People being mugged, ticket scams and spit in my face – welcome to Vietnam !

---

The way to Heikou - border town with Vietnam was quite scenic and we really loved the views surrounding the Red River. There were not many people going this direction so we were put in a small minivan rather than a bus but we were not alone on this journey. We shared this ride with a Scottish couple – Lorraine and Kevin who happened to go exactly in the same direction as us in SE Asia. The way we met was quite strange (as Kevin says), it was in a dark and empty Sunny Guesthouse very early in the morning and it went a little bit like that:

Kev: Hey Guys, where are you going?

Us: Hey, we are going to Heikou, how about you?

Kev: Us too and then to Vietnam. What time is your bus?

Us: 10:30 and yours?

Kev:Same so do you want to share a taxi we booked? Apparently there is no morning bus to the YuanYang

Us: Yeah, that is what they told us too but then we found out that buses are running from around 7 am

Kev: Ow crap, they charge us 100Y for the car ;-( Liars!

Us: You did not pay for it yet so just leave!!!

Kev: We also booked breakfast here and we already paid for it so I guess see you later …..

And that is how we gained travel companions for the next 3 weeks;-) Our visa was valid from the next day so we had to overnight in Heikou. We did not expect anything great from this place but it was actually very nice. Small, modern streets, loads of inexpensive restaurants (including a lot of mala tang restaurants) and we also got the cheapest room we had in China – 35Y/£ for a private room with kind of a bathroom. I say 'kind of' as it was really just a WC with a 'kind of' shower head fixed on small pipe. In the end we asked to use shower in different room and it was ok. Most importantly the border crossing was just 1 min walk from this building. We had very nice evening and met another traveller – Andy, who just crossed from Vietnam. We exchanged stories and we even managed to get rid of our huge LP book. Andy was one of the unfortunates, who carried his Chinese LP for months and then it was confiscated at the border. It happens only at this particular border crossing because the book shows Taiwan as a separate entity and obviously border police disagree with it! Andy gave us quick guide to pricing in Vietnam, recommended nice hotel in Sapa and we obviously directed him to go to YuanYang the next morning. We all thought this was one place he should not miss on.

We crossed the border just after breakfast and it was really just a few minute walk across the river bridge. There were no other foreigners except the four of us and the stamping procedure went really quickly. The moment we exited the building we were surrounded by shouting taxi drivers offering forward transport. Here we go – we are in Vietnam, we thought. So many things we read about people being more aggressive when selling stuff and the difference with the way they do it in China was visible straight away. Of course they also wanted twice the price we knew we were supposed to pay (standard price is 50,000 VND/2,5$ each). They kept saying it was a new TET price - of course – and that they cannot go lower. What surprised us was that it was not a pick season and they almost had no customers so what was the point of all this charade? In this case we started walking away, they were shouting new prices at us and we kept walking. We went to a small coffee shop and got some drinks. What a relief - finally great tasting coffee that cost less than 1$. After few minutes or so a minivan came to us and a driver agreed to the price we wanted.

Way up the mountain to Sapa was even more stunning that the previous day. Rice terraces, mountains and beautiful green valley. We were surprised by great weather we had as it was supposed to be cold. Sapa is a small town and it was very easy to get our way around it. We found the Queen Sapa Hotel that Andy recommended to us and we got beautiful double room for 10$ only. That was also a nice change after Chinese prices. This place did not look like what we expected. It could have easily been some French town in Apls. Beautiful architecture, stunning mountain scenery around and the smell of French bakeries everywhere you look. The only fact reminding us all the time about the fact that we were in Vietnam was constant nagging by local women selling crafts.

You cannot walk a street easily without being asked to buy something like hundred times. We do realise they are just trying to make their living but it was a little bit too much. It was interesting how local government is trying to stop them doing that. There is a very big notice board explaining how to behave in Sapa and not to buy any crafts from street vendors. This is to prevent children from making crafts and then selling them in town. There is a local governmental agency buying crafts from villages and then offering then on sale in Sapa shops. I really do admire determination of these woman as they have to walk 10 km up and down the hill just to get to Sapa and then spent all day following tourists.They seem very positive and enthusiastic despite it all. Mainly you can see women from the Black H'mong tribe in Sapa although sometimes you can also spot the Red Dzao tribe with beautiful, big red hats and big silver jewellery. Their day to day clothes are fabulous and we were told that it takes them few months to prepare just one set of them - hard life they have for sure.



In our opinion Sapa is very touristy and most westerners you see over there are on 1-2 day trip from Hanoi, spending money in boutiques and fancy restaurants. It does not make it easy to people like us to find nice but inexpensive food places. We only managed to find one restaurant in the market that served Pho for 20,000 VND/1$. The rest of the places were almost double if they served local food at all. Italian cuisine seems to be Sapa's favourite but we don't recommend trying it at all.

