day 4 was spent entirely in movement – 580km on road from hue to dong hoi, and then a short flight from dong hoi to hanoi, followed by an overnight train from hanoi to lao cai. and finally, a short bus ride to sa pa, our third destination. we basically travelled 850km within 20 hours. a very, very harrowing 20 hours.

the taxi driver who sent us to dong hoi had a curiously strong american accent – very much like that chinese cop in mad about english.

hills of sand from afar.

made a pit-stop for some iced coffee with milk (cà phê sữa đá). in these adorable cups again.

we reached the airport with over 4 hours to spare – a 2-hour flight delay meant a mad rush to buy tickets (if they weren’t already sold out) for the 8pm train to sa pa… the 2 hours spent in hanoi were the worst, no thanks to the touts and the overcharged taxi fare. in the end, we managed to get return tickets (sleepers please, no more seats, thanks), and an unexpected bonus too – we made friends with two singaporeans on the same journey.

the longest one-hour flight ever.

a train ticket – which had to be returned at the destination. someone in the background.

zzz.