A cup of surprisingly delicious instant coffee got us up and running. But the weather was already getting pretty hot, and we were in no rush to hit the trail. So it was music to our ears when So proposed an alternate plan for the day. Instead of a four hour hike out, we would just spend the morning at a little water fall and wading pool. Since we had already hiked out of the most remote part of the valley, we could easily catch a ride back to Sa Pa.
Um, yes please.
The hike to the waterfall was about 20 minutes long. Which was nice, because I only had an 18 minute capacity for physical exertion. But I summoned a little extra strength and we made it.
Everyone loved the surprise pool day, especially our little water baby.
And the day just got easier from there. Back at the homestay, our hosts served us nothing short of a feast to send us off.
I'm pretty sure that Aimee took that photo during the only minute that I was holding Mimi. Our hosts had baby duty more than covered.
Aimee and I won't be even remotely surprised if her first words are in Hmong.
After hugs and goodbyes, we hopped in a van back to Sa Pa. Not surprisingly, the drive was beautiful. Well, at least the first fifteen seconds were. Whatever happened after that was lost on me.
We arrived back in Sa Pa around 1 pm, and we had a few hours to kill before our bus left for the train station. So on a tip from the Sapa Sisters base camp staff, we walked to the wholesale market where Hmong artisans make and sell their textiles.
Aimee and I are suckers for grandmas selling handmade linens, so all of you are getting table runners for your birthdays this year.
We spent the rest of the afternoon casually exploring Sa Pa. The city was founded about a hundred years ago as a French hill station, so it feels a lot more like the Alps than the Annamites.
But, as our tour book warned us, the city is hot and crowded. So we mostly spent the afternoon drinking coffee while our baby entertained tourists.
The bus ride back to the train station was easy and pretty. The valleys surrounding Sa Pa are some of the most stunning in the world, and the people and history are equally amazing. It was such a treat to be able to explore the area with So and the Sapa Sisters, even if (or maybe especially because) we had to earn it.
I'm pretty sure we were all asleep before the train left the station.
