Vietnam factoid
Mt. Fansipan is the highest peak in Vietnam, topping out at 3142 metres.
Mt. Fansipan is the highest peak in Vietnam, topping out at 3142 metres.
Reached the border town of Lao Cai (N22 29.584 E103 58.668) around 430am. There's plenty of touts at the station to get you up to the hotels in Sa Pa. Just go with the flow, they all charge the same, 25k Dong. There may be cheaper buses, but it wasn't possible to find someone non-partisan to advise us how to do so.
Lao Cai is a border town just a stone's throw away from China. Can see plenty of tourists here. It's also the only place that I saw Vietnamese girls who wore anything more revealing than long pants and long sleeves. It's likely due to the seediness nature of bordertowns.
We started our minivan journey at 103m above sea-level, and ended at 1495m in Sa Pa. It gets significantly colder here...
The rooms at Mountainview Hotel (N22 19.985 E103 50.571) is excellent. US$8 per room. Asked for flasks of hot water, then leaving them to cool to supplement my hydration needs. Drinking mineral water daily is biting a good chunk of my food budget.
We walked about the town square, being stalked by little girls the whole time. The Black Hmong tribe dress up their younger daughters in traditional garb, and unleash them on the tourists to sell handicrafts. They pick up English from the visitors, and are amazingly fluent. Although, I wonder if they might speak even better English, if visitors are less patronising; it seems that almost all English speakers unconsciously lose their diction & grammar when they start talking to the locals.
WeeLoong found a kindred spirit, and started a "You Loser" "No, you Loser" fight with an 8-yr old girl. It'ld have been embarassing, if it weren't so damn funny.
We took a late breakfast, and headed towards Cat Cat Waterfalls. The road starts west of Cat Cat Hotel (N22 19.967 E103 50.402), and there's a toll-booth (N22 19.946 E103 50.359). And at (N22 19.861 E103 50.035) we stepped off the tarmac and took the stone stairs leading down to the Hmong village.
Was impressed by the stairs. It was development that had given tourism dollars, back to the benefit of the local people. Encouraging tourists to come, and at the same time making the Hmong's commute easier and safer. There was almost 2km of well constructed concrete steps going down and up the valley. The inundation of foreign influences may be slowly polluting their culture, yet at the same time, it also encourages their traditional crafts that are in such high demand among the visitors.
At the end of the trip, we will learn that it was not advisable to buy souveniers from the craft shops. Because you'll be plagued by 'sales-women' throughout the entire stay, and it's more cost beneficial to spend the souvenier budget to purchase 'favours' at the same time you purchase goods. ...Um... 'favours' in the sense of making friends, getting a photo-op, help on the slippery slopes, getting email addresses etc. (Oh yeah, some of these 'mountain tribe' girls have Yahoo accounts.) Or just to get them to go away and leave you in peace to savour the tranquility.
We reached the Cat Cat Waterfalls at (N22 19.624 E103 50.047). We'd already climbed down to 1232m above sea-level. So we'll have a bit of a climb to look forward to at this point.
The path forked at the waterfall. We took the one going downwards and towards Mt Fansipan. Passed a few wonderfully secluded bathing ponds filled with pure mountain waters. Would be an excellent place to take a swim if the temperatures weren't in the low teens.
We continued this path towards Mt Fansipan for about a kilometre before we turned back. We only trekked to Mt Fansipan. I never said we made it to the 3142m summit.
The other fork at the waterfalls climbed upwards and took us in a small clockwise loop that brought us back to the main road.
The day was very misty, but we did get to see some rice terraces and such. And the photographers amused themselves with pictures of the local livestock.
We also had a round of bridge up on a small peak, just to be the first to penetrate Bridge to this part of the world. Also to give everyone a moment to catch our breaths after a particularly long climb.
There's a bridge at (N22 19.723 E103 49.769), where some of the men with motorbikes will spare you the rest of the uphill climb for US$1. The junction at (N22 19.874 E103 49.782) will take us to another village to the west. East goes back to Sa Pa.
Back in town we arranged our train tickets back to Hanoi. Then back at the hotel we negotiated a 2D/1N homestay tour to the villages in the valley. Got a much better deal this time, ie US$18/pax, with a personal guide just for the four of us. This was the shorter tour. I was more keen on the package that goes to villages a little further away, but the rest of the group balked when they heard about the 1.5hr uphill trek...
