Margaret and I meet outside the Qantas lounge at Hong Kong airport. Security and immigration definitely weren’t as long as I had expected. Aperol spritz is ordered – life is good.
We are flying dragon air and today that means we flying from the satellite terminal…..thankfully once we get onto the bus it’s quick to fill up and drive across the terminal.
We depart on time and it’s a painless flight to Hanoi. On arrival the lines at immigration are long and slow. Thankfully I can join the APEC line; I keep letting people go in front of me as I’m waiting for Margaret.
We are finally through! Bags collected; money from an ATM – time to find a taxi. We are taking the overnight train up to Sapa, well the train station is Lao Cai which is around 45 minutes from Sapa.
The trip seems to be take forever and at times feels like we are going in a roundabout way…..we have been instructed to go to the Victoria Express lounge around 30-45 minutes in advance of the train; as time passes I’m beginning to wonder if we’ll make it in
that time.
At last we arrive! The view looking down at the main entrance is to the train station keeps me occupied. There are drinks on offer, I decide on water and get a big bottle. A few minutes later we are told it’s time to head to the train and given a bill of 100,000 dong for the water. Yeah I don’t think so!! First of all you didn’t mention we need to pay and now you want us to pay 5 times over what you pay on the street – thanks but no thanks. After lots of discussion the lady takes 20,000 and advises she’ll buy water on the street to replace it. Ridiculous!!!
We have 5 employees taking the two of us to the train – entertaining.
We are treated like rock stars on arrival (although I’m sure for rock stars they don’t travel by train….
at the train; cool face towels are provided then we are walked down to our berth. We have booked a deluxe 2 berth cabin. We are both like 5 year olds in a sweet shop; sooo excited!! The train manager gives us an overview of our cabin and the train carriage. 
We depart Hanoi basically on time at 10pm – I’m very glad I got myself basically sorted prior to departure as it’s no longer smooth. I’m loving looking out the window as we say goodbye to Hanoi.
We have numerous fits of giggles throughout the journey. At one point I can’t control my laughter as I’m being bounced around constantly!!!! Around 3am we are both freezing (the a/c is on FULL tit) so are up trying to switch the a/c off (no luck); Margaret even goes off to try to find a staff member with no luck. Must remember this for the return journey.
Saturday 27 May we arrive into Lao Cai to train station just after 6am. MORE SLEEP IS NEEDED! Our driver is there to greet us as we step off the train. We follow him to the car park where a car is there to greet us - a nice touch given we were expecting a shuttle bus. As there was just us on the Victoria Express I'm sure it makes better sense to bring a car for us than the shuttle bus.
It's a slow one hour drive to Sapa; with so much to look at along the way! I’m struggling to keep my eyes open. When we finally arrive in Sapa town there is a hype of activity already; like most small towns in Vietnam things start early. It’s a very steep drive up the road to the hotel….going to be interesting walking back up here after going out exploring.
After some confusion with the receptionist we are told we can check into our room now – major result! PJ's on and alarm set for 1.5 hours, time to get some sleep!! The view when we leave the room showcasing's the lake and the mountains.
We have a leisurely breakfast before heading out to explore Sapa town. I’m finally starting to feel like a normal human being.
We decide to walk down the road we had driven up a few hours earlier even though the receptionist informed us there are stairs much closer – this helps us to get our bearings.
We wander around the lake into the main town area to the markets. I’d read Saturdays are the busiest days as people from the villages around Sapa come in.
On arrival it’s definitely a lot smaller than expected. The fruit, vegetables and herbs all look very fresh. One stalls have their produce in nice neat piles, others not so careful.
We then wonder to the meat side of the market, wow the smell is strong! Margaret decides it’s too much so heads out the outside of the market, that’s after a local has taken a likening to her. I continue to wander through the middle.
We had read about Cat Cat Village which is just outside Sapa so decide to head there. Walking back through town and around the lake we pass the stairs then road to our hotel and continue to walk down.
