http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Vietnam , Northwest en-us Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:00:53 +0000 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:00:53 +0000 INDOCHINA TRAVEL SERVICEOur company is contributed by professional travel advisors and teams of qualified administrators. In addition our strong alliance with experienced local travel suppliers and wholesalers across Indochina help to enhance the quality of our travel services and not less importantly keep our prices highly competitive over the market.We are working hard to offer tourists http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-460777.html Monday 02nd November 2009 I really didnrsquot know what to expect coming to Sapa. Steve and Maj came while they were in Vietnam and said it was great but I guess I just really wasnrsquot expecting it to be this great The scenery takes your breath away.We hopped off the train at Lao Cai Station at around 6am there was a man waiting as we stepped off the train to offer us a Mini Bus to Sa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-459212.html The Battle of Dien Bien PhuThere is a book in the Kinsley Kansas library called The 20 Most Decisive Battles in World History or it might be called The 20 Most Decisive Battles in Vietnam. I canrsquot remember which is true. Whatever is true I am amazed that I was personally involved with two of these battles in my relative short military career. The two battles I was associated with were t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Dien-Bien-Phu/blog-458285.html I'm off to China after I finish this blog and I wanted to get a quick blog off in case travelblog.org is blocked by the great Chinese firewall dragon. I've been back in Sapa Vietnam now for about 9 days. The weather the first week was typical of this time of the year cold cloudy foggy drizzly ... The last two days though have been stellar clear and warm. One thing that amazes me is h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-455556.html After a lousy night on a 'sleeper' bus to the ChinaVietnam border although they did let us stay on the bus till border opening time we were pretty much front of the queue to cross the bridge to Lao Cai in Vietnam.Apparently still a bit politically unstable since the 17 day invasion by China in 1979 all seemed peaceful with people literally sprinting between the two countries without a worry in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-454333.html We arrived in Sa pa by bus from Nihn Bin however this time without a sleeping bus rather a sitting bus surprisingly we accomplished some serious Z's. As we were leaving Nihn Bin the owner told us we would be traveling with a solo back packer. he was German we dubbed him Chino.He was very illusive as we only managed to capture one photo of him but he proved a good traveling partner.We had previ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-451933.html SAPAAfter a not too bad sleep on the overnight sleeper train we arrived an hour and a half late 630am in Lao Cai train station. A minibus was waiting to take us to our hotel in Sapa and the 1.5 hour journey went by pretty quickly as we dozed to catch up on some sleep. As we pulled up to the entrance of the hotel there were about 30 girlswomen from the black hmong tribe all waiting to gree http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-445988.html Where to start with a nonstop week in Vietnam I had completely forgotten how tiring it is to travel continuously in an effort to see as much of the world as possible and we certainly didnrsquot waste much time sleeping whilst in Vietnam last week seeing a lot of the country for just 6 days.Everything that could go wrong seemed to happen in the first night getting our flight and getting to ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-444922.html SapaAfter a hearty western dinner at Jaspers and some ritz and oreo biscuits bought we were ready for our sleeper train to Sapa. Sapa is a town in the hills which stands in the shadow of Fan Si Pan mountain the highest in Vietnam at 3143m. We got on our train for the 9.15pm departure and in our 4 berth cabin we were sharing with 2 Vietnamese people. A weird man who was opposite me on the bot http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-444226.html We took the winding road down from Sapa to Lao Cai enjoying the splendid views on the way. Lao Cai is just a border town and we got taken straight to the immigration building. First we exited Vietnam with my now regular panic that someone will stamp a blank page of my passport and I won't have room for the visas I need soon...the passport is almost full and I need it to get home We then walke http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/blog-443728.html Tueday 6th October to Friday 9th October 2009Because we are apparently masochists and full of destructive selfloathing me and Coop decided to punish ourselves for our three days of boaty bliss in Halong Bay by setting ourselves to climbing Vietnam's and we later discovered Indochina's highest mountain Fansipan. Having arrived back in Hanoi on Tuesday afternoon me still greyfaced and whimp http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-443677.html The long journey to Sapa started very early in the morning...04.45 to be precise. We had to get up and walk to the station for the 06.10 train. A ten hour train meant that the majority of our day was spent sitting watching Northern Vietnam go by. The train arrived at Lao Cai from which we took a bus to Sapa... which broke down but luckily the wait for a replacement wasn too long. Annoyingly the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-442599.html Sapa Mais quel decor epoustouflant Le trajet en train pour venir ici fut penible meme dans un wagon sleepers mais une fois ici on oublie tout. Ces paysages de montagnes toutes aussi verdoyantes qu'acerees parsemes de rizieres et parcourus par la riviere et ses chutes en son fonds avec ses brouillards qui ne quittent jamais completement les flancs de montagnes Sapa est une station climatiq http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-442312.html Sapa in the RainMy first sight of Sapa was the rain drenched evergreen trees crowding the side of the road and spilling down the rolling green hills and valleys that wrapped around us like a cozy blanket. Between the quiet meandering streets shockingly verdant wilderness and vibrantly patterned apparel of the local minority women I felt as though I had left the bustling pace of Vietnam far beh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-440775.html Buenas de nuevo a todosComo ya os dijimos en el anterior blog despues de Hanoi tomamos rumbo a Sapa en el norte con la intencion de pasar tres dias haciendo trekking por la zona. Pero antes de llegar teniamos que pagar un peaje...las 8 horas en tren nocturno compartiendo cabina con quien sabe quien...pero la verdad es que estuvo genial porque tuvimos la suerte de compartir la cabina con una p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-439032.html Sapa is a town NorthEast of Ha Noi and is situated in the mountains. The French originally used Sapa as a hilltop retreat where they could escape the heat of Vietnam. With temperatures dropping below 0 degrees in winter Sapa could be a welcome relief. And today Sapa is still that mountain retreat for many Vietnamese but also a big tourist attraction. The stunning views well organised treks and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-438702.html CUC PHUONG NATIONAL PARK1 Day Tour Daily Departure from HanoiAM 745 Pick up from your hotel in Hanoi by bus. Depart to Ninh Binh. 3 hrs road trip with stopover in Ninh Binh Hotel in Ninhbinh. 10h30 Visit the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre See wild Animals and Birds. Picnic lunch and relax in the Park.PM 1300 Trekking 5km to the Park Centre Get deep inside the forest to come closer http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-437563.html HOALU TAMCOC MAI CHAU XA LINH 3 days 2 night Day1 Hanoi NinhBinh LDDepart forHoa Lu Ninh Binh enjoying the rural scenery along the road. Visit Hoa Lu old citadel. In the afternoon take a rowing boat along the tiny canal among the rice fields to visit Tam Coc Three Grottoes. 1600 Tour ends. Overnight at Thuy Anh hotel.Day 2 Ninh Binh MaiChau B LDMorning 7.30 am depa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Mai-Chau/blog-437562.html Traveling to Sapa During our stay in Hanoi we took one more trip out of the city to Sapa in the northeast of Vietnam. The best way to reach Sapa is via a twelve hour overnight train there and another overnight train back. We booked our tour through a travel company so that we did not need to hassle with the details. We made our way to the Handspan Travel office in the Old Quarter after din http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-435395.html Area 67.864 haPopulation 43.600 inhabitantsMainly tribles Black Hrsquomong red Dzao ZayhelliphellipLocated in Lao Cai City Sapa is a mountainous district in the Southernwest of Lao Cai Province. Sapa District is very wellknown with Sapa Townlet a beautiful and romantic resort.At the height of 1 600m above sea level the average temperature of the area is 1518C. It is cool in summe http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-434749.html