The Road To Sapa!

Good Morning!

Our group has arrived in Sapa, Vietnam - up in the mountains about a 5 hour drive north of Hanoi.

One thing I tell everyone when traveling is to never hold on to your itinerary too tightly, adventures are subject to change!

In this case it was change - as in change a tire - because one of ours blew on the highway, and our driver brought us safely to a place where he could have that tire changed in a flash -

And we as travelers could experience a bit of local roadside market fare!

Bikes and scooters going by -

Vendors selling bananas and fresh steamed corn!

Em taking a selfie with the lady who sold her delicious cobs ready to eat!

One thing is for certain, your adventure, and what you get out of it is largely up to what you make of it - and this was a fun excursion that took a mere 15 minutes and we were back on the road.

Bad tire off, good tire going on!

I don't know if you can tell - but the seating here has been hysterical for a 5' 9'' person like myself.

Everywhere you look at sidealk cafes and impromptu markets - full sized folks are sitting at kiddie sizes tables and stools.

My knees would be up to my neck!  Not only that, I'd likely not be able to get back up again.  LOL!

More tiny chairs and fresh produce!

And yes, there was stitching on the bus as we made our way up into the mountains.  Of course there was, you KNEW there would be!

And then we see them - the beginning of them!

Scenes from a bus window -

In many ways this is still a developing country.

Our half-way point was a truck stop with restrooms (very clean!) and loads of local foods and snacks we would purchase and try.  

These "Cracker" breads were beautiful!

My treat?  A watermelon sherbet pop!

I wanted to explore everything -

But this was an easy item to purchase and carry home -

As I sat here this morning trying to decide which photos to share (I've taken hundreds!) and what to say about them - it's almost a "I have too many!" kind of paralysis thing. Too many good photos, too much to say about them, and not enough time because of having to meet with my group for our next adventure, etc -

Here is a little video from our drive up the mountain.  I hope you can see the terraced farms - they are lovely!

Click to Play:

What a ride!

What a beautiful country!

Sapa!

Again, there are too many photos, not enough time to post them, and I'm struggling with how to keep things in some sort of order.

This was late afternoon before meeting my group to go into town for dinner. 

Silk Path Spa & Resort is our home for 2 nights!

My little balcony!  I have a balcony!

I'm stitching on what will be our New Zealand trip -

Which I know will be every bit as amazing as this one!

And this was my wake up this morning between 5:30 & 6am when I heard roosters crowing and random dogs barking:

Click to Play:

What a way to wake up!

I have more - so much more - but no time to post it all so this will be coming bit by bit over the next few weeks in all actuality.

It's time to head down to breakfast to meet my group - today we have our embroidery workshop presented by Hmong embroiderers.  This afternoon we'll have lunch and then take a train and a gondola all the way to the top of the mountains - more photos to come.

Have a great whater-time-it-is-where-you-are kind of day!