Blogs from Sapa, Lao Cai, Northwest, Vietnam, Asia - page 39

I fear we have been lulled into a false sense of security. We took our first night train in Vietnam on Sunday night, and having had a couple of scary night train experiences in the past (Eastern Europe. Eugh.), our hopes weren't high. But I gotta tell ya - it was a joy! Grand little cabin with four beds (not six), air conditioning, a dinky little bedside table, and a lamp with frilly fringes! And before we even left the station a little man came around with his trolley, offering such delights as cold beer, coke and crisps. Are we really still in Vietnam. Of course the downside of the experience was arriving at our destination at 5.30am. Oucha. And of course, total and utter mayhem awaited us at the station. It was like Hanoi airport ... read more

et oui on a fait de la rando ! ca vous etonne, hein ? et bien nous aussi figurez- vous ..... A peine apres etre rentrees de la baie d'Halong, on a file prendre un train de nuit a la gare d'hanoi pour aller a Sapa , une ancienne station climatique qui est reputee pour ces paysages magnifiques avec rizieres a etages et ses minorites ethniques. Dans la Famille "on reserve nos excursions dans des agences de voyages miteuses", il y a forcement Charlotte et Raphaelle. Apres cette fameuse croisiere sur la Baie d'Halong ou on a fini par dormir sur le pont, on a decide de chnage d'agence, mais il faut croire qu'on a pas de chance... Malgre nos demandes insistantes pour avoir des places de train "VIP - deluxe", notre X@!!!#$ d'agent de ... read more

As we traveled back to Hanoi, we were trying to figure out what to do next (since nothing was set in stone for our travels). We decided to take the night train to Sapa. We spent the afternoon before leaving figuring out the process of buying train tickets in Hanoi and then watched the water puppet show. It is a thousand year old traditional folk story telling at its best. After the show we filled our bellies with more rice noodles and headed on the night train to Sapa. We arrived 30 km down the mountain to Sapa at 6am on Wednesday. Quickly the locals were escorting us to buses to take up to Sapa. With a little bit of confusion, we finally found a minibus to Sapa. The views were spectacular, however, one of ... read more

Last Day in Ha Noi May 22 The last night in Ha Noi was not so good cause my iriver (music player) busted and I couldn't fix it. That has to be fixed since I will be travelling long ass distances in China on train or bus. Need to drown out the hoarkers! Totally sux. I was catching the overnight train (9:55pm) so I had all day to do nothing once again. Well actually I went to pickup my china visa in the morning, which thankfully was ready. But the only thing that I didn't think about was the fact that it was activated the date of issue (17 May), so I have already wasted time not being in China. Doh. I went to the Ho Chi Minh masoleum and the museum after visa pickup. ... read more

hello from beautiful sapa! well the last diary entry i made we were on our way to hoi an, we spent 16hrs on a bus there wasn't too bad we got the back seat so managed to get a bit of sleep! it was well worth the journey though Hoi an is a pretty little town along a river it is very European, small streets selling art and cafes with lanterns which are all colours lit up at night! we ate on the river at night which was very nice......the second day we were there we hired a bike and decided to cycle to the beach near by........well near by being 20min ride away which seemed like a good idea at the time but in 38 degrees hmmmm well we got a bit hot! ha ... read more