Michele, Marie and I woke up super early to catch a bus to Sa Pa; a large village 6 hours north of Hanoi.
The second we hopped out of the bus we were bombarded by locals trying to offer us a place to stay. I'm used to locals being very persistent and annoying, but this was something else. They shouted prices at me pulled me from side to side and at one point forced me into a corner. Rather than panic and make a desperate decision to purchase a room, I made the most of the situation and turned the mob of locals into an auction room. I started off at $10 per person then went down dollar by dollar until only 1 person was left offering us a room for $4 per person. I think I just have a gift for haggling.
Once settled we walked around 'cat cat village'. It was a large village suspended by rice patties. There was livestock everywhere, strangely no cats though. The locals had also invented really interesting mechanical contraptions to grind up grain for them using rainwater. It was really cool. The views were epic too!
The change from Hanoi is pretty big. For starters its much colder. There are also way fewer motorbikes zooming past you honking - its kind of strange getting my hearing back.
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