We decide to stop for a cold drink at one of the restaurants, on entering the owners are sitting down with their family eating. Thanks but no food for us, just a cold drink.
The walk to Cat Cat Village is nice and easy as it’s all downhill; getting home is going to be interesting though as it’s very steep!!
After purchasing the ticket to enter Cat Cat Village we wander down and around the Village. Every 100 meters or so there is a group of shops – some selling the local wares, while others are in the F&B trade. The sun is out in full force now.
We decide to taxi back to Sapa rather than walk so I go off in search of a taxi; as we continue to drive uphill I’m very thankfully we are in the taxi rather than walking.
We have a couple of hours relaxing at the hotel; while Margaret sleeps I read a book – heaven.
We wander down the hill to a bar we had read out – the views are amazing out to the mountains. Drinks ordered; two happy people!!
We burn off a few calories walking back up the hill for dinner; after looking at a number of places select one that is close to full.
I wake early on Sunday 28 May so decide to head out for a run around Sapa town. It's not quite 7am and it's hot hot hot already!! I finish my run by running up the road to the hotel - heart is out of my body when I reach the top, but I'm stoked to have done it!!!
We head to breakfast, again taking our time. We notice again some guests drinking Vietnamese coffee….we need to get on this bandwagon. We had arranged to do a hike with a guide today, great not having to decide what to do
Vi (our tour guides) collects us at 9.30am; after explaining what we are going to do we are off with a puff and a smoke. It’s about a 30 minute (slow) drive to the drop off point.
I notice two ladies sitting on the side of the road as we stop; didn't think too much of it until they wanted to walk behind me. Hmmm what's going on here??! Vi explains they will walk with us and we can buy things from them if we want. I doubt there will be any buying from Margaret and I but ok. Up to them.
The sun is out in even more force than it was a few hours ago; must remember to drink lots of water.
We walk through the rice paddies which is great! I know my photos won’t do it any justice. The views are amazing. Love this part of the country already.
The walk we do is definitely designed for the tourists as there are stops every couple of km’s.
As we cross the bridge VI informs us the ladies are going to leave us. Ok, we say our goodbyes and keep walking up to the little village where we stop for lunch – having a table that looks out onto the rice paddies is great.
Body heat has dropped which is great, feeling fed and watered we head off walking through what I think is a personal farm as there are rice paddies, houses and farm sheds at arm’s length away. At one farm shed is a mother pig feeding at least 10 little piglets, talk about cute overload.
We are dropped back at the hotel after our tour – an amazing time in the hills of Sapa! Time to get out of the sun and chill out.
Late afternoon we head across the “road” from the hotel to a massage place for a full body’s massage. Great way to end a day!
We head down to the town for dinner.
I woke Monday 9 May after having a terrible sleep – took a while to drag myself out of bed! When I finally started to feel more awake decided to head out for a run to try to sort myself out. Ran up the road to the hotel at the end again, so stocked!!
At breakfast the first thing we do is order two Vietnamese coffees, took us 3 days to realize we don't need to have a cup of the normal coffee first....! Better late than never!
Before heading to the room we ask the travel desk how to walk up to Fansipan Legend Cable car; seems easy enough for us to follow! And 30 minutes walking. Done!
28 minutes in (of walking uphill the WHOLE way) Margaret asks me how long we have been going - 28 minutes....her reply "that means its tools down in 2 minutes". Hmm not quite given we can't see where the cable car is. We continue up and up and up!
We finally arrive at the top where there is an intersection going down to Fansipan Legend Cable Car - 1.4 km of downhill :)
We purchase our tickets then head down to the cable car entrance; we are literally the only ones around and definitely the only ones going to the cable car so we have the cable car to ourselves which is lovely. It’s the longest 3 roped cable car in the world – 6,292.5 metres long. The views down and up are spectacular!!!
