Day 25

Sunday was a relaxing day. Still in Sapa, we woke up to rain. Our train was scheduled to leave Lau Cai at 7:30 PM so we had nearly the entire day to spend in Sapa. The rain quickly passed and the day turned out to be beautiful – sunshine and a slight breeze. We mainly just chilled out around town, hopping from café to café playing cards, reading, eating and drinking.

We took a stroll to take in some more amazing views of Sapa and did some last-minute shopping. The Hmong women are very aggressive and persistent in their sales efforts. I decided to purchase blanket.and was checking out the one offered by one woman when I was immediately swarmed by 3 or 4 women all with very similar blankets. They only varied slightly – just different shades of blue and purple. My attempts to barter with them failed and as I walked away they continued to swarm and even grabbed me. One thing I can’t handle is being grabbed by the arm! I swatted them away and continued to barter more aggressively considering their aggressive state. I got one to agree to my price and purchased. And then was still followed with the women saying “buy two,” “buy from me.” They even reappeared after an hour or so continuing to harass me about purchasing from another woman! Lesson learned there I guess – be sure there’s only one person around!

After our shopping and wandering were complete we hopped in the bus for the long, jerky trip through the mountains back to the train.

I have a few more pictures of Sapa that I will post once I get back to the states!