Sapa

Day One

Singapore Airlines

Arrived at T2 for flight SQ188 departing at 1435 hrs. When on board, I was rather surprised to see flight attendances distributing meal menu (left photo below) despite this was a short flight. From what I've observed, meal menu was distributed only for flights more than 4 hours; probably this flight was exception. Snack was also provided during the flight and I had fried noodles for my late lunch (right photo below).



When reached Hanoi International airport, it was already 5 pm plus and the sky had turned dark. Saw the guide from the travel agency carrying a sign board to pick us up after the custom-check point. After a quick introduction, we boarded a limousine car.

Dinner

Dinner was taken at one of the restaurants at Hanoi. Simple dishes were chosen from the menu (photos below) and during this time, we then realized that it will be very challenging to communicate in English to the local Vietnamese. I even had to use sign-language just to get my glass of tea refilled with hot water.



King Express train

Took a cab (fare paid by the tour agency) to the Hanoi Railway Station (left photo below) from the restaurant. Boarded our overnight train - King Express train at about 8.45pm. Train departed at 21:15 hour on time (right photo below).



First impression I had was rather classy in this deluxe cabin; almost the same as those shown in the travel brochure (photos below). Almost perfect ! Until we discovered the conditions of the toilet; the sink was flooded with water and it smelled terribly. Luckily there was a second toilet at the other end of the cabin. Frankly speaking, the environment inside the sleeping cabin wasn't that bad, at least the air-con was strong enough and therefore don't feel stuffy at all. As the train was constantly moving and jerking due to the tracks, it wasn't easy to sleep; think we only had less than 3 hours of sleep.




Day Two

Reached Lao Cai station (left photo below) at about 6 am and was then transferred onto a mini-coach where we were then shuttled to Sapa, which is another one and a half hours ride. Arrived at our hotel – Sapa hotel (right photo below).



Sapa Hotel

During the check-in, we were told to hand over our passports and would only returned the next day, just to process some documents. We were rather puzzled by this but didn't find out the details; probably that's the practice in Vietnam.

After some quick wash-up in the room (left photo below), we went down to the hotel restaurant, which was beside the hotel lobby for our breakfast. Food variety was miserable; only some fried noodles, scrambled eggs, bread, bananas and hot tea/coffee (right photo below).



Sapa Market

After breakfast, the following itinerary was to visit the Sapa Market where all the local ethnic minorities living around Sapa town would gather there during the weekends (photos below). Sapa market is right in Sapa town and about 1.5-km from Stone Church.



Each ethnic group could be differentiated easily according to their distinctive traditional dress. There are five ethnic groups in Sapa, namely Hmong, Xa Pho, Giay, Tay and Dao. During our visit we only got to see Hmong and Dao:

• Red Dao, a sub-ethnic group of Yao people (瑶族), are easily identified from the distinctive red triangular shaped turban decorated with silver coins and red tassels that women wore (left photo below).


• Black Hmong, a sub-ethnic group of Miao people (苗族), are famous for making cloth from hemp and dying it a deep indigo blue (right photo below). They wear long blouses decorated with batik flowers over short trousers, and wrap long scarves around their legs. They also wrap their long hair around their head.
  
  

The Black Hmong women are also seen wearing a deep indigo blue turban (photos below).



To understand the culture of a place, the best location is to observe the items being sold in a market. Various food items can be found in this market, such as barbeque food (left photo below) and fried glutinous rice balls (right photo below). Bought a glutinous rice ball at only VND 5,000 (about SGD 0.50) which had no taste.



There were also those tonic drinks soaked with lizards, scorpions, snakes etc. which were rarely found in Singapore (left photo below). Dog meat was really a 'shocking' food to me (right photo below), which left me wondering if anyone would buy some to eat.



Besides food, various items such as cloths, house-hold items, god-offerings (left photo below) and souvenirs (right photo below).



There are lots of nice sceneries for photo background if walked around Sapa town, be it man-made (left photo below) or natural (right photo below).



