Okay, I’m back to my write-up of my Hanoi trip. I know I’m kind of slow on this topic and it’s been almost a month ago since I returned, but bear with me, there’s only five more day or posts to go. Hmmm … five days … that will take me like weeks to complete. He he, just kidding. Anyway if you’re the impatient type, you can always read Ravi or Norman’s blog to know the rest of the adventure.
Now, where was I? Aaah yes, on the train to Lao Cai.
Up up and away
The train finally rumbled to a stop at Lao Cai Station after about 8 hours of travel. It was already daylight outside the window. It was 5 plus Viet time. We quickly gathered our baggage and followed the rest of the passengers out of the train. There was another ticket checkpoint before we entered the station. From there, we took advice from the travel guide, and got a ride up to Sa Pa on a van for 25,000 Dong per person.
The trip up took the mountain took about an hour. We soon arrived at Sa Pa town and my immediate thoughts were ‘whoa, what can we see in this fog?’. But having read about it in journals, I was hopeful that the fog will soon clear around mid day.
Anyway we got the van driver to take us to Mountain View Hotel, a place which had relatively good reviews and was also recommended by Souplad. Yes, as the name suggested, it had a quite good view of the mountains. We took a look at the rooms on offer and decided to go for the US$8 ones with double beds.
At the entrance of Mountain View hotel
After taking a short nap and a much needed bath, we were off to explore the town and to taste mountain breakfast fare.You buy from me?
Sa Pa is a small town of few streets, and the shops there mainly cater to the tourist trade. It was not too crowded when we got there, probably because it was a weekday. The people who lived there are mainly local Vietnamese who run businesses, and on the streets, moving in small bands are the H’mong women (and girls), tribes people who live closest to town.
The Catholic Church near the town square
As we were exploring the town square, we were waylaid by a small group of H’mong girls in indigo coloured costumes. They immediately surprised us with a slew of English questions, and you don’t get this from the local Vietnamese.
“What’s your name?”, “Where you from?”, “How old are you?” rolled of their tongues as they engaged us in friendly chatter. You can’t help but feel amazed by the friendliness and boldness of these young girls. They were a delight to talk to and they would follow us as we walked around the town. And finally, they would demonstrate their entrepreneuring spirit by asking us the all important question, “You buy from me?”. This while they pulled out trinkets, bracelets, friendship bands and small handbags from their bag pockets.
A group of H'mong girls
The Dynamic Duo ... who made sure I bought their goods before leaving the mountain
We found a place for breakfast at ‘Chocolat and Baguette’ and feasted on Ommelettes and Pancakes. On our way back to the hotel, we encountered more H’mong girls but resisted buying any of their craft work. Not yet anyway.
Sa Pa Market
Lost in the Mountains … almost.
After some refreshing sleep, we decided to do our own trekking in the afternoon. So we chose the simplest route which goes past Cat Cat and Sin Chai village.
It was still foggy as we made our way down the mountain. Soon we found the entrance to Cat Cat village. The village was like a showcase mini-village with huts lining up both sides of the stone stairways. Not to miss out on the tourist trade, some of these huts are fronted by shops selling all kinds of locally hand-woven clothes and hand-crafted art work.
After some refreshing sleep, we decided to do our own trekking in the afternoon. So we chose the simplest route which goes past Cat Cat and Sin Chai village.
It was still foggy as we made our way down the mountain. Soon we found the entrance to Cat Cat village. The village was like a showcase mini-village with huts lining up both sides of the stone stairways. Not to miss out on the tourist trade, some of these huts are fronted by shops selling all kinds of locally hand-woven clothes and hand-crafted art work.
Cat Cat hut
Bridge over narrow streams
For Sale in Cat Cat
Out of the village, we came to a small suspension bridge that led us to an old power station. Learning from the travel guide that there is a path to Sin Chai from here, we avoided the upward path and went straight ahead. However after about half an hour of walking and not finding the suspension bridge that was mentioned in the book, we became restless. Fortunately for us, we met an elderly H’mong woman crossing the river and decided to ask her where the path leads to. Her answer, “Fan Si Pan”. That is the highest peak in Vietnam, one day trek from Sa Pa. We were on the wrong path.
Armed with new knowledge, we had no choice but to track back to the fork in the path. We should have taken the path up when we passed the power station instead of walking straight. Anyway, it was another hour of walking and lots of climbing as the path led us back to the main road. We decided to give Sin Chai a miss and to plop ourselves at the first café we see. That’s when we found Pink Floyd Café. The ladies there were nice enough to offer us nuts and sun flower seeds that they were having.
Cold night
After tea, we made a stop at a tour agency to book our train tickets from Lao Cai back to Hanoi. We got them at 230,000 Dong each plus 10,000 extra for service.
We also decided to book for a 2D/1N trek the next day at the hotel. For a trek down the mountain to Tavan for a overnight home stay and a half day trek the next day to Giang Ta Chai, we managed to get the price down to US$18 per person.
That night we had a late dinner at one of the nearby restaurants. It was only past nine but I guess it was late by local standards as many shops were already closed and there were not many people on the streets. The freezing weather did not help either, so we called it a night and retired to our rooms to play a few rounds of bridge until sleep beckoned.
Armed with new knowledge, we had no choice but to track back to the fork in the path. We should have taken the path up when we passed the power station instead of walking straight. Anyway, it was another hour of walking and lots of climbing as the path led us back to the main road. We decided to give Sin Chai a miss and to plop ourselves at the first café we see. That’s when we found Pink Floyd Café. The ladies there were nice enough to offer us nuts and sun flower seeds that they were having.
Cold night
After tea, we made a stop at a tour agency to book our train tickets from Lao Cai back to Hanoi. We got them at 230,000 Dong each plus 10,000 extra for service.
We also decided to book for a 2D/1N trek the next day at the hotel. For a trek down the mountain to Tavan for a overnight home stay and a half day trek the next day to Giang Ta Chai, we managed to get the price down to US$18 per person.
That night we had a late dinner at one of the nearby restaurants. It was only past nine but I guess it was late by local standards as many shops were already closed and there were not many people on the streets. The freezing weather did not help either, so we called it a night and retired to our rooms to play a few rounds of bridge until sleep beckoned.
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