Jenna and I decided to get up to watch the sunrise-- it took place about 5:30 in the morning. It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen. We could get a perfect 360 view because our homestay was secluded on its very own raised slab, chiseled into the side of the valley, above the rice paddies. Jenna did some yoga, while I just enjoyed the views.
We went back to bed after the sunrise and slept in way too late. We felt so bad when it was 9am and we were just getting out of bed-- La Sapa had mentioned leaving by 8am the night before. I helped La Sapa start the fire and watched as she cooked tofu and greens for breakfast. I've only ever eaten questionable tofu so I was a bit nervous that this was going to have to be my sustainability for the rest of the day, but I dug in and was pleasantly surprised. The tofu was delicious! I actually really, really enjoyed eating it. After breakfast we cleaned the dishes and then set off for our hike back up the mountain.
We hiked back through the village and started our climb up the mountain. Our plan was to head to a waterfall, have some lunch and then take motos the rest of the way up-- for this, I was so thankful! The waterfall was filled with tourists which was slightly disappointing because up until this point Sapa had felt like our very own secret getaway, completely removed from society, technology and tourists. Lunch was delicious though. And then, as promised, we hiked to meet our motos.
Technically it was illegal to be transporting us through the mountains via moto, but as long as the police weren't around it wasn't something to worry about. I was definitely nervous as we sped over gravel, through massive water swells and zipped around debris that littered the incredibly skinny road running along the side of the mountain. I had to trust that these guys knew what they were doing. So I leaned back, relaxed my grip and enjoyed the view of the valley and mountainside rushing past me.
We made it back to town just in time to meet La Sapa's sister and her friends. They were selling jewelry and headbands they had made in the villages. Jenna and I were so grateful for our homestay experience that we bought mementos to remember our time by-- I got silver homemade jewelry and Jenna and I got the famous blue dye headbands to match (obviously!)
Rewind to before we left for our homestay excursion. Jenna and I had run a few errands in town. We both needed hiking boots, jackets and leggings for our trek. Jenna and I found the craziest, most vibrant patterned leggings ever- we just had to have them. However, Jenna dragged her feet and didn't decide until the morning of that she was all in for the leggings. She bought them and immediately put them on with her hiking boots so we could embark on finding our trekking guide. Fast forward to during our trek. Jenna's hiking boots did not fit her feet well and were majorly hurting her. She decided to take them off and swap them with her sandals. Only problem... she realized she didn't have her sandals. A look of horror spread across her face. Oh no! She had left them at the legging shop in town. Not only was she down a pair of sandals, but she was in massive amounts of pain. How did we improvise you ask? Jenna squeezed her size 9 feet into my size 6 chocos. She let her toes hang off the tops and her heels hang off the backs. She looked like an ogre with her swollen feet wandering around in my shoes. Fast forward to our arrival in town after our excursion. We headed straight for the leggings shop to find Jenna's sandals. There are no words for the happiness that consumed Jenna's entire being, so you'll have to settle for this photo instead.
We spent some much needed time at our hostel showering, relaxing and repacking. We had to catch a bus out of Sapa to Lao Cai and then take a train to Ha Noi. We had checked out of our room before leaving for Sapa but kept our bags at the hostel. When we returned Jenna had wanted to put on her gym shoes for the series of excursions that would be our evening. However, when she opened her bag she realized they weren't there. Seriously? Come on Jenna, what's the deal with you and your shoes? She asked the hostel owner if she could go back to the room to get her shoes. To her dismay, it was currently being rented by another couple and the hostel owner could not let us into the room. Our only option, and hope for retrieving Jenna's shoes, was that the couple would return to the hostel before we had to board our bus so we could ask them ourselves to enter the room. We sat. We waited. We waited some more. Finally our bus arrived. I told Jenna we needed to board but she wanted 5 more minutes. I headed to the bus and told her to follow behind. I boarded the bus and stalled the bus driver for what felt like forever. I was waving my hands furiously out the window to Jenna. She came running at the last second, shoes in hand, to board the bus before it pulled out of the town centre. Phew! What a close call.
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