The night was too freaking cold to do much exploring. We snuck out and grabbed dinner at the first place that looked acceptable, then came straight back. Missing out on the rest of Sa Pa town.
BraveHeart was on TV.
Lao Cai is a border town just a stone's throw away from China. Can see plenty of tourists here. It's also the only place that I saw Vietnamese girls who wore anything more revealing than long pants and long sleeves. It's likely due to the seediness nature of bordertowns.
We started our minivan journey at 103m above sea-level, and ended at 1495m in Sa Pa. It gets significantly colder here...
The rooms at Mountainview Hotel (N22 19.985 E103 50.571) is excellent. US$8 per room. Asked for flasks of hot water, then leaving them to cool to supplement my hydration needs. Drinking mineral water daily is biting a good chunk of my food budget.
We walked about the town square, being stalked by little girls the whole time. The Black Hmong tribe dress up their younger daughters in traditional garb, and unleash them on the tourists to sell handicrafts. They pick up English from the visitors, and are amazingly fluent. Although, I wonder if they might speak even better English, if visitors are less patronising; it seems that almost all English speakers unconsciously lose their diction & grammar when they start talking to the locals.
WeeLoong found a kindred spirit, and started a "You Loser" "No, you Loser" fight with an 8-yr old girl. It'ld have been embarassing, if it weren't so damn funny.
We took a late breakfast, and headed towards Cat Cat Waterfalls. The road starts west of Cat Cat Hotel (N22 19.967 E103 50.402), and there's a toll-booth (N22 19.946 E103 50.359). And at (N22 19.861 E103 50.035) we stepped off the tarmac and took the stone stairs leading down to the Hmong village.
Was impressed by the stairs. It was development that had given tourism dollars, back to the benefit of the local people. Encouraging tourists to come, and at the same time making the Hmong's commute easier and safer. There was almost 2km of well constructed concrete steps going down and up the valley. The inundation of foreign influences may be slowly polluting their culture, yet at the same time, it also encourages their traditional crafts that are in such high demand among the visitors.
At the end of the trip, we will learn that it was not advisable to buy souveniers from the craft shops. Because you'll be plagued by 'sales-women' throughout the entire stay, and it's more cost beneficial to spend the souvenier budget to purchase 'favours' at the same time you purchase goods. ...Um... 'favours' in the sense of making friends, getting a photo-op, help on the slippery slopes, getting email addresses etc. (Oh yeah, some of these 'mountain tribe' girls have Yahoo accounts.) Or just to get them to go away and leave you in peace to savour the tranquility.
We reached the Cat Cat Waterfalls at (N22 19.624 E103 50.047). We'd already climbed down to 1232m above sea-level. So we'll have a bit of a climb to look forward to at this point.
The path forked at the waterfall. We took the one going downwards and towards Mt Fansipan. Passed a few wonderfully secluded bathing ponds filled with pure mountain waters. Would be an excellent place to take a swim if the temperatures weren't in the low teens.
We continued this path towards Mt Fansipan for about a kilometre before we turned back. We only trekked to Mt Fansipan. I never said we made it to the 3142m summit.
The other fork at the waterfalls climbed upwards and took us in a small clockwise loop that brought us back to the main road.
The day was very misty, but we did get to see some rice terraces and such. And the photographers amused themselves with pictures of the local livestock.
We also had a round of bridge up on a small peak, just to be the first to penetrate Bridge to this part of the world. Also to give everyone a moment to catch our breaths after a particularly long climb.
There's a bridge at (N22 19.723 E103 49.769), where some of the men with motorbikes will spare you the rest of the uphill climb for US$1. The junction at (N22 19.874 E103 49.782) will take us to another village to the west. East goes back to Sa Pa.
Back in town we arranged our train tickets back to Hanoi. Then back at the hotel we negotiated a 2D/1N homestay tour to the villages in the valley. Got a much better deal this time, ie US$18/pax, with a personal guide just for the four of us. This was the shorter tour. I was more keen on the package that goes to villages a little further away, but the rest of the group balked when they heard about the 1.5hr uphill trek...
The night was too freaking cold to do much exploring. We snuck out and grabbed dinner at the first place that looked acceptable, then came straight back. Missing out on the rest of Sa Pa town.
BraveHeart was on TV.
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