Day 3 in Vietnam

Day 3 started after we alighted at Lào Cai train station after taking the overnight train from Hà Nội. We were allocated 4 per cabin in the sleeper train. Quite squeezy but it was good fun! From there an hour's journey to Sapa where we are to be based for the duration of roughly a week.Then we were given time to pack for our 2 day 1 night expedition to Bình Lư, a small town much untouched by tourists.

The weather in Sapa was a big change from that of Singapore or even Hanoi. Located at 1522 metres above sea-level, Sapa was wet, cold and misty. We were told it was a beautiful sunshine last week but the last few days have been foggy and wet. This should be quite challenging for our biking and trek.

The trip to Bình Lư was made by cycling roughly around 40plus km on a downslope from Tram Tôn pass at 2000m. Lunch was at Binh Lu located approximately 600m above sea-level. This is where will we spend the night with a local Vietnamese family. Then more cycling throughout the town followed to a Black Dao (pronounced Dzao) village 10 km away.
Instead we found ourselves playing soccer with the local kids on a small plot of padi field. Could never have imagined playing soccer on a rice terrace, at 600m for that matter! A few hours after, we had dinner. After dinner we walked around the town to explore the town and talk to the locals about our exploration project.