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Oct.18 Sailed out between 1000's of small strange looking islands - all vertical full of trees & bushes - the ocean is turquoise/blueish & here are a souvenir industry I haven't seen since we left Hanoi. Locals sail around in tiny little boats selling corals & rocks - had a hard time explaining that corals contra a backpack is " no gooda" . Everything cost extra To stop at beaches (they're there!) to sail into caves etc……….. - we just sailed around - the sun was ON & the water nice - The others went for a swim - me - no I watched! At one island we stopped - we were allowed to walk into a cave high up on the island - I stayed outside & watched "the world drown " in a massive tropical rain! Nice & peaceful! Later onboard again we had a delicious lunch - boiled seafood - salad - & bread - it was a wonderful day .We were all really tired & sunburned when we got back to Hung Gai - had a shower - slept for 1 hour & went out to eat dinner! Found a nice family restaurant. I had squid rice & chili. Oct.19 Got up at 5am got dressed & walked down to the bus - after cruising around picking up people - we finally took off - heading for Hanoi. What a trip! Every time we reached a river we had to get off the bus - buy a ticket - walk onto the ferry - watch the bus drive on to the ferry - sail over & enter the bus again. That happened 3 times. When we got back to Hanoi - Annemette & I got a tiny room at Queens under the stairway - Geert got mad - he wanted to share a room with us again - but this one was so small - & there were no room for him. It was a lucky day - Lufthansa had found Annemettes backpack in a hangar in Bangkok & send it to her! WOW a lot of clothes & double portions of malaria pills. We booked a train ticket to Lao Cai - so we can go to Sapa tomorrow! Oct.20 We're in the train to Lao Cai (the border town to China) - We started this journey at 5:30 am. Northern Vietnam is rolling away outside. We took a hard seat - & I can tell you it IS hard! We both wish we were there! The countryside is pretty - with paddy fields & small villages . After 10 hours we finally stopped in L.C. got out & entered a bus - together with a lot of westerners - they all look nice! We drove uphill for 2 hours & ended in Sapa. The fog hang so thick over the mountains that we could hardly see anything. We left Geert (he was still with us) at a dormitory & found our self a nice room in Orchid guesthouse - owned by a lovely couple who only speak Vietnamese & French. My French is on the lower side to nothing - but hand signs & laughter works out everywhere! Annemette insisted that we should go up & get Geert before finding something to eat - what a super idea - not to get Geert but up where he stayed were some of the "ferlangs" from the bus. (A Dung ferlang means Nose French or longnose that's what Asian people call westerners) We met Perry (with P like Pepsi) & Heather from USA - Johnny & Ruth from UK & David from Australia. All of us (Geert incl.) went out to eat. & after that act like westerners on a Friday night - drinking the night away in cheep Chinese beer - & Sapa wine - playing a tricky credit card game that made Annemette extremely drunk . We tumbled home & fell asleep under our thick Chinese quilts & mosquito nets. What a great day!!!!