During the journey we had managed to cool down from our uphill walk in the heat; as we exit the cable car building the cold hits me. We are high up! The cable car pamphlet tells us the elevation is 1,410 meters.
When we purchased the tickets we had the option to either walk the ~600 stairs to the top, or 70 stairs to the funicular then funicular to the top. I’m soooo pleased we elected for the 70 stairs as we are sooooo high up the air is super thin. It’s a very slow walk up the 70 stairs. We have only been up here for about 15 minutes and within that time the weather the clouds have come in.
It’s a quick trip on the funicular to the top then a few more stairs to the top of the mountain. The views are amazing! We are definitely in the clouds!!
Thankfully there aren’t too many other tourists up here so we feel like we have the place to ourselves. Wouldn’t be keen to be up here in a weekend. We reverse our upward journey back to the cable car where Margaret is on watch to ensure we have a cable car to ourselves again.
Bingo we are in and the doors are closely!! Very lucky. I’m on 360 watch of the views beneath us; such an amazing part of the country!
We exit the cable car building and head straight to the ice-cream stall to rehydrate with an ice-cream and water. Thankfully we know it’s a 1.4 km walk uphill then all downhill
On arrival back in Sapa we head straight to a restaurant for a late lunch. Food and a cold drink is well and truly needed!!
We walk back up the stairs to the hotel for the last time, much easier to walk up in day light that’s for sure!!
We have a couple of hours back in the room chilling and packing. Not sure I’m ready to leave this part of the world quite yet.
At 6.45pm we are told our car is ready – we had expected the shuttle bus (which is what we ordered) but again get a private car.
The journey back to Lao Cai seems to take longer than the journey here – I’m assuming because it’s dark and there is a lot more traffic on the roads. It’s been a wonderful 3 days in Sapa.
We don’t have the luxury of a separate space when we arrive at the train station so join the other tourists all sitting at tables. Time seems to pass by slowly.
We are taken to the train around 8.40pm, this time there are 4 others in our carriage. Like the journey up we get ourselves all organised before the train begins. I’d packed extra clothing for sleeping too, no chance I’ll be cold this time!!! We manage to move the air vents too so they aren’t directly on top of us.
We are woken up by knocking at 4.38am on Tuesday 29 May - FAR too early!! Thankfully coffee, OJ and croissants are delivered shortly after. It’s been another short night but thankfully I managed to get more sleep than the journey up. Margaret was the opposite.
We pull into Hanoi train station just after 5.20am; time to face the day.....but I'm not ready!!! Our train supervisor carries our bags to the main entrance where we are pounced on by taxi drivers. We ask train supervisor where we can go for coffee; he points to Highlander which is across the road. Perfect let’s go there, that's until we turn around and see its dark. Ummm what time does it open Margaret asks? 7am comes the reply. Ooh that's perfect NOT given its 5.30am. Honestly!
Margaret is asked by a taxi driver if we want to go to Ho Chi Minh City, she laughs and walks away. We quickly follow another driver and within minutes are off cruising the streets of Hanoi where there are so many people already starting their day. Some working, some (well lots!) exercising and some enjoying their breakfast.
Well that's until we pull into a petrol station for our driver to fill up.
We arrive at the airport at 6.12am, a good 4 hours to our flight departs back to Hong Kong. Thankfully we have a selection of places to choose for cooofffffeeeee as the check-in counters aren’t open yet.
I'm starting to fade so head off for a walk around the terminal to stay awake.
There is an announcement that Cathay Dragon check-in counters are opening (15 minutes earlier than we were originally told) so off we go. Given the time of the day immigration and security lines are nice and easy! To the lounge we go.
I've had a wonderful time in Sapa; Vietnam is a country that continues to amaze me as well as entice me to want to return again and again. I'll be back Vietnam.....in 3 days. Yes I know that sounds crazy but it's true, Friday I'm off to Da Nang.
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