The foirst day we already heard stories from people getting their stuff nicked either from a room or just by pick-pocketers. Some lost cameras, some lost all the money and most importantly passports. We had to remind ourselves that we are no longer in safe China and that we have to be super vigilantal the time. Good weather lasted for another 2 days but I got food poisoning and we could not really do much. We found cheaper hotel in between and moved few blocks away to stay in for 8$ a night. We were kind of stuck in Sapa because of Tet so we did not want to spend too much on hotel. Our new homel was much smaller, family run place and we got invited for the midnight celebrations by our hosts. We kind of expected some major stuff going on in the streets but there was not much. Some music and some fireworks and that was all. The food and drink we got offered was great on the other hand. Why people say Vietnamese are not nice? Well that could have something to do with the fact that they smile and give you food one day and rip you off on everything else another day ;-)

Weather broke so we did not see any villages, no rice paddies and no mountain treks. Shame as it would have been fantastic. There is no fun in walking the mountain when air visibility is less than 2 meters. I don't remember seeing so much fog in my life and we live in UK which is considered to be a very foggy and dull place (which is not at all). We only managed to walk around town and rest which was nice too. We had to wait few days after Tet to be able to move to Hanoi. Prices for trains waried depending on agency. Of course we could have gone to Lao Cai and try to get tickets but it would have been close to impossible. We asked about prices in Tourist Information Office and they told us 550,000 VND/26$ for a hard sleeper – same price as in our hotel. Quite pricy but cheapest we found so we took it. Only when we actually showed up at the station and they gave us tickets we saw the nominal price of 350,000 VND on them!!! We knew our hotel took commission of course but 10$ each it was a bit of too much!!! It was then that we realised that there is NO government run Tourist Information just private offices. We should have known better as we actually read about it in a guide book. We also met an Israeli guy who did try to buy ticket himself and was refused to be sold one and had to take a hard seater. Looking at the bright side we had our sleeping places at least.

Trains in Vietnam are of lower quality when compared to the Chinese ones but the ride to Hanoi was quite comfortable. We got there early in the morning and we had only 5 min walk from a station to the Old Town. We went straight to a Worlds Hotel we booked earlier via internet. Because of Tet prices all over town were higher than normally and even Pho was 50-60,000 VND. We really enjoyed Hanoi, just walking around, admiring old French architecture and drinking cheap 10,000VND (0,5$) beer straight from the brewery. The brewery shop is a great place for people watching and we really enjoyed just sitting around and observing city life pass by.

Unfortunately almost all museum were closed for holidays and we only managed to visit History Museum, which was very interesting. We also walked to the Temple of Literature and when walking around someone spit in my face. Initially I froze not knowing what to do at all but then I looked around at trying to recognise the guy who did it. We followed him around for a bit (Tomek was really angry and wanted to confront the guy) and we just came to a conclusion that he was mentally ill. His behaviour was definitely not normal. There was no point in finding out why he did that and I tried to put this behind me as fast as possible. It was unfortunate but I just happened to be in a wrong place, in a wrong time – that was all !!! Bad beginning is usually a promise to a great end ;-) However, you can probably imagine I was more than happy to move on to our next destination – Halong Bay.



Additional Note

We checked different available options for visiting Halong Bay and we all decided to do it on our own. Day before departure we went to the Luong Yen bus station to get tickets but also to check how to get there by local transport. It was easy so we were confident for the next day. We read different blogs and it had seemed to us that getting to this station is somehow difficult but it is really just half an hour walk from an Old Town or you can get a bus 19 (3000 VND only) from the main road on the eastern part of town (1 min walk from the old town gate.) When at the station you have to ask for Cat Ba Island and you will be directed to the ticket office with red posters. There pricing seems to be good and they did not increase it within last few years (190,000VND/9$ for Bus-Bus- Boat – Bus combo).

---

Photos

in the market
woman from the Red Dzao tribe

smile
girl from the Black H'mong tribe

street in Sapa
women from Black H'mong tribe

Comments

[jaiyen]

Sapa
Your blog entry was very detailed, I'm glad I saw it. We have about six days to spend in North Vietnam toward the end of April and are looking at an old-growth rainforest, Sapa, and Cat Ba island, but understand this might be too much for six-days. Overall, we really do not want to visit Sapa if it is just a cute little overpriced boutique town with loads of tourists and people harassing you. On the other hand, I've heard the views of the countryside (which it sounds like you missed) are spectacular. Do you think we should leave Sapa on the itinerary?

[Beata and Tomek]

Hi
glad you found our blog informative;-) I still believe that Sapa is worth a visit but you need to make sure the weather is good otherwise you will just notice all the annoying stuff and you wont enjoy the countryside. You can make a decision when in Vietnam already and when they tell you weather forecast;-) We met people that told us that villages on the other side of Sapa Valley are more authentic and secluded so you may want to look into that. cheers, Beata