Geo: 10.7592, 106.662We arrived in Ho Chi Mind City in the morning, found an hostel, visited a bit and left the next day very early. Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon) is very different from Hanoi. The streets are also very busy but somehow less noisy, people do not use their horns as much. I also think there is more high rise buildings here. We just walk around the city centre, went to see the cathedral and the post office. The latest was build by the French in the late 19th century and looks more like a train station than a post office, but it's impressive. In the evening, we decided to get a night view of the city and to do so we went up the Sheraton. They have a terrace bar on the ... read more

Geo: 22.3945, 104.056Sa Pa is in the mountain, west of Lao Cai. It's the opposite side compared to Bac Ha and it's much greener. We managed to find an hotel with a terrace offering a great view on the Fansipan (highest summit in Vietnam). So the first evening we just grabbed some food at the market and ate while watching the sun setting behind the mountain. On our first day we just walked around and above town. We also did some shopping. There is so many shops selling cheap outdoor equipment. In the end, Elfi bought a small day pack and that's it.Home stay experience. There is many Black H'Mong women on the market trying to sell you bags or take you to their village. We decided to try a home stay. Our guide was Mu. ... read more

Geo: 22.4751, 103.974We did the 8h journey between HaNoi and Lao Cai on the night bus. Here in Vietnam they have sleeper buses which mean you can lie down. Well for tall people it's not that great as they can't fit in. The sleepers are Vietnamese size. Still it is pretty good. I would even say it's awesome except that the roads condition is so bad that you just keep bouncing around, so sleeping is not easy. For the journey we had prepared sandwiches with blue cheese inside (brought by Elfi from Germany). I am pretty sure that every one in the bus hate us for the very distinctive smell that emanated from it….but we didn't care much, it was delicious!On a fait les 8h de route qui séparent Hanoi de Lao Cai en bus-couchettes (donc ... read more

Geo: 20.0976, 106.086We woke up to an empty town (and it was not early). We had been warned that nothing works the day after Tet but it is something to see the streets that empty. We rented a motorbike to wander around. The plan was to go to Phat Diem to see a famous church and then to the beach. Well, it didn't happened like that. We passed through Phat Diem without really realising and when we did we were in the middle of the countryside. We decided to stop for lunch and randomly found ourselves in a small temple. The man offered us tea and then happy water (wine rice). After we had lunch on top of a hill overlooking a great landscape. On the way back we found the famous church. It was white ... read more

Geo: 20.3167, 105.633It was a real hassle to get to Cuc Phuong National park but it was worth it. We slept 20km inside the park in a house that could host about 20 people but we were the only one there, in the middle of the forest. Thankfully, a family leaves at the park centre and they run a small restaurant where we could get rice, soup and fried vegetables. That's all we ate for 2 days (plus the few fruits we had we us). Also, we had no electricity after 9.30pm so we were given canddles.We walked a bit in the forest and tried to see animals. We got to see one giant black squirrel. It was very big and black… We also saw a lot of regular squirrels and few small birds. We didn't ... read more