Vietnam Trip 2012 (Day 3)
We woke up super early in Day 3 due to the nap and early night we had last night.
Took our time to wash up and went to the hotel breakfast but was not attracted to most of the food. So I just spammed the toasted bread and ham slices. It was the first time I went to a hotel which does not provide eggs/omelette.
After breakfast, we changed and go ready for the trekking. It was 10am in Sapa, and the weather outside was freezing. It feels like under 15C. The misty atmosphere added to the coldness and we could breathe out mist as we talk...We didn't bother taking any photos because of the poor visibility, about only 10metres in front of us. I was also not willing to expose my hands to the cold by taking out my phone. I think we went about 1hour before my body heat up from the 'workout' aka trekking.
01. Kenny took this picture which was totally misty-fied... He got this colour after applying some effects on it. Lovely... This is abt 11am and the temperature is still v low.
As we walked on, we are actually walking downward to the valley. We opted for a less challenging trek because my shoes were slippery on the muddy/wet ground. We just kept walking downslope and I think we went under the foggy clouds and began to catch a glimpse of what is below the fog. The visibility and clarity increased as we walked downslope lah.
02. I caught this from the slope (paved road) looking downward into the valley. After applying some instagram effects, the fogginess seems less lah. #skillsilearntfrommyhusband
I stopped taking pics bcos I can't seem to capture nice pics under the dim lighting. At the bottom of the valley, which is the bottom of all the stepped-fields, was a restaurant where we had our lunch. Same policy of one course per pax, but we got Phuong to fix up our menu again, 3 dishes and a soup. We each had a vietnam dripped coffee, which cost us 50k VND (~S$3.5 based on our exchange rate).
After lunch we continued walking to Ta Van Village and visited a 'Homestay' house for tea. Didn't take any pics because its not v nice to take the local's home. We also had a short trek along the river that ran acrossed the fields.
03. This is one of such rivers. Very refreshing cold water flowing from the steps down.
Surprisingly, our trekking ended abruptly ard 215pm (was told we would finish ard 2plus 3pm) but I guess Kenny and I were fast and the homes and shops got repetivitive after a while. Our van drove us back to hotel which dropped us off, while our guide confirmed the pick up timing to go to the train station for our night train.
Since we had 2hours to spare and no room to rest in, we walked around the town again, for some local snacks and also to buy the cheap, prirated pants (Wolfskin, Northface etc).
We tried the BBQ skewers at 10kVND per sticks, we had 2 pork 'satays' and 2 strawmushroom-with-beef strips. (~approx S$2.80). We finished them before we remembered to take pictures.
04. At a Catholic Church. Saranghae yo!
05. At the Sapa Square (I came up with the name myself) there were locals playing Volleyball. They were very good actually, they were able to keep the ball up for more than 1minute and more than 20 passes. Amazing for me!
With regards to the train ride, there a whole long story altogether.Read more here.
We opted to have private cabin on our Hanoi-Lao Cai ride and 4-bedder on the return journey. As our train tickets were booked by the travel agent before we left Singapore, our cabin has 2 other passengers who secured tickets. After the train ride in the first night, we decided that we wanted the privacy on our return ride as well. So Phuong came back to inform us that we cannot change to a private cabin, I think because the 2 other passengers don't want to let go of their tickets or change to another cabin/train timing etc. So he suggested that we upgrade to a VIP cabin, which is only for 2 person, unlike the one which the folded berth shown in the earlier entry. Upgrading to VIP is way out of our budget and we told him to switch our train timing instead. We secured tickets for the 3rd train which is departing at a later time. When we boarded, we found that the different train timings were operated under different providers. The 3rd train operated by TSC was more bumpy and overall felt like a older and lousier category. But the locals in the train were quieter and we were just glad to have that privacy.
So, my advice is that if you are a couple and you are planning to go to Lao Cai by train, go for private cabin. Opt for the upgrade earlier! If I were to opt for private cabin both ways, it would cost us US$130 (~S$164.10) in total (2 pax, 2 way). But because I was unsure at the beginning, I only opted to upgrade one-way (Hanoi-Laocai) and paid US$70 (~S$88.50). Subsequently, I topped up another SG$100 for the Laocai-Hanoi ride.
