We woke up on a bumpy train and it all felt a bit weird, especially since there was a different person lay on the top bunk to what there was when we first left Hanoi. A lady opened our cabin door and politely asked whether we would like a cup of tea, coffee or hot chocolate so we both ordered a black coffee. She soon came and placed it on the table in our cabin. It wasn't until a few minutes later when she had finished serving everyone else that she returned and asked us for 50,000 dong. I just repeated the figure back to her in a shocked tone of voice as it was around one pound fifty, so a complete rip off. She immediately changed her mind to 40,000 dong which Andrew reluctantly handed over and needless to say the coffee was disgusting. We had completely fallen for the scam but I guess we were pretty tired as we had just been woken up! Anyway, we pulled into Lao Cai station and we didn't even manage to step foot off the train before we were approached by somebody asking us if we needed a bus to Sapa. We were told it would cost 40,000 dong each which I knew was the going rate so we agreed to follow the guy to the minivan. We had a bit of a wait whilst a group of young Vietnamese men tried to rally as many people as they could together to fill up the minivan. We set off towards Sapa and the journey was pretty beautiful. The mountainous route passed through stepped ride paddy fields and the haze made it all look a bit surreal. We also caught a glimpse of the ethnic minority people that live in the northern region of Vietnam before we were dropped off in Sapa town. We took a second to read the map in the Rough Guide to work out where we needed to head before setting off walking. It was much cooler in Sapa and so it wasn't particularly uncomfortable carrying a backpack. We walked through a market and reached a large open space before stopping to check the map once again. Andrew worked out the location of our hotel which was up a flight of steps, but as we were walking a couple of young Black Hmong girls began talking to us and walking alongside us until we reached our hotel. The hotel had our room ready for us on our arrival even though it was only 8am. We also had a pretty decent view as our balcony over-looked the mountainous valley even though it was a little hazy. We went to order breakfast which caused a bit of a nuisance as the staff clearly weren't used to people ordering something from the extensive menu they offered as a basic breakfast was included with the price of a room. Anyway, after the young girl who took our order gave us a worried look and exchanged a few words with another staff member we managed to order something to eat. Andrew ordered a coffee and I ordered a ginger tea but I was then told that there was only tea or coffee on offer! I assumed this meant there was only normal tea so I just ordered a "tea" instead. As we were waiting for our breakfast a fellow traveller informed us about a photograph exhibition in the 'Visitor Centre' that was worth a look. Our breakfast was then served but Andrew was given tea instead of coffee and the so-called hash browns were stodgy lumps of suet lacking any potato, not to mention the door stop slices of sweet bread! Anyway, we ate what we could of breakfast before having a much needed shower.
We set off walking to the 'Visitor Centre' but as soon as we stepped foot outside our hotel the Black Hmong girls started following us once again as they had been waiting for us to leave the whole morning! They were extremely friendly and asked us a couple of questions before attempting a sales pitch. Once I had said no they just left us alone. We found the photograph exhibition in the 'Visitor Centre', which was tucked away in a corner and quite unnoticeable which was a shame because it really was interesting. The young Black Hmong women had been given a camera to allow them to photograph everyday life in their village as well as things that they found important. It was quite sad as one girl quoted that she would love to be able to go to school but she had to go out selling instead. It gave us a real insight into the lives of the Black Hmong people which was a good starting point before we visited a village. We booked a half-day trek for the following day which included transport to and from the village and an English speaking guide. We also got a rough hand drawn map which we used to reach Sapa lake. It looked man-made and wasn't exactly an attractive lake as such but we walked around the perimeter nonetheless. In fact, Sapa town wasn't all that attractive either, other than the location and beautiful mountain scenery. Andrew had read in the Rough Guide about a place called 'Sapa Rooms' so we went there to eat. It was set up to train disadvantaged Vietnamese youths in hospitality and the food was actually pretty good as was the restaurant interior. However, I did manage to make the mistake of ordering chicken porridge once again, even though it was called 'Chicken Rice Soup' on the menu. It wasn't the consistency of porridge though and it tasted of other things except chicken so I enjoyed eating it this time around. We drank a couple of beers and then ordered a home-made desert. Andrew claimed that the carrot cake he ordered was the best carrot cake he had ever eaten! We decided to book a Vietnamese cooking course through the restaurant as we had a spare day in Sapa. 
We had a stroll through the fresh food market where we would pick our ingredients for the cooking course before heading through the handicraft market. The products on sale had probably all been transported from Hanoi as they certainly weren't all made by the local ethnic minority people. We then returned to our hotel and had a rest as we felt tired after an unbroken sleep on the overnight train. We went in search of a place to eat and as usual I got pestered to death by some young Black Hmong girls trying to sell me something to the point that they were almost tripping me up and I had to stop walking as they were blocking my path! I had to make it clear I wasn't going to buy anything but they were a persistent bunch. We found a restaurant offering a set menu for 85,000 dong each which was a bargain. However, we should have known that for that price it was too good to be true as the food turned out to be disgusting. I was also given red wine instead of white wine, which confirmed an emerging pattern in Vietnam as part of every meal we had been given at least one thing that we didn't order. We ate as much as we could before walking back to our hotel.