Vietnam day 4

Holy fuck I'm falling behind on my blog. I'm a week behind, let's see how well my memory copes.

We rented motorbikes today with the hope that we'd be able to climb Mt Fansipan. The travel agency said the cost would be $65 USD per person to climb which we thought was ridiculous considering several travel blogs said we could climb it without a guide.

The ride up was amazing. The road up there involved sharp turns on high elevations around mountains. Michele was riding his scooter with Marie on the back and was zooming ahead - he'd definitely seen 'the Italian job'.

Once we arrived we found an unoccupied building which we assumed was a security checkpoint. We simply walked straight past and were just about to start the hike until a half asleep security guard shouted from the top of the building beckoning is to come back. Shit. He told is that we couldn't hike without a guide and that no guides were available that day. We found out later that it was complete rubbish and that he must have been looking for a bribe. None the less we left with our heads down low and our bike engine revs high.

We decided to make the most of our rented motorbikes by driving down to a few waterfalls and checking out a few more villages. A good day all up, but still kind of disappointing.

Michele and I decided to verse each other in a game of chess later using a chess app. (We had an epic rivalry which ended in a tie back in Australia). Sadly we played 2 games and won 1 each. Another draw :( we should really play 3 games..

For dinner we went to a great place in the heart of Sa Pa right by the church. I honestly can't remember what we had, but it was aweosme. Oh yeah there was red wine too (I think).