sleeper trains anyone?!

Hey from Ninh Binh, Vietnam! A lot has happened in the past couple of days since my last post...

After a full day in Hanoi on Friday March 20th, we boarded a sleeper train north to Lao Cai (about a ten hour train ride). Karen, Alex, Zoe, and I got our own cabin which was great - but still such "close quarters" -two mini bunk beds - that really the only thing to do is sleep. We arrived in Lao Cai (45km from the Vietnam-China border) at about 6AM and then took a minibus to Sapa. Sapa is gorgeous. It is a little town settled in between mountains and tiered rice fields and hill-tribe villages. Zoe and I spent two full days "trekking" in and around Sapa and it was such a lovely change of pace from bustling Hanoi.

On Sunday night, Zoe and I returned to the train station in Lao Cai to return to Hanoi. Since the 4-person sleeper cabins were sold out, we reluctantly bought tickets for a 6-person cabin...! Imagine a bunk bed that instead of having two beds (one on top of the other) you have an extra bed between the two beds...just thinking about it makes me smile because, as is kind of the case when you travel, it was an experience! I thought that the first sleeper train experience was "cozy" but little did I know!

Right after arriving in Hanoi, we caught a mini-bus to Halong City (on the coast - almost directly east from Hanoi). From Halong City we traveled on a four hour boat ride through Halong Bay - very beautiful bay with tons of islands and caves - to Cat Ba which is the only populated island in Halong Bay. It is the low tourist season in Northern Vietnam right now (I guess summer doesn't really start until the end of April). This means we got some super sweet deals on accommodations, but also means the weather was a bit overcast and dreary to say the least. Still, it was awesome to hike around Cat Ba city and visit all of the beaches (you could imagine it would be quite the resort town in the summer). We also did a 12 km trek in Cat Ba National Park which was really beautiful and reminded me of rain forests in the Olympic National Park in Washington. We know that when we return to Thailand in about a week, it will be HOT so we are trying to savor the cool weather!

This morning (Thursday), Zoe and I left Cat Ba on a 5:45 AM boat to Haiphong (the third-largest city in Vietnam). From Haiphong we took a three hour bus ride to Ninh Binh where we are currently waiting to board a 12 hour sleeper bus to Hue in central Vietnam. We are making (and eating!) our way around Vietnam slowly but surely - and it is awesome!

Kiithung - miss you!
Kate