Vietnam
Sapa
The town itself of Sapa is incredibly commercial, either abandoned or decrepit buildings or ugly new buildings going up. So didn't care much for it but absolutely loved our 3 days of trekking outside of Sapa. The sights outside of Sapa were good but we could have combined them to have 1 less day as we had too much free time in the afternoons.
5 days (Could have combined day 3 and 4 to have one less day)
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Day 1: Trek to Ta Van
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Day 2: Trek Ta Van - Sun Pan - Cat Cat Village - Sapa
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Day 3: Glass Bridge, Love Waterfall, Silver Water Fall
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Day 4: Fansipan, Massage
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Day 5: Trek Ma Tra - Ta Phin, Herbal bath, Sapa Market
Hotel: Eden Boutique Hotel and Spa- large comfortable room, easy access to the center of town, breakfast buffet okay.
Favorite restaurant or bar: Herbalist, HD Restaurant
Day 1: Trek to Ta Van
Sumay, our guide in Sapa, was waiting for us at the train station, in Lao Cai, when we arrived at 6am. It took us about 1 hour to drive up the one lane hillside road to the town of Sapa.
Had a western breakfast. Not our normal bountiful buffet but good to get some food in us before our 9k walk down the “paved” road and through the rice terrace villages.
Decided to take the road rather than the “Adventure Trail” due to the Adventure Trail being muddy and slippery from recent rains. Viewing that trail from our muddy cement road, we definitely made the right choice, even though we were continuously dodging passing scooters. We ended up walking almost 5 miles, mostly downhill, eventually dropping below the cloud layer.
As soon as we got to the trailhead we were greeted by 5-6 tribe member girls all speaking at once and carrying their homemade fabric items for sale.
Some of them stayed with us up until lunch, and were disappointed we didn’t buy anything from them, but sadly didn’t see anything enticing, and were already doing our best to minimize what we were carrying on our backs. The weather was foggy, but nevertheless we still got nice views of the majestic rice fields and valley.
Lots of small stores all selling similar handmade goods along the way.
Ladies were wearing their traditional tribal clothing. First pic was a woman from Hmong tribe, while our guide in the second picture was wearing her traditional red head scarf from her Red Dzou tribe.
Lunch at A Phu was bountiful typical Vietnamese fare with a lovely view. Food, tea, and coffee were all amazing.
After lunch we went into one of the villager’s homes. They live very very simply, and went about their business eating their lunch, while thoroughly ignoring us, which gave us a nice feeling of observing without intruding. Floors are dirt or concrete. No central heat. So always cold. Bathrooms (sometimes outside of the house) have an open shower with a toilet.
Interesting staircase to the next level where they sleep.
After lunch the trail was more narrow through alley ways and elevated walkways through rice terraces, but still being passed by scooters.
We got to our homestay around 1:30pm, and were served a nice welcome piping hot cup of tea. We were pleasantly surprised how nice our room was. Particularly the large picture windows, and en suite bathroom with hot water.
We were exhausted from the night on the train so just caught up on life and read until dinner time. It was very cold, but we were given nice heavy blankets. Dinner was typical Vietnamese. Very good. All family style. Everyone using chopsticks to reach into bowls for the food. Also drank their homemade rice wine. No one spoke English, but they were very friendly. They were chatting together a lot through dinner, and continued filling our glasses and toasting with the rice wine.
Day 2: Ta Van - Sun Pan - Cat Cat Village - Sapa
Had pancakes with honey and banana for breakfast and said goodbye to our kind host.
Headed back over the bridge thru the town toward the “Adventure Trail”.
Saw several small horses grazing in the rice paddies. Apparently the local type of horses here are much smaller than we’re used to seeing.
We tried the Adventure Trail for a little but just got too muddy and slippery with no indication of improvement, so turned around to backtrack and walk the road. We were a bit bummed we weren’t able to walk through the bamboo forest, but given our foot wear, it was the right choice. Some other tourists continued with rubber boots.
Heading back we stopped at a little shop and bought a unique pair of pants from the designer and maker.
View from deck at lunch. Sumay had bought some bok choy from a little roadside stand, and had our restaurant cook it up for us.
Our driver picked us up and we headed to Cat Cat village. Definitely touristy. Felt almost like we were visiting a Disney World ride. Walked down a bunch of stairs lined with shops before hitting the main village.
Main village is a series of shops, restaurants and some waterfalls.
People dressed up in tribe formal wear with makeup to take pictures.
The Herbalist - amazing cocktail bar a minute from our hotel started by a Vietnamese women and her lovely Italian boyfriend giving us drink suggestions
Chusu Kitchen - food was pretty good but not our best meal.
Many of the businesses have indoor fires to keep you warm. Larry was afraid we were going to get carbon monoxide poisoning.
Crazy foggy night. Enjoyed walking around town and checking it out.
Hotel: Eden Boutique Hotel and Spa. Our room was large, warm and comfortable. Easy access into the center of town. Definitely noisy prepping for an outdoor concert in a couple days. Breakfast buffet was just okay.
Other options that we saw that looked nice
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Sapa Pine Hill Eco lodge (5 minute walk from hotel in a quieter area)
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Azalea Sapa Hotel (right next to our hotel) looked a bit higher end than our place.
