Advertisement
Published: October 16th 2009
Edit Blog Post
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 locals paid 30,000 Dong and we were pressured into paying 40,000.
3 days spent in Sapa were very pleasant, it being a fairly quiet town, and the things to see and explore are around the local area...
I learned how to turn it on, I learned where the breaks were, and took hold of the handlebars. For the first time ever I was in control of a motorbike. I hired one from the hotel and thankfully it was an automatic! Id like to add that I was also riding on the other side of the road than that of my home country England! Now I have survived motorbike riding, I can agree that it is a great way to see the areas surrounding
Sapa. The weather was fairly cloudy which didn detract from any of the beauty, but I think it would look amazing in the clear sunshine. I took three different roads out of Sapa, one of which lead me to a minority village where the Vietnamese and the Hmong people live together. I was accompanied along my walk through the village by three young girls and an amazingly old lady, who were lovely, but also I knew I would be pressured into purchasing something at the end! What I had really come for was the scenery and that did not disappoint. I was lucky to be there off-season, and the roads were fairly quiet, although some were in shocking condition in places! As I took the Thac Bac road out of Sapa, I passed some nice waterfalls, and then really enjoyed the winding roads getting higher and higher into the clouds, again with excellent views. Being a novice, I did decide to turn back once I saw signs warning of crashes, speed limit reminders, and a narrow gravelly road ahead! The last route I took was again stunning with the stepped rice plantations as far as the eye could see. Sadly
I was too preoccupied with the bike to stop for many photos. I saw some great photo moments I just couldn capture as I sped past! There were Hmong people perched high above the road, waterfalls, scenic views and ladies carrying enormous bundles of rice.
I did have a few dodgy moments being a beginner but it all worked out! The moment I decided it was definitely time to head back though was when I got two waterfall soaked feet. The road was particularly bad at this point, and was literally made up of fist sized rocks...all at the bottom of a stream coming from a waterfall at the side of the road...and the stream was ankle deep. On my way through the first time I could choose the best route as there was no one around, but upon my return I was faced with a van and chose a bad route. The bike cut out as I slowed too much, and uh oh...I had to put my feet down! Two soggy trainers later and it was definitely time for a hot shower and relaxation!
Overall Sapa is a nice town, fairly quiet but perhaps thats because I
am not here in peak season. I love the fresh air, and the hills/mountains all around. For me, there are a few too many ladies trying to sell me handicrafts, but then we all need to make a living somehow.
One small indulgence I would definitely recommend is Baguette and Chocolate - Ben and I enjoyed a couple of delicious meals here with the French music making us feel like we were in the Vietnamese version of the alps!
We stayed at the Son Ha hotel for 7USD a night - clean room, and helpful staff.
J x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.07s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0474s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb