All aboard the night train!

The excitement didn't stop once we had arrived at the station - I was absolutely buzzing! Phone was out and I got seriously snap happy, even getting a train conductor to get a photo of me on the train!

It was a great opportunity to get to know the others in the group as it was an 8 hour journey. I was sharing with Connie, Lizzie and Cheryl so spent a lot of time chatting to Lizzie and Cheryl about their home town of Johannesburg, South Africa in general and their other travels whilst Connie was in the room next door. After that, I headed next door with the other 'youngsters' to chill out and play the post-it game where you have to guess the character on your head, only we didn't have the post-its so just had to remember who we had chosen for each other! Was a laugh as most of us couldn't work out who we had. At about midnight I headed back to the cabin and climbed into my top bunk to attempt to sleep...not very successful at all!

By ‪5.30am‬ we were pulling into Lào Cai station which was actually quite a relief to be off the train! Our bus driver was there to meet us and the journey to the hotel in Sapa only took about an hour so we all caught up on some sleep.

Sapa town wasn't quite what I was expecting. Even though it was a smaller town and a lot more run down than Hanoi, it didn't feel very authentically Vietnamese - it was completely aimed at tourists with massage/spa treatment shops, souvenirs and a lot of western food yet still looked dated and in need of a lot of work.

On arrival, there was a swarm of the village tribe women selling their home woven souvenirs and jewellery.

Because it was so early we weren't able to check into our rooms and get changed but Huyen our guide had organized for us to go and visit a local village and have a look around which was eye-opening. There were more of the tribe women surrounding the bus when we got there only the number had significantly increased! They were literally eyeing us all up and pointing to each other, discussing which one of us they would pick to follow and talk to. Has to be said, considering where they are from and how remote it is, their English was pretty amazing and I asked lots of questions about their families, how old they all were, the oldest person in the village (about 85!) and they asked me questions too.

We were taken to one of the houses where Huyen sat us down and explained about how the family dynamics and living arrangements work, the culture of the village and their work - there's only one lot of rice farming a year so they have to collect the rice crop at the same time each year and it has to last them the entire time in between.

There were so many animals around too! Pigs and piglets which were adorable, dogs and puppies, ducks, chickens, ducklings and chicks and the largest spiders I've ever seen...look away if you're scared of them!

We headed back to the bus to return to the hotel after being coerced into parting with our money for some souvenirs - I bought a pretty pashmina!

The Sapa Lodge Hotel rooms were damp and cold so not ideal for us as everything in our cases then started to feel damp too. Connie and I didn't fancy staying long so we quickly showered and then met Stephanie to do some exploring in the town which as previously mentioned, was disappointing! Nothing about the town could be as disappointing though as the food we had for lunch haha. I chose a set for 100,000 dong (about £3.60) which had soup, spring rolls, chicken with rice and a pancake. All sounds nice but was gristly and not particularly appetising, however the other two got the short straw as theirs was even worse! We finished our meal, continued looking around the town and then headed back for a quick snooze before meeting the rest of the group at 7 for the evening meal at a place called Emotion. It was much nicer and the atmosphere was great with a buzz of people constantly streaming in and out, a couple sat at the end of our table playing board games and lovely lamps, lanterns and paintings brightening up the place.

The next day was the 6 hour trek to the village homestay so it was early to bed to make sure we had enough energy and were ready to meet at 10am. I think everyone felt a little apprehensive as to what to expect from both the trek and the homestay and it was tricky knowing what to pack in our day rucksacks as our main luggage was left at the hotel.

There was only one word to describe the trek - muddy!! We were all absolutely covered in the stuff and although it was described as medium in difficulty, it was made so much harder in those conditions. I was like bambi on ice, slipping and sliding everywhere! Thankfully for us, we had the village tribe women walking with us and my new friend Yang was an absolute hero and held my hand to help me down the steep and slippery descents. She was amazing! 40 years old, 3 children and incredibly fit, having to walk 4-5 hours a day between the village and Sapa to sell her homemade souvenirs.

The scenery was simply incredible - absolutely breathtaking, especially once the fog had cleared and we could see it all. There were rice fields, men and women at work with the water buffaloes, small villages and huts and views that would be fitting for a postcard or screensaver.

We stopped for a picnic lunch and I waved farewell to Yang, thanking her for all her help and buying one of her homemade purses.

