Safely in Sapa

I can't seem to view our blog, so don't know whether Dan has posted. For my part, just this note to say I arrived safely in SaPa by overnight train (berth about 6 inches too short and it took a death-defying acrobatic leap to reach it as there was no step up to it). Thank goodness I was able to take off my CI and have silence and take an Ambien as did another resident of my cabin. I was with a father and son from Florida and NYC, respectively, with no interest in interacting and who may have been wound a bit too tight, and another, Asian, man who spoke no English. My guide was at the gate to met me, exhausted, dehydrated and bedraggled, and we had a lovely drive up to the mountains cloud-swathed mountains, past waterfalls and rushing mountain streams. It's drizzling, and I'm glad for my new rain jacket, the same bright green as the lush, leafy, new growth here.

My hotel is dreadful--disgusting really, though not as bad as the junk boat, the gold standard of disgusting--and I've asked to be relocated while we're out on the trail. After carrying these boots around for two weeks, it's good to finally get them on my feet. So time to hit the trails. We'll see what the hotel situation is when we get back later this afternoon. It's a bummer-could have done better on my own-but not a crisis. And, hey, I'm about to leave to go trekking through hill-tribe villages, all the more interesting for my visit yesterday to the Ethnology Museum in Hanoi, which was excellent! Okay, tanked up on Immodium--may it last--and off I go! Yippee!