World Famous in Sapa

Although Andrew had not sent out a press release advising he would be in Sapa, his fame seemed to have preceded him. 

In the market he was approached by a Vietnamese girl, wanting to have her photo taken with him


She was joined by her friend and they marvelled at his feet or sandals – or as Andrew likes to say – his shapely calves. Note the hat has been removed and the hair prepared for photographic glory.


Then they are joined by 10 of their closest friends. 

Take particular note of the chap on the left hand side of the picture, just above the paparazzi.  Clasping his hands to his face, overawed by being so close to such an iconic figure as AJ



Just another day for Andrew; stopping traffic and putting a smile on peoples faces. 



But it wasn’t only here that he was an adored figure.

In the ethnic market people wanted him to check their goods.



Even to appear on postcards they could sell to other tourists



He stopped to give the small children along the way a picture of him to put on the walls of their shack.



A free photo op with another of his adoring fans



Before dinner he made the day of a little Hmong girl by shining his famous smile at her – she in turn was a little surprised



Just another day travelling with the world famous AJ – probably sending off another press release to his editor via his iPad.

You could literally feel the temperature rising on the journey from Sapa down to Lao Cai, it must have been a good 10 degrees warmer on the valley floor than it was up the mountain.  The train carriage was rather dilapidated but our room-mates were a pleasant couple from the Philippines. 

Back in Hanoi at 7am, looking a bit rough and unshaven (Andrew, not me) we re-energised with a cooked breakfast and ‘real’ coffee at Joma.  Then on to the hotel where luckily we could check in early. 
Hanoi was hot, very hot but being tourists we couldn’t spend all day in the cool of the hotel room so we poached along with the rest of the population.

Two things of note in this picture. Firstly, the custom built baby seat/metal frame in front of the driver.  We’ve seen lots of standing or held babies, but this was a new one on us.  And secondly, temperatures were heading toward 40 degrees and all three riders are so rugged up.



This chap seemed to be making the best of the heat and a bit of spare time



We ate well and wandered a bit.  Andrew lost his old pair of sunglasses (karma for buying glasses the same as mine I say).  The next day we found a very pleasant restaurant beside the cathedral , called Marilyn, before hopping on the mini-bus back to the airport and the hop back to Vientiane.