Tag Archives: vietnam

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

6 on Sixteen

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After a full day of sightseeing in Hanoi, Vietnam, we were ready to continue on with the next leg of adventure during our Southeast Asia trip. So far we’ve traveled by air, land (car, light rail train, bicycle, tuk-tuk, minivan), and water (river boats). The next leg of the trip is to travel by overnight train, and continued with a minivan. That was the most convenient way of getting to our next destination, Sapa. But before we embarked on this adventure, we had to first get in contact with a gentleman in Hanoi who made the arrangements for our trip to Sapa. That in itself was an interesting experience.

After deciding that Sapa is one of our destinations in Vietnam, we started planning out the trip up there. The easiest, most convenient way of planning this would be to get a travel agency to arrange the trip for you. They’ll take care of the transportation and lodging arrangements. We decided to be a little more adventurous and plan the travel a little bit independently. I used TripAdvisor to look at various boutique hotels in Sapa to consider as places to stay. We ended up selecting a place called Sapa Rooms. When we looked at booking the room to stay there, they mentioned that they could also help arrange the trip from Hanoi to Sapa and back. The only route to go to Sapa (north of Hanoi, near the border with China) was to take train from Hanoi to Lao Cai, then take a minivan or bus from Lao Cai to Sapa. The train typically leaves Hanoi in the evening and arriving at Lao Cai in early morning. Then it’s about one hour drive up the mountains to Sapa. We thought we were adventurous, but trying to do all of these without anything pre-arranged would be a bit too much adventure to take. And trying to book the train ticket on our own was quite a confusing process. So we decided to just book our travel through Sapa Rooms as well.

It turned out that the Sapa Rooms owner, an Australian gentleman, also had a business in Hanoi. Few months before our trip (when we were in the planning stage), he had a place in Hanoi that was meant to be a quick rest stop for independent travelers to freshen up before they head to Sapa. But just shortly before our trip, that place was closed, and instead he opened up a new boutique hotel in the heart of Old Quarter Hanoi called 6 on Sixteen (they had only six rooms, and it’s on 16 Bao Khanh Street). This was the place that we were instructed to go to by a certain time to meet the gentleman named Mr. Viet who would get us to the train station, provide us with our train tickets, and ensure that we get on the right train to Lao Cai. I read many horror stories about people getting scammed at the Hanoi Train Station, so I thought even though this arrangement sounded a bit outside my comfort zone, it seemed to be safer than trying to do it myself.

We arrived at the Six on Sixteen around 6 pm, just like what we were instructed. As we got there, I told the hotel staff that we were there to see Mr. Viet before our trip to Sapa. The hotel staff mentioned that Mr. Viet will usually come around 7 pm, and in the mean time we were welcomed to hang out at their restaurant/lounge.

The ground floor of the small boutique hotel was pretty much a long, narrow room with wooden tables and benches and a bunch of plush pillows to sit on around a lounge table. Since we knew we’re going to travel overnight on the train, we thought it would be better if we had something to eat before we leave. I thought this was quite a smart arrangement by the hotel’s proprietors; get the travelers to come a little early before their trip, and offer them some food and refreshments before their journey. We ordered a couple of Vietnamese appetizers and some mixed fruit drinks (which we came to love during the next couple of days staying at Sapa Rooms/6 on Sixteen).

Around 7:30 pm, finally Mr. Viet arrived (after I got nervous and checking with the 6 on Sixteen staff several times). After quickly greeting us, he stopped a taxi cab, told the driver that we’re going to the Hanoi train station, and told us to get on the taxi and he would meet us at the train station as he rode his motorcycle separately. The memorable trip to Sapa then started…

The photo below was taken at the 6 on Sixteen lounge area while we were waiting for Mr. Viet to arrive. You can see the dimly lit area, and the long and narrow place.

Six on Sixteen