Sa Pa is a mountain town nestled in the Northern Borders of Vietnam, famous for the seas of green tiered rice terraces and spectacular landscapes. We desperately wanted to see this part of the country, and ended up taking the night train, which involved an 8 hour journey from Hanoi to Lao Cai station.
The train itself seemed comfortable enough and the cabin itself was quite nice. The only problem was that we ended up sharing it with a snorer in the bunk above us! Matt seemed to sleep through this quite happily, waking up fresh faced the next day, but I had very little sleep and also managed to leave my hat - okay, second hat - on the train! Boo! (As a side note, I'm actually on hat number four at the moment, but these are anecdotes for later dates I feel!) Despite these minor downers, the night train really was an excellent way to travel and I think we will end up opting for this mode of transport again at some stage on our travels!
Once we arrived in Lao Cai at the crack of dawn we were to embark on an ear-popping bus journey that wound it's way around the mountains through the clouds to get to the town itself. It meandered it's way through the foggy roads and on this day we didn't get to see too much. What hit us first was the temperature - much cooler than anywhere else we had been, at around 15 degrees. And the air was so fresh, it made a nice change from the big cities, where it's not uncommon to see the locals donning face masks.
Arriving at the hotel was a nice welcome introduction, as we celebrated our arrival into Sa Pa with banana pancakes (sooo good!) and a glass of Vietnamese tea (Matt was more of an avid fan than I was). We then had a wander into town down a steep hill as the fog had cleared up a bit. Sa Pa itself is lovely - it's quiet and has a different vibe to anywhere else we have seen. The place is full of Hmong ladies dressed in colourful traditional clothing, who try every method known to man to get you to buy from their sack full of souvenirs. We learnt this very quickly - they really don't take no for an answer! There are no shortage of shops in Sa Pa either, mostly selling knock off North Face trekking gear and coats. In the middle of town sits a big cemented area that looks like some sort of arena. We spent some time watching a local volleyball game here, which was cool! We had a relaxed day when we arrived in Sa Pa though, and ended up watching another one of our films from the Vietnamese collection: Platoon. This must have been a good film because I didn't fall asleep during it.
The tour itself was great and I think we were both grateful that we hadn't decided to go and visit Fansipan mountain, which sits at a meagre 3143 ASL and involves a gruelling 2-4 day trek. Doable, but I think we much preferred the scenic route around the village!
That evening, we visited an bar that had an excellent views of the mountains, a roaring fire in the middle and a friendly dog. It started to pour down outside and there was a huge thunderstorm that started up, which resulted in a power cut down the entire street. This was fun to watch and we were both grateful to be indoors at this stage. We miraculously avoided the downpours all night, which was another stroke of luck!
For dinner this night we ended up visiting the Hill Station, which is a famous restaurant that crops up in a few places in Vietnam. We ended up sitting crossed-legged on the floor for dinner and indulged in some Vietnamese and Sa Pa specialities: these included slow-cooked pork, roasted pumpkin and honey roasted chicken infused with ginger. Basically, foody heaven. The menu here was superb and a nice way to finish off our stay in Sa Pa - the only problem came when we had to hike up back to our hotel afterwards, so full of delicious food! You may have noticed that this is how most of our Vietnam adventures start and end, which I like to think is a testimony to how good the food is out here, but also a reflection of our priorities.
The following day, we were to head back to Hanoi by bus this time. Then we were to head down the coast to Hoi An, before moving on to Laos.
The train itself seemed comfortable enough and the cabin itself was quite nice. The only problem was that we ended up sharing it with a snorer in the bunk above us! Matt seemed to sleep through this quite happily, waking up fresh faced the next day, but I had very little sleep and also managed to leave my hat - okay, second hat - on the train! Boo! (As a side note, I'm actually on hat number four at the moment, but these are anecdotes for later dates I feel!) Despite these minor downers, the night train really was an excellent way to travel and I think we will end up opting for this mode of transport again at some stage on our travels!
