Monthly Archives: May 2012

Sapa Rooms Hotel

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Sapa Rooms is a boutique hotel in the resort town of Sapa in Northern Vietnam. We found Sapa Rooms on TripAdvisor. Aside from generally excellent reviews from the past guests, there were mentions about the emphasis from the owner and staff to be ‘ethically responsible’ and make positive impact to the local economy, so that was a good starting place to check it out.

I had an email correspondence with Pete, the owner/manager of the hote, to arrange our visit. He provided us with really good information about the hotel, transportation option from/to Hanoi, and the trekking tours we could take there. In the end, we decided to book the transportation from/to Hanoi (train tickets between Hanoi and Lao Cai, and passenger van transit between Lao Cai and Sapa) and the hotel rooms through them (plus the trekking tours arranged through their front desk once we got there). The cost for the transportation option might be a bit more expensive in comparison to what you could get if you do it yourself, but considering the potentially confusing process of getting train tickets at the station, and then getting a ride between Lao Cai and Sapa at early morning or early evening, it’s worth paying the extra cost.

The trip between Hanoi and Sapa was an interesting experience that I wrote about in the last few days. When we finally arrived in Sapa, the driver dropped us off at the hotel. Since we arrived before our room was ready for check in, we waited at the hotel’s lounge/restaurant area and were served complimentary breakfast.

Our room for the one night stay was a large suite with a king-sized and full-sized bed plus separate shower and bathroom — it was large enough for a family of 4-5 to stay. The room was very nicely decorated and very cozy, definitely perfect for resting after spending time outdoors trekking in cold and wet weather. We were able to freshen up at got a little rest before we continued on with the day.

The photo below was taken in our room. You can see the two beds inside the large but cozy room.

Sapa Rooms

Sapa

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Sapa is a town in the northwest region of Vietnam, close to the border of China. It’s about 350 km northwest from Hanoi. It’s up in the mountainous region in the Lao Cai province, so to get there from Hanoi typically travelers would take a train ride from Hanoi to the city of Lao Cai, then continue on with a drive to Sapa. The area became popular as a resort town for the French colonist given it’s cooler climate. Today it is becoming a popular tourist destination in Northern Vietnam since it is one place that you can see encounter several indigenous tribes in Vietnam (the Hmong, Dzao, Tai, and Giay) and also see the village life and the terraced rice fields. Mount Fansipan, the highest mountain peak in Indochina at more than 10,000 ft high, is also nearby, so it’s also a good place to go for hikers.

When we’re planning for the trip to Northern Vietnam, the idea to visit Sapa as part of the iterary came after talking with some friends who had been in the area and also watching Travel Channel program about Vietnam. I have a couple of friends who used to live in China, and one time they took the land route through Vietnam on the way to a conference in Thailand. During that trip, they went through Sapa, and they absolutely loved the place because it offered two things they loved, hiking the mountains and immersing themselves in indigenous cultures. Then as I looked for more information to learn about Vietnam, there was a featured program on the Travel Channel where one of its hosts, Samantha Brown, visited Vietnam. One of the experiences she had, visiting Sapa and staying with a local family. Kristi and I were both sold after that, as this would be a little ‘off the beaten path’ experience and it’s definitely unique during our Southeast Asia trip.

The photo below was taken during our hike. You can see the terraced rice fields down in the valley, seen from the mountain-side path we passed during our hike.

Terraced rice fields

Morning Drive to Sapa

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After few hours of sleeping in a tiny sleeper during the train ride between Hanoi and Lao Cai, we were woken up by the sound of the train stopping, followed by someone shouting outside. Then someone banged on our cabin’s door. When we opened the cabin’s door, we found out that we had arrived in Lao Cai, and the loud shout was to tell the passengers to get up, pack up their belongings, and leave the train. The time was around 4:30 am, so most of the passengers were still half awake. They slowly freshened up a little bit, gathered their belongings, and left the train.

It was still dark outside when we disembarked from the train. It was similar to the Hanoi Train station; we walked through a dimly-lit outdoor platform, pretty much following other passengers in front of us as noone really provided any direction other that we had to leave the train car (the lights inside the train car flickered several times as warning that they would be turning everything off soon, so we had better move out quickly).

We said goodbye to George and Gol, the couple who shared the cabin with us during the overnight train ride. Before we left Hanoi, Mr. Viet, the gentleman who arranged our travels between Hanoi and Sapa, told us that once we arrived at Lao Cai Train Station, on the way out we should look for a driver with a sign saying Sapa Rooms and my name written on it. As we reached the exit of the train station, sure enough, we saw someone with the sign. I used hand gestures to tell him that we’re the passengers he’s waiting for. He nodded and motioned to us to follow him to the parking lot. He had a minivan that was empty, and after loading our luggages, he asked us to get on the minivan. I was quite happy as everything seemed to work like clockwork. Or so I thought…

The driver then left us alone in his minivan to go back to the train station. We waited there for few minutes, until he came back with several more passengers (all foreign tourists) who had their luggages loaded and got on the minivan joining us. Then the driver left again… This happened for several times, until finally our minivan was fully loaded. So it seemed that even though the driver might be contracted by Sapa Rooms to pick us up, he was also trying to maximize his load by picking up other passengers there. This was the only means of transportation to get from Lao Cai to Sapa, so the demand for such service was pretty high especially everytime the train from Hanoi has just arrived.

