Riverside Trek

Sleeping in is amazing, and I don't feel guilty that I should be out doing things in a low key place like this. We were still up by 9ish and out the door by about 10:30. I had the banana honey pancakes and Al had the scrambled eggs. The eggs at our place are unbelievable. I don't know what they put in them but I swear it may be crack. 

Our host Andrew told us how to trek around the area and that it's very doable by ourselves. We're located on a river so when in doubt go to the river. 

We started off ok but then got up a little higher than we expected and it was awesome. 

This picture best shows the texture of the landscape and rice fields. It's such a different look than anything I've seen. A lot of the areas are cloudy because we're in a pass between the mountains, but we can still see a lot. 

On our way down the mountain we hiked along a waterfall. It was super steep and slick but we managed with decent shoes on. However, the locals did it with little to no footwear. 

(Bottom left you can see a lady, she has NO shoes on...)

(Boys going up what we can down...in flip flops)

We walked along the river on the other side for awhile looking up at our Homestay and the area we started walking. We realized we were past our Homestay and needed to find a spot to cross the river...there was nowhere! We tried and tried but nothing seemed safe enough. 

The river wasn't raging by any means, but regardless we didn't want to get soaked. There were some sections that had a pretty strong current as well. We eventually found a group of rocks and had to jump across a section that in reality probably wasn't that far, but seemed like it with the water rushing under us. 

We headed back to the Homestay, ate some lunch, and relaxed for a bit until dinner. The group at dinner was a little more animated tonight compared to last night. There were a group of three Israelites that we hilarious and taught us all a card game. 

(The dinner table)

The game's called Shit Head. It reminded me a lot of our friends and how we play cards all the time. This will definitely be a game we bring back, so be ready friends. 

We played until later than we usually stay up, but then headed up to bed. We are renting a moped tomorrow so we want to make sure we get our money's worth and start early. We're going to head into Sapa city and check out some waterfalls and wilderness. 

I didn't know where to put these pictures, but here is the wildlife we saw during our trek:

(A goat and his chicken friend)

(Pigs having a cuddle puddle)

(A duck checking in on its rice fields)

That's all for today! I'm loving to the low key relaxing. 

Long quote but it's exactly how I feel!

"But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."

- Bill Bryson