the other side using different routes across the rocks. I somehow managed to choose the best path and ended up winning. We caught the bus back and we giving an afernoon of free time to explore Sapa. After my first hot shower in a couple of days, I walked the length of the town and hit the markets pretty hard. I think I have got about 90% of the presents I'm after and there will still be time to shop in Hanoi before the flight home to Sydney on Thursday.
More crazy curreny antics here. 1 USD is worth 20,000 Vietnamese Dong, so I withdrew 1,000,000 from the ATM this afternoon, including a 500,000 note. It truly is like play money.
This evening we found out that team Fiona and Greg is currently in third place overall, with all the teams close together. I am currently first in the individual points tally.
Dinner tonight was followed by Karok. My first ever Karaoke experience - I choose Wanted Dead or Alive as my first song. An oldie but a goodie. There was a quick stop at a nightclub on the way back to the hotel, but I think everyone is looking forward to a good night's sleep.
Time for a sleep in tomorrow we we don't start walking until 9.30. We are trekking to a village where we will be spending the night. We have been promised that the accommodation will be somewhat better than that provided in the village in Laos.
Whilst I am writing this in the hotal lobby, the night porter for the hotel has set up a quilt and pillows on the lounge behind me and is now asleep. For some reason there are also 4 mopeds parked in front of the reception desk. Go figure.