The final two and half hours was easier than the first three as there was a lot less mud! Eventually, we made it to our homestay and were introduced to our lovely host family. Taking our shoes off that day can only be likened to the same feeling you get when you get home and take your bra off when the bones are digging into you after a long day at work haha - ladies, you'll know exactly what I mean!

I showered, changed into some nice clean clothes and sat down to enjoy a cup of local tea. Huyen asked if any of us wanted to help make the spring rolls for dinner so I was straight in the kitchen seeing how it was done and having a go! These ones used rice paper and a mixture of veggies, glass noodles and meat for the filling.

Waiting for dinner, we were all sat together with a beer chatting about the day and filling each other in on stories from home. Everyone in the group gets on well and it's so lovely having such a diverse group of all ages who can sit, chat and have a great time. There are 3 Brits (Ash, Nathan and I - we're the youngsters), Stephanie the Swiss who is a few years older than me, Connie my roomie from Copenhagen, Cheryl and Lizzie from Johannesburg, Lynn and Neville from Durban and Tony and Claire from Brisbane.

Dinner was soooooo good and we had certainly worked up an appetite! The spring rolls were a raging success and they were accompanied by tofu, pork, beef, veggie and chicken dishes - lets just say the chicken was one walking around the house when we arrived but wasn't there for long! Huyen had a bowl with the chicken feet and head and insisted that we tried some, handing me, Ash and Nathan the feet to try and Nathan also had an eye - literally an eye-opening experience! The claw/foot was not as bad as I thought it would be but not sure I'd make a habit of eating chicken feet often!

Earlier in the day, Huyen had promised us a special 'energy drink' with our dinner and revealed a couple of bottles of the family's homemade 28% rice wine which smelt like nail varnish remover and was potent enough to put hairs on your chest whilst burning your throat and stomach! To say we had a couple of rounds along with our beers would be an understatement and a few bottles got finished along with some great toasts before each shot. It's these sorts of moments I think you really remember when travelling and being sat there living in the moment there was no other emotion but pure laughter and happiness - priceless.

Ash and Nathan became fairly well acquainted with the locals and were sat with them drinking the 45% stuff. Wasn't long before they were all singing songs by Queen and the Beatles and we all joined in outside too!

It got light quite early and I hadn't slept brilliantly flipping from hot one minute to cold the next so was awake on and off from about 3 when the cockerel let everyone know it was time to get up! Downstairs, breakfast was being made and Huyen invited me to join him, our tour guide, Cheryl and Lizzie in the kitchen for a cup of local tea and to pose with their tobacco pipe (FYI for family reading, it wasn't consumed!) Not wanting to miss out, the others soon joined us to form a little homestay breakfast club.

Breakfast was bananas, honey and pancakes along with strong local coffee or Lipton tea. After that, we thanked the homestay family, posed for some photos and started off the morning walk.

There was only a 30 min walk to get to the main road so the mini bus could pick us up and I was relieved to see it where I'd stiffened up and my hips and back were feeling a bit sore!

I changed into my Nike leggings once we got back to the Sapa Lodge Hotel so I was more comfortable, bought myself some water and got myself comfy on the bus for the 5 hour drive back to the Church Boutique Hotel in Hanoi. Jamie had loaded Plex onto my iPad and iPhone in Abu Dhabi so I'd loaded the Secret Life of Pets on the iPad to sit and watch on the journey - it wasn't as good as I thought it would be but was still fun and it definitely helped pass some of the time, along with a nice nap.

The toilet and lunch stop was at a roadside café of sorts in the middle of nowhere and we had to pay to use the dodgy looking toilets. When your tour guide tells you there's not a lot of food that he recommends on the menu, you know that's not a good sign! I chose the fried chicken noodles and managed to pick most of the chicken out as it was just skin - was pretty grim.

More napping and a good iPod playlist later and we'd arrived back in Hanoi! I was far too excited to get in that shower and wash away the remains of Sapa and the mud from the trek which felt like it was permanently etched onto my skin.

We headed towards beer corner and found a nice little plastic table and chairs to sit down and have a beer, some beef noodle soup and some dumplings - when in Vietnam, you simply have to sit and watch the world go by with the locals, you won't be disappointed!

The packing had to be done again when we got back to the hotel as we only needed the small rucksacks for our overnight boat trip to Halong Bay. Again, I was feeling excited as I didn't know what to expect but was looking forward to the change of scenery and the boat experience.

Another lovely quote to leave you on until next time (this one's Roald Dahl): "If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."

Lots of love xxx