Blogs from Northwest, Vietnam, Asia - page 23

Our bus ride back from Halong City was one huge debate as to whether to travel to Sapa or not that evening. We were continuously changing our minds, one minute we were going, the next we weren't! We had 4 days before our flight so to get an overnight train to spend one night in Sapa and then travel back the following night seemed a bit rushed. We finally made the decision not to go.... 4 hours later we were sat in the train station.  It was definitely worth the effort. Although very touristy, Sapa was gorgeous, valley upon valley of rice terraces high up in the mountains with surrounding mountains poking up through the clouds everywhere you looked. With only 2 days to see the area we booked onto a trek for 9am (after arriving ... read more

Last night I caught the night train from Ha Noi and shared a cabin with a Vietnamese couple who live in Washington DC and their young nephew who is studying civil engineering. They were really nice people. The woman has been in the USA since 1989 and comes back regularly to visit her family. She works as a seamstress and is a human dynamo. The hubby was more laid back and proud of his video camera. He videod everyting for their kids back in the US - a daughter who is 32 and has 2 kids and is a chemist, and a son a bit younger who has one son and is an engineer. We had to wait at Ha Noi train station for hours until the train wa sready to leave. I took a trip ... read more

Tuesday 5th April 2011 Sa PA to Than Uyen 62m 90k Left the hotel at 9.00am in fog and had an easy first half of a 14km climb to the top of Tram Ton pass, the highest pass in Vietnam. The last section became harder and I admit to getting off and walking a bit to stretch my legs. It was foggy most of the time with just an occasional burst of sunshine. At the top we ate a hot, baked sweet potato and boiled eggswith green tea in a little road-side tent, provided by a lady vendor. That's what holidays are all about. We then 'enjoyed' an exhilaratingly serious, 26km plunge downhill to Bin Lu junction where we turned left for Than Uyen. The road alternated between tarmac and very rough bumpy stretches where the ... read more

Wednesday 2nd March We are off to Mai Chau which is a district of Hoa Binh Province in the northwestern region of Vietnam. The district is located at about 160 km from Ha Noi. We are picked up by a 4x4 outside the hostel and already theres a Canadian lady and her daughter sitting tightly in the back two seats. We are now sitting in the middle with the tour guide and the front two seat are occupied by the driver and co driver who's role is still unclear even to this day! This is going to be a rough ride and its not long before we're hurtling down the bumpy highways towards our village in the mountains. Two hours later at the halfway mark has us at a grim roadside cafe where the toilets were ... read more

28 février 2011 Je découvre réellement Sapa aujourd'hui. Le tour de ville se fait à pied, en quelques heures seulement. Sapa est une ville en pente entourée de montagnes et de rizières boueuses. Je m'y sens très très bien. Le soleil est présent et me permet d'avoir une vue à couper le souffle sur le paysage. Inoubliable. Des dizaines de commerces offrent ici du matériel de trek à peu de frais. Tout près se trouve la frontière chinoise, Pays de la contre-façon. À Sapa, les souliers NorthFace sont vendus à 20$ seulement. Ce sont sans aucun doute des faux, mais c'est vraiment à s'y méprendre: leur audace en matière de contre-façon les amène même jusqu'à copier les certificats d'authenticité ! D'étranges boutiques de médecine alternative ont aussi pignon sur rue. Poudres magiques et racines de sorciers. ... read more