Lunch

Maybe it was due to the cold weather (about 15°C), we felt hungry easier. We then went to one decent café at the Sapa town to have a second breakfast before lunch. The tea doesn't really taste good in my opinion and a little pricey.

Went back to hotel for a quick bath and had lunch at one of restaurants near the Sapa town central square (left photo below). Do note that although meals were included in a tour package, beverages were not included. Noticed a misspelled word outside this restaurant, which was rather funny (right photo below).



Cat Cat Village

Next itinerary was to visit the minorities' village. First stop was the Cat Cat village which is about 2-km from Sapa Town; we took about 15-minutes to this village. Cat Cat consists of nearly 80 households of the Hmong ethnic located along the stone road in the center of the village, some other scattered precariously on the mountain slope.

These villagers mainly depend on making dyed cloths as their main revenues (photos below).



Visitors will also have a chance to visit the exhibition area of traditional handicraft products (left photo below). The exclusive and meticulous items made by skillful craftsmen is the confirmation of the typical culture that has been conserved through many generations.

We also went into one of the village homes to take a look (right photo below). Their living standard is beyond our imagination; at least for a city-dweller like me. There wasn't any electricity available, and were living just as those we have seen on documentaries.



As walked down the steps in Cat Cat village, we saw Cat Cat Fall about 30-meters in height (left photo below). Water from Hoang Lien Son Mountain flows through three streams then pour into the fall like a silky ribbon of the jungle. The giant water wheels in Cat Cat Village are made of bamboo in order to utilize water power to pound rice (right photo below). It was interesting to watch the revolving wheels and listen to its creaking and murmuring sound.



Sin Chai Village

Next visit was Sin Chai village, where Red Dao people lives there. Visitors are exposed to a wonderful painting of rice paddles, waterfalls, and leisurely grazing buffaloes (left photo below). Probably feeling tired, we didn't walk any further and this village was very similar to the earlier one we visited.

We were back to the hotel at about 3 pm. As it was still earlier before dinner, we then went to one of the local restaurant to have our "high-tea". Guess what we ordered? Vietnamese Pho (noodles); one with chicken and other with beef (right photo below). Soup is great and it costs only VND 18,000 for one bowl (about SGD 1.80).



Dinner

Dinner was at the same restaurant. But this time served another set of food. What I like was the fried corn; crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Initially wanted to go to watch a local minority dance performance after dinner, but after seeing the venue which was a pub, we felt the place was rather dodgy. Went to another café again to have some drinks and Vietnamese spring rolls and spend our time there. Regretted not to bring my winter sweater along, because it was really cold and could feel the wind blowing through my thin jacket when walking back to hotel. Think the temperature at Sapa was about 10 °C during the night!


Day Three

Sapa Heaven's Gate

Had almost the same set of breakfast at the hotel and set off to our next itinerary: the Heaven's Gate. It is about 18-km from Sapa town which took about an hour drive through those winding roads into the mountains. The scene wasn't really that fantastic, it was just some clouds or mist passing through the mountain valley, which forms a sort of wind tunnel (left photo below). However, along the way down, the scenic mountainous view do caught my attention; really look liked those ink paintings (right photo below).



Thac Bac waterfall

Next stop was the Thac Bac waterfall, or 'Silver Waterfall' in English. As it was monsoon season, there wasn't much rain and therefore not magnificent. The height of this waterfall is about 100-meters, in which visitors are allowed to take photo close to it at various sections of the fall (photos below).



Lunch

Lunch was at the same restaurant and the menu was totally different what we had the previous day; among the four dishes are 'Veggie with squid' (left photo below) and 'Fried salmon' (right photo below).



After lunch, did our last minute shopping at Sapa market and went to one of the café to try the Vietnamese coffee 'Trung Nguyen'. We just idled around in the café the whole late afternoon looking people passing by.

King Express train

Next was back to the hotel to use their internet service, followed by the coach ride back to Lao Cai railway station (right photo below). Dinner was at one of the restaurants near Lao Cai station (left photo below). Took our 20:15 hours King express train back to Hanoi. Well, that was another bumpy ride to endure!