Vietnam - Sapa

Sapa was established as a hill station by the French colonialists in 1922 and is now a tourism centre of the northwest. Sapa has spectacular views on clear days. It overlooks a plunging valley with mountains towering above on all sides. We experienced views that were often subdued by thick mist rolling across the peaks. Local hill-tribe people fill the town with colorful outfits and desparately try to sell you 'stuff'. "Hello. Shopping? You buy something from me." It is a popular place for trekking through the mountains. 

How did we get here? We hired a private driver from Hanoi to Sapa and back using Hanoi Transport Services (again). It's just easier and nice to be able to have the driver pull over for bathroom breaks and lunch. It took a little over five hours. Our other option was a bus that took about eight hours but would have been much cheaper.

Where did we stay? At the Sapa Horizon Hotel and Spa. We had a nice mountain view room with a balcony and a breakfast buffet every morning. 

What did we do? The first afternoon and evening we spent checking out the town and going to dinner. Sapa was cold our first day/night. Well... cold for us. We stopped in a restaurant our first night because it wasn't open air and had a 'cozy fireplace' sign on the door. The 'cozy fireplace' wasn't lit but the gentleman that seated us started a fire for us. It quickly went out and we never saw him again. <sigh>

Notre Dame Cathedral - Catholic
Church in Vietnam

Sapa Station

Looks like deadweight 

The Cathedral at night

Pho Ga

Bánh xèo (bahn SAY-oh) 
Vietnamese traditional Pancake  

Chili Queen
Carrot, pineapple, chili and lime

Latte

After breakfast the next morning, it was time to do some sightseeing. The gentleman at the front desk booked us tickets for a round trip train and cable car ride to travel up to Fansipan Peak. The Sapa Station was about a five minute walk from our hotel and the train runs every 10 minutes. The train traveled through a couple of tunnels and over really high bridges.

The train stops at the cable car station (actually it only runs between Sapa Station and the cable car station). We made our way to the cable cars and up and up and up we went. The view was spectacular! Just our luck someone was on a full volume facetime call right next to me the entire ride up the mountain. It was all I could do NOT to grab his phone, smash it on the floor and stomp it to death! 

January is non-peak tourist season for Sapa. I can't imagine what it's like traveling to Fansipan Peak DURING tourist season! It seemed pretty crowded to us. The views were amazing from every direction and it was hard to leave. We were over 3000 meters above sea level and Sharon was having trouble breathing. There is a huge bronze buddha and a pagoda at the peak and several different viewing platforms.

Another train to take us higher 

Two sections crammed with tourists

We took the stairs back down

Time to head back down. For a brief second we thought we were going to have a car all to ourselves. That didn't happen. As luck would have it a woman was sitting behind me 'singing' to her child -- the entire ride down the mountain. Now... I have never heard the sound of someone killing a cat but I'm pretty convinced her 'singing' was far worse than that sound. It was heaven and hell riding down.

We finished the evening with dinner at a BBQ restaurant. It was the worst. 😫 We ordered pork BBQ thinking it might be pulled pork. It wasn't. It was crispy skin, a layer of fat followed by bone with some hard-to-chew meat. Fortunately it was not horse meat which is supposedly a delicacy here. They did have a cute menu board.

Pork BBQ

Our second day we walked around Lake Sa Pa and then rented a motorbike. $5 and no paperwork. Here ya go. That was fun! The weather was perfect! Sunny and 70! It was only a few minutes to get out of town and onto a non-busy road to visit Silver Fall. Initially, we were the only ones there and then a few other people showed up. It was nice not being around a lot of people. Then we started heading back but detoured and took a back road. And I mean a back road through farmland and occasional homes. There was hardly anyone on the road except for locals. We rode through a valley and it was heaven! We rode to the H'mong village of Cat Cat but only stopped to stretch our legs and walk around for a few minutes. It was kind of touristy and selling the same things we've seen everywhere else.

Roadside Farmer's Market

What you lookin 👀 at!

We made up for last night's dinner by going to Moment Romantic Restaurant for dinner. We had to walk up a hill but it was definitely worth it.

Sapa Punch
Orange, pineapple, banana, mango, & lemon 🍋 

Grilled Chicken with Honey Sauce

Stir-fried Chicken with Cashew Nuts

Local apples 🍎 

We loved Sapa! There is a lot of French architecture here (like a lot of Vietnam). It's a walkable town although "Vietnam-challenging" walkable. There is no end of shopping, massage parlors and restaurants as well as endless street food and souveneir vendors. The air is crisp (a nice change) and the views can't be beat.

Our morning view the day we left

Men build houses, Women build homes. 

Sapa can you hear me?