Hanoi Day 8 & bus to Sapa

 Good Morning.

It is Sunday morning here. I got back the hostel yesterday after noon. This morning I will be catching a bus to Sapa. It is called the night sleeper bus, but I will be taking it in the day time. The bus has full lay down berths. This will be a first for me. The ride will be a little over 6 hours. The weather is expected to cooler in Sapa.

The small bus picked me up from the Hostel about 9 am to connect with the larger sleeper bus at the bus office.

A person that had earlier taken the sleeper bus told me to make sure I didn't get a berth in the back of the bus because it is more bouncy. So, what berth was I assigned, the farthest back berth. Luckily about an hour into the trip, a couple people cancelled and the bus driver asked if I wanted to move to a more central berth. Well, Yeah!

The bus trip was about 6 hours. The first half pretty flat and the second half climbing into the mountains with a lot of curves. We stopped twice, the first time for a half hour allowing time to order food. I ordered a ginger chicken plate for lunch. The second stop for only about 15 minutes. Time enough to use the bathroom and buy a snack.

There wasn't much of interest to see for the first half of the trip. The second half we started up the mountains, so the view improved. But then so did the bumps and turns tossing me back and forth in the berth. Using the onboard toilet was a real challenge. In this case it was nice that there was barely enough room to turn around. It kept me from falling down.

It was a little overcast in Hanoi, but by the time we got to Sapa, it was really overcast and misty. Cooler, but not as cool as I expected. Sapa is in the mountains at about 3500 ft above sea level.

I caught a Grab taxi to my new home for the next few days. The Grab taxi was an electric car. The ride was almost a half hour out of town. Not close to anything. My activity for the nexts few days will just be walking up and down the country road.

The roads got continually smaller until we arrived at Peace House. My home for the next few days.

I booked a futon bed in a mixed dorm. I later found out I am the only guest, probably for the whole time I am here, so they moved me into a private room.

Luckily breakfast is included and they have a pretty extensive menu of Vietnamese food, cooked to order at reasonable prices.

This will probably be the least expensive place I stay at for my whole trip. $3.35 a night with breakfast included. But, it is very homey and has a lot of character. I am going to enjoy my stay here.