We're Back

Terraced farming on the drive from the train in Lao Cai
View from the balcony
View from the Balcony
Walking back to the hotel through the town of Sapa
The view on the drive



We were off to amazing beautiful Sapa for a visit. Sapa is in the mountainous area of Vietnam, north west of Hanoi, almost at the Chinese border. The scenery was amazing. The hotel we were at was perched on the edge of the mountain. Out the front door of the hotel was a narrow rubble/crumbling road, the other side of the road was the cliff. The view from our balcony was a showcase of cloud shrouded mountain tops, foliage covered valleys and mountain sides with terraced crops. The sun was out and the humidity high. As we stood outside the hotel we could hear water dripping, it was the condensation from the air, running down the steep roofs and dripping on the ground. Everyone was friendly, the local ethnic Black Hmong, easily identified by their blue hemp clothing, are persistant to get you to buy their handicrafts. I did break down and buy a little dress and hat for Macy and a small over the shoulder bag for me. Kathy, Macy and I strolled the streets for awhile, before stopping for a late lunch. We then realized that the rash on Macy's face, and her stuffy nose were much worse. We called our wonderful, trusty tour guide, Yann, who directed us to the local hospital, however they are not open Sunday's. After a couple of more phone calls, we decided to come back a day early to take Macy back to the SOS (medical clinic.) Our original plan was to stay for 2 days one night, as the 1st and 3rd nights are on the sleeper train from Hanoi, but Yann arranged a driver to come and pick us up for the 45 min drive down the mountain to the Lao Cai train station where we had a great supper while waiting for the train. Our train compartment companions were a young Vietnamese couple, they were wonderul, playing and entertaining Macy, and the young man even rocked her to sleep and sang her Vietnamese lullabys. Today we took her back to the clinic, they put her on something to clear up her stuff nose and a mild steriod cream for her face,(apparantly the cream the other day was just to stop the discomfort but not to clear it up, which explains why it was getting worse) if it is not clear in a week, or if it gets worse we have to go back. We spent an hour or so shopping, came back to the hotel, Macy and I hung out downstairs for awhile so Kathy could nap, now I am waiting for Kathy and Macy to wake up so we can go for dinner.
Tomorrow we pick up the girls Vietnamese passports at 3, Wed morning we leave for Halong Bay for a 48 hr cruise. We are trying to arrange a trip for early next week to Hai Duong the city where the girls lived, we want to know a bit more about it. We are also trying to arrange a visit to the orphange but we have not received word yet.
Amazingly Kathy and I have done virtually no shopping except for baby supplies and basic stuff like water and snacks. We still want to do a city tour of Hanoi and stroll the streets of this amazing Old Quarter where we are staying. I want to stroll around the Lake, and cross The Rising Sun (Huc) Bridge to visit the Ngoc Son Temple, maybe take in water puppet show, and check out a few of the restaurants my friend B. discoevered on her visit here in January.