It was already close to 6 am when we left Lao Cai. It was still dark outside, and it was quite foggy as well. The drive to Sapa took a little more than an hour, and it was pretty much an uphill climb all the way there. For the first half of the ride, it was still dark outside so we couldn’t tell what’s on the sides of the road, but what we could tell was that the fog was quite dense that the visibility was quite low. We could barely see any car or incoming traffic within 50 feet in front of us. But yet the driver was driving constantly at 60 km/h. Most passengers were pretty much going back to sleep on the drive there. I was awake by then, so I thought I tried to capture the experience by getting my camera out from my backpack. It was quite a challenge trying to get the camera out and changing lens to the one with the right aperture and focal length to use while being careful to prevent dropping the lens cap or anything else in the dark and crowded minivan cabin. I managed to take some shots; most of them ended up to be mostly dark scene, but they captured the moment of being in the dark, driving in a dense fog.

About halfway during the trip the sun came out and we could start seeing the scenery around us. The photo below was taken during the ride. It was my first glimpse of the mountainous region of Sapa that we’re about to visit. It could’ve been nice to see clear sky and the sun rising in the distance, but the clouds and fog slowly clearing up added a different dimension to the sense of place.

Morning drive to Sapa

Train Ride to Lao Cai

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After boarding the train at the Hanoi Train Station, Kristi and I located our cabin inside the train car. Each cabin has four sleepers. When we booked the trip, we were faced with decision whether to follow the recommendation to purchase all four seats in a cabin (for privacy, security, and comfort reasons), or only purchase the two spots that we needed. In the end Kristi and I decided to get only two spots, and we would share the cabin with whoever other passengers who take the other two sleepers. It might be a bit ‘risky’ but we thought we would face the risk while traveling anyway.

When we found our cabin, the first thing we noticed was how small it was. there were four sleepers, two on each side, and they were designed for the local standard size (i.e., pretty short). For Kristi, it wasn’t a problem since she’s pretty small in posture. For me, it’s just about to fit. If anyone 6 ft or taller travels in this cabin, it would be very difficult to travel on the top sleeper. Even if you take the bottom sleeper, a tall person would probably need to sleep with his/her feet on the ground. Adding the constraint of the small cabin space was the space for luggages. You can slide the luggage under the bottom sleepers, but the space was barely enough for luggages from two people. Both Kristi and I each had a backpack. That we had to keep with us on our sleeper. I used it as extra head rest next to my pillow. Other than that, it was a clean cabin with pillows and blankets provided.

Not long after we settled in our cabin, the other two passengers in our cabin arrived. They were a couple from Montreal, Canada, named George and Gol who like us were in the middle of exploring Northern Vietnam. We had a fun conversation talking about our trips so far. George said their trip didn’t start well as they got stranded in Hong Kong for an extra day because their United Airlines connecting flight got canceled and they had to spend almost a whole day at the airport waiting for the next flight to Hanoi. After making it to Vietnam, the first part of their trip was to go to Ha Long Bay for a cruise, and they said they really liked it. They’re planning on spending some time in Hanoi when they get back from Sapa. So it was a little bit in reverse compared to our itinerary — we spent time in Hanoi, then Sapa, then Ha Long Bay. It was great though to hear that the next destination for both our parties were going to be good.

As it got closer to midnight, everyone was ready to get some rest and sleep for a few hours. We had the light turned off and not long after I heard George started snoring a little bit and I could tell Gol and Kristi were already asleep as well. Somehow I had difficult time sleeping, so I ended watching a movie that brought in my netbook and I wanted to watch before the trip to Cambodia, but never had a chance to… The Killing Fields. So there it was, I spent the next three hours or so watching this movie about the Khmer Rouge atrocity in Cambodia. Since we visited the Tuol Sleng Prison and the Choeung Ek Killing Field while in Phnom Penh, I had a better idea of what had happened in real life, and made me appreciate how well the movie was done to reflect what really happened in Cambodia. Eventually after finishing the movie, I got tired enough and could finally fall asleep.

The photo below was taken from outside the cabin looking in. You could see me in the middle of cabin in between the sleepers. I might look big here, but it’s actually the cabin that was small. For size comparison, you could also see my backpack on the top sleeper and Kristi’s bag on the bottom sleeper. I ended up taking the top left sleeper.

Train cabin

Hanoi Train Station

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The first part of our journey from Hanoi to Sapa was to go to the Hanoi Train Station and get on board of our train. Our contact person, Mr. Viet, whom we met at the Six on Sixteen Hotel, got us a taxi cab, and he told us that he would ride his motorcycle separately and meet us at the train station.

When we arrived at the Hanoi Train Station, Mr. Viet was already there, and he told us to follow him. I read about some horror stories of travelers getting scammed when trying to obtain their train tickets at the station, so I was glad that we had someone who knew what he’s doing taking care of this for us. We reached the entrance of what looked like a waiting area, and Mr. Viet told us to wait there while he retrieved our train tickets. He disappeared for a moment, and Kristi and I waited there until he came back. After few minutes, he was back with a couple of tickets in his hands. He gave them to us, and asked us to follow him.

We went through the waiting lobby and continued through the train platform. Mr. Viet told us to follow him to our train car; he escorted us all the way to the exact one we needed to board, and then told us that we just have to look for our exact cabin on board. Before he left, he gave us his business card. It looked like he’s a business partner of the proprietor of the Sapa Rooms and Six on Sixteen Hotels who specializes in arranging transportation for travelers from Hanoi to various destinations in Vietnam, including Sapa. He told us that we could contact him for any transportation needs in Hanoi in the future.

I took the photo below before walking into the waiting lobby at the train station. It would be quite an adventure — one that I probably didn’t care to experience — to have to figure out all of these on my own while making sure that I didn’t get ripped off and not missing my train.

Waiting lobby