Day 3: Glass bridge, Love Waterfall, Silver Waterfall
9am departure. Headed further up the mountains to the Sapa glass bridge (2,000 meters above sea level). After parking, we took a shuttle bus up a very steep hill to the first elevator. From the top of that elevator, we took another shuttle bus up to the second elevator. This elevator was accessed by walking in a tunnel through the granite rock. This second elevator went up much further with views through the glass walls.
After exiting the elevator, we walked along several sections of glass floor bridges and up a few glass staircases, and then onto several pathways up and across the mountainside. Definitely disorienting looking straight down through the floor.
Amazing views across the fog shrouded mountains.
Took an extra walk along a suspension bridge with large gaps between boards. Extra adrenaline made Larry too nervous to pull out his phone for a photo and risk dropping it hundreds of feet into the forest below.
Stopped at Love Waterfall was named after a love story about a mythical couple who weren’t allowed to be together, so they committed suicide by jumping from the top of the waterfall.
Walked along the lovely Golden Stream to get to the base of Love Waterfall.
Took a break for a couple of hard boil eggs. 38 cents per egg -a nice healthy snack.
Final stop for the day was Silver water fall. Lots of steps up, making this day a pretty good workout.
Came back into town around 1:45pm and headed straight for salted coffee at Aloha Coffee overlooking the lake in the main part of Sapa town.
Sapa town is incredibly commercial, either abandoned or decrepit buildings or ugly new buildings going up.
Sapa is a very strangely commercialized town in the middle of some amazing natural beauty. Lots of big ugly signs. Could be incredibly beautiful with a few enforced restrictions.
We quickly got tired of the Hmong tribe people asking “hello shopping?” Over and over and over. Also saddened us seeing young women and children carrying around lots of babies.
Ginger tea at Time Coffee. Lovely view across the valley.
Dinner at Red Dzou. Nice ambiance particularly from outside. Food was okay, generous portions. Not authentic feeling. Bit too touristy for our liking.
Day 4: Fansipan
Left at 9:30am and headed to Fansipan, a less than 10 min drive from our hotel. Took a cable car up, rather than the 7 hour trek option. Starting in thick fog…
Beautiful landscape below was occasionally visible through the clouds.
Shortly before the top we broke through the clouds into blue sky.
Once at the top we slowly made our way up the 600 steep steps. (Option to take a cable car up, but a very long line). Nice views along the way were a good excuse to stop and catch your breath.
Huge buddha statue was impressive for its size and location.
Peak is the highest point in Indochina at 3143 meters. Another very popular place for tourists taking photos.
Back in town around 1pm. Ate at Indigo near Sapa lake. Again a restaurant where the food was fine but felt very touristy. Loud live clarinet music being played in the restaurant was so weird and annoying, we asked to move to a different part of the restaurant. Naturally, as soon as we moved, the music stopped. Had 90-minute massages right across from our hotel at Eden Massage and Spa. Other places didn’t look as nice, and we were annoyed by the continuous calls to us whenever we walked by. We were greeted at this spa with a tasty herbal tea as we were checked in. We opted for the herbal massage. Our private room was clean and warm. Staff are very professional and attentive to desired pressure. Very relaxing. Massage table with a simple hole for your face was the only discomfort/complaint. Price was about one fifth of what we pay at home.
Dinner HD Restaurant. All fresh and organic so takes about 30 minutes to prepare. Shared games and free sunflower seeds with us to pass the time while we waited for our food. Worth the wait as food was very good. We will return. We haven’t had great desserts in Vietnam, and unfortunately this place was not the exception.
Day 5: Ma Tra - Ta Phin
9:30am start. Today we did a 3 mile walk between villages. Started walking in Ma Tra the home of the Black Hmong tribe.
This area has lots of farms with different vegetables growing.
Lots of farmers were specifically growing a particular plant/flower for the upcoming lunar new year. Others starting to grow for next year’s celebration.
Stopped at Wood House’s for coffee. Cool place with interesting collection of different things. They had a lovely area to sit outside but it was to cold.
Walked by some bamboo forests and some huge bamboo used for stronger applications.
Through the Red Dzao village. They live very simply and are all pretty much farmers working the land that has been in their family for generations.
Many animals seemingly roaming freely, but everyone seems to know whose is whose.
Water buffalo are used for working the fields, but are pretty much on vacation this time of year.
Passed through large tomato and spinach farms. Multi-use fields are equipped with plastic covering that can be pulled over to protect some crops from too much rain, while the plastic is rolled up for other types of crops to take it all in.
Red Dzao village older ladies wear fuller head scarfs
We each did a 20 minute herbal bath. Suds are from the 25 different herbs as there is no soap added. Very warm and relaxing.
Had a light lunch at the soaking spa before getting picked up and driven back to the hotel to drop off laundry and say our almost tearful goodbye to our wonderful guide for five days, Sumay. Took a walk from our hotel down to Sapa lake, the more picturesque area of Sapa, if you avoid the ugly buildings and huge signs.
Took a stroll through Sapa Market. Seemed almost deserted. Hard to imagine how these people make a living during the off season.
Took a new route back to our familiar area by walking through some narrow lanes to find our way back to last night’s HD Restaurant.
We wanted to try the “hot pot”, which is the local version of fondue. Quite good and plenty of food with lots of tasty broth, meat, veggies, tofu and noodles.
