The fog cleared a little.  It was still overcast, but warmer and everything looked less dire than it did yesterday.  I was able to book the last room at the Cat Cat hotel.  It was a family room with three beds for $25 a night.  Deal!  The view from the deck was stunning.  It was clean and had a heater in it.

The tour was wonderful.  We hiked through villages.  It didn’t look like it did in pictures because we were here before planting season.  They plant the rice in May so I imagine June and later is stunning.  They taught us a little about the different tribes in the area and we walked through some of the villages.  We walked through a bamboo forest, along top of the rice fields and to a waterfall.  Our guide and bunch of other women dressed in their traditional clothes walked with us.  The waterfall had almost no water, but it was still pretty.  At some point, we saw two water buffalo locking horns.  I thought that was a good point to throw some of Scott’s ashes over the rice fields.  So, in the future when you eat rice, imagine it might have come from Sapa and carries the joyous energy of that beautiful man.  I also left some of his ashes in the waterfall.

Of course, at the end of the tour, the ladies that were walking with us unpacked all their handmade wares and tried to get us to buy stuff for having “helped” us along the trek.  We got back in town and wandered around some more.  The town is much bigger than it felt yesterday and I like it a whole lot more than I did yesterday.  All the restaurants we have tried so far have been real good and everyone is nice.  The tribe ladies in the streets trying to sell you stuff or get you to sign up for tours is annoying though.

I’m still feeling horrible and today was great to get out and do some exercise, but now I feel worse.  It was a little too much activity.

(c) All rights reserved Kimberly Fiore