Once we arrived in Lao Cai at the crack of dawn we were to embark on an ear-popping bus journey that wound it's way around the mountains through the clouds to get to the town itself. It meandered it's way through the foggy roads and on this day we didn't get to see too much. What hit us first was the temperature - much cooler than anywhere else we had been, at around 15 degrees. And the air was so fresh, it made a nice change from the big cities, where it's not uncommon to see the locals donning face masks.
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| Breakfast! Tastier than it looks, honest |
Arriving at the hotel was a nice welcome introduction, as we celebrated our arrival into Sa Pa with banana pancakes (sooo good!) and a glass of Vietnamese tea (Matt was more of an avid fan than I was). We then had a wander into town down a steep hill as the fog had cleared up a bit. Sa Pa itself is lovely - it's quiet and has a different vibe to anywhere else we have seen. The place is full of Hmong ladies dressed in colourful traditional clothing, who try every method known to man to get you to buy from their sack full of souvenirs. We learnt this very quickly - they really don't take no for an answer! There are no shortage of shops in Sa Pa either, mostly selling knock off North Face trekking gear and coats. In the middle of town sits a big cemented area that looks like some sort of arena. We spent some time watching a local volleyball game here, which was cool! We had a relaxed day when we arrived in Sa Pa though, and ended up watching another one of our films from the Vietnamese collection: Platoon. This must have been a good film because I didn't fall asleep during it.
After feeling fairly zombified on day one, we decided to go visit the rice paddies on the second day, which was also much warmer and less foggy, fortunately. We arranged a tour via the hotel and were taken to a traditional Hmong village by one of the locals. We wandered down a steep mountain to finally get to see some great views of the rice paddies - just as we had imagined. The views were incredible and we felt very lucky knowing the weather had been forgiving enough to allow us to see it this time of year! At this stage it seemed we were being followed by a crowd of Hmong ladies who seized upon us vulnerable tourists with sweet talk and general pushiness to buy their things! Eventually they lost interest, apart from one old lady called Zu who ended up wandering around with us for some time! She was cute, and we couldn't deny her charm.
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| There she is! |
The hike (which was more of a gentle stroll) took us around farmland abundant in all kinds of wildlife - it was animal paradise! Lots of water buffalo, some micro pigs (!), chickens, ducks, dogs... And the baby ones were adorable. It was amazing to think about how the small communities down there have managed to create such effective ways to grow rice too. I can't even imagine how much hard work has gone into creating the rice terraces, let alone sustaining business in the wet season when mud slides are not uncommon.
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The tour itself was great and I think we were both grateful that we hadn't decided to go and visit Fansipan mountain, which sits at a meagre 3143 ASL and involves a gruelling 2-4 day trek. Doable, but I think we much preferred the scenic route around the village!
That evening, we visited an bar that had an excellent views of the mountains, a roaring fire in the middle and a friendly dog. It started to pour down outside and there was a huge thunderstorm that started up, which resulted in a power cut down the entire street. This was fun to watch and we were both grateful to be indoors at this stage. We miraculously avoided the downpours all night, which was another stroke of luck!
For dinner this night we ended up visiting the Hill Station, which is a famous restaurant that crops up in a few places in Vietnam. We ended up sitting crossed-legged on the floor for dinner and indulged in some Vietnamese and Sa Pa specialities: these included slow-cooked pork, roasted pumpkin and honey roasted chicken infused with ginger. Basically, foody heaven. The menu here was superb and a nice way to finish off our stay in Sa Pa - the only problem came when we had to hike up back to our hotel afterwards, so full of delicious food! You may have noticed that this is how most of our Vietnam adventures start and end, which I like to think is a testimony to how good the food is out here, but also a reflection of our priorities.
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| Posh nosh! |
The following day, we were to head back to Hanoi by bus this time. Then we were to head down the coast to Hoi An, before moving on to Laos.
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