The overnight train journey to Sapa wasn’t the worst I’ve experienced, but it wasn’t the best either. We were in a shared compartment with two quiet, well behaved Vietnamese girls and the toilet along the corridor was relatively clean. The train had definitely seen better days and rattled and clunked its way slowly through the night. The ‘refreshments’ provided consisted of a packet of peanut crackers and a small bottle of mineral water. Periodically train staff knocked on the door of our carriage, trying to persuade us to by additional foodstuff, wine, beer etc, but luckily we had eaten before getting on the train. I seem to sleep better than Tim on trains and woke relatively refreshed, while he looked very bleary eyed on our arrival.

The Vietnamese tourist machine leapt into action and we were herded towards the tourist buses awaiting us, where we showed the tickets we had been strong armed into buying in Hanoi. The journey was around 45 minutes to an hour along a road that snaked gradually uphill through small towns and rice paddies.

The driver of our bus had the names of the places everybody was staying at carefully recorded and dispatched us all with the utmost efficiency. Unfortunately the bus couldn’t get up the steep narrow alleyway leading to our homestay ‘Jungle Lodge’. After panting our way up the hill with our rucksacks on our backs we arrived at a charming location, out of the hustle and bustle of central Sapa, with a great view of the town and the hills surrounding it. ‘ Jungle Lodge’ is more of a guest house than a homestay, but it does have a homely vibe. It is mainly run by young and trendy Vietnamese with an older woman drafted in to cook delicious meals. Breakfast is included in the price of the room and a set evening meal consisting of a number of course cost 200 VND for two people (around £7). There is a resident cat who seems more keen on catching insects and begging for food from tourists than dispatching rodents.

As we couldn’t yet check in we had breakfast and left our rucksacks in reception while we set off to find a trekking agency that had been recommended as being more ethical and locally run than others. We found it on the other side of town after a long but rewarding walk that orientated us to the layout of Sapa. Tim didn’t recognise the town at all from the visit he made thirty years ago and began to doubt that he was ever here. There is a big lake in the middle of town, that is of recent origin. It is attractive to walk around and on one side of it bushes full of small roses were in bloom.

Ethos was up a steep hill and along a ridge. We arrived, panting, to find that the family who run the outfit were off on a motorbike trip with their small son. They consist of a Mancunian who married a local Hmong woman and has lived out in Vietnam for thirty plus years. They kindly gave us some information about local attractions we could visit and said that they would contact us about treks, but may only be able to offer a one night trek.

After a break for coffee we headed to Sapa Sisters, the other recommended ethical trekking outlet. This is run by a collective of Hmong women. Just as we arrived a Dutch couple were arriving back from a trek that they had been on. They highly recommended their experience and two night treks were available from Monday (this was Saturday). We signed up immediately.

We spent the rest of the day exploring a slightly eccentric local park on a path leading up from the Catholic Church in the centre of town. The catholic church has a fantastically elaborate shrine/ grotto in its grounds. We followed a path through the park that led us past statues of various disney-esque/ manga children’s characters and then through expanses of flowers. Snack and drink vendors were stationed at regular intervals. Eventually the path snaked up to jagged rocks on the hillside where we gazed at Sapa and the surrounding countryside from a viewpoint. By lunchtime we were exhausted and headed towards a cafe, where we fuelled up before making our way back to Jungle Lodge for a well earned rest.

We had planned to visit a waterfall the next day, but ended up lazing around in Jungle Lodge and going to eat ice cream and cake in Sapa instead. We also visited a local modern Buddhist Monastery, where we peacefully wiled away a bit of time. The temperature was much more pleasant than it had been in Hanoi. However the town is busy and that day was the tail end of the Reunification holiday, so the town was filled with many Vietnamese as well as foreign tourists. The town abounds in shops that offer massages, presumably these are very popular after people have finished trekking. Tim and I decided to try a foot plus back neck and shoulder massage. It was fantastic, just what we needed after our recent travels.

Sapa is not the tranquil oasis that it may have been in the past. There is heavy investment by the Chinese, including the Mount Fansipan cable car. Many top end hotels are shooting up both in Sapa and in the hills around and blighting the landscape with their colossal half finished skeletons. When we visited Ethos we noticed a number of half built constructions just in front of their building.

Apparently the land that these were on was the subject of a dispute and one of the women involved ended up going to jail where she was then murdered. Clearly, development does not always bring happiness and money but tragedy, especially when people become greedy or corrupt.

The next morning we handed in our large rucksacks to the Jungle Lodge staff for safekeeping and set off for the Sapa sisters office with a change of clothes, a first aid kit and our waterproofs.