Kasia on her travels: Getting Dao With It

This weekend after three weeks in Sapa I finally got round to doing a 'homestay' with fellow volunteer Jess. Most tourists who come to Sapa end up doing a homestay so I thought it was about time I got myself involved.

We set off to Ta Phin Village on Saturday morning and amused ourselves along the way by taking numerous pictures of rice terraces, assuring the many Red Dao ladies who tried be our guides that we knew where we were going (and didn't want to buy anything) and waving at the many curious children we passed.

Our homestay choice was 'Xi Quan's Red Dao Homestay' run by a Red Dao lady and her French husband Olivier. After successfully navigating our way to Ta Phin village thanks to a hand drawn map from another volunteer who had already been to Ta Phin we made contact with Olivier to arrange our rendezvous (how French!) and had a cup of coffee in the secret garden place with fish pool, cocky cat and snakes in jars. A strange combination for a cafe but it worked for us, I think it was just having a seat to be honest. After the smallest cup of coffee I've ever had, no it wasn't an espresso, we dodged more sellers and waited for our host to come and meet us.

Olivier arrived and the Mother-in-Law La May popped up too (I don't think that's spelt right!) and we began our walk back to their home. It took us about 40 minutes to get there, the scenery on the way was stunning and the camera came out many, many times. The last bit of the climb was pretty steep and I was a tad embarrassed that Mother-in-Law had to help me up a couple of the steeper bits to avoid a comedy Kash sliding down the hillside type incident. Still I made it, there was even a scary one log bridge to negotiate, again with some balancing assistance.

The views, the amazing hospitality, the cute kids, the best meal either of us had eaten in a long while and even a comedy incident with a giant spider and some serious wielding of a bashing device by Xi Quan (the wife) will all be remembered with a massive smile on my face. Easily the best thing I have done on this trip so far.