06. This is the 4 train tickets for the 4 bedder cabin we booked. We were not allowed to keep the tickets so I took a picture.
Decides to abruptly end the entry because after the train ride we woke up and went to Halong Bay. The pictures are not yet loaded to my photobucket. So one more entry ba!
Took our time to wash up and went to the hotel breakfast but was not attracted to most of the food. So I just spammed the toasted bread and ham slices. It was the first time I went to a hotel which does not provide eggs/omelette.
After breakfast, we changed and go ready for the trekking. It was 10am in Sapa, and the weather outside was freezing. It feels like under 15C. The misty atmosphere added to the coldness and we could breathe out mist as we talk...We didn't bother taking any photos because of the poor visibility, about only 10metres in front of us. I was also not willing to expose my hands to the cold by taking out my phone. I think we went about 1hour before my body heat up from the 'workout' aka trekking.
01. Kenny took this picture which was totally misty-fied... He got this colour after applying some effects on it. Lovely... This is abt 11am and the temperature is still v low.
As we walked on, we are actually walking downward to the valley. We opted for a less challenging trek because my shoes were slippery on the muddy/wet ground. We just kept walking downslope and I think we went under the foggy clouds and began to catch a glimpse of what is below the fog. The visibility and clarity increased as we walked downslope lah.
02. I caught this from the slope (paved road) looking downward into the valley. After applying some instagram effects, the fogginess seems less lah. #skillsilearntfrommyhusband
I stopped taking pics bcos I can't seem to capture nice pics under the dim lighting. At the bottom of the valley, which is the bottom of all the stepped-fields, was a restaurant where we had our lunch. Same policy of one course per pax, but we got Phuong to fix up our menu again, 3 dishes and a soup. We each had a vietnam dripped coffee, which cost us 50k VND (~S$3.5 based on our exchange rate).
After lunch we continued walking to Ta Van Village and visited a 'Homestay' house for tea. Didn't take any pics because its not v nice to take the local's home. We also had a short trek along the river that ran acrossed the fields.
03. This is one of such rivers. Very refreshing cold water flowing from the steps down.
Surprisingly, our trekking ended abruptly ard 215pm (was told we would finish ard 2plus 3pm) but I guess Kenny and I were fast and the homes and shops got repetivitive after a while. Our van drove us back to hotel which dropped us off, while our guide confirmed the pick up timing to go to the train station for our night train.
Since we had 2hours to spare and no room to rest in, we walked around the town again, for some local snacks and also to buy the cheap, prirated pants (Wolfskin, Northface etc).
We tried the BBQ skewers at 10kVND per sticks, we had 2 pork 'satays' and 2 strawmushroom-with-beef strips. (~approx S$2.80). We finished them before we remembered to take pictures.
04. At a Catholic Church. Saranghae yo!
05. At the Sapa Square (I came up with the name myself) there were locals playing Volleyball. They were very good actually, they were able to keep the ball up for more than 1minute and more than 20 passes. Amazing for me!
With regards to the train ride, there a whole long story altogether.Read more here.
We opted to have private cabin on our Hanoi-Lao Cai ride and 4-bedder on the return journey. As our train tickets were booked by the travel agent before we left Singapore, our cabin has 2 other passengers who secured tickets. After the train ride in the first night, we decided that we wanted the privacy on our return ride as well. So Phuong came back to inform us that we cannot change to a private cabin, I think because the 2 other passengers don't want to let go of their tickets or change to another cabin/train timing etc. So he suggested that we upgrade to a VIP cabin, which is only for 2 person, unlike the one which the folded berth shown in the earlier entry. Upgrading to VIP is way out of our budget and we told him to switch our train timing instead. We secured tickets for the 3rd train which is departing at a later time. When we boarded, we found that the different train timings were operated under different providers. The 3rd train operated by TSC was more bumpy and overall felt like a older and lousier category. But the locals in the train were quieter and we were just glad to have that privacy.
So, my advice is that if you are a couple and you are planning to go to Lao Cai by train, go for private cabin. Opt for the upgrade earlier! If I were to opt for private cabin both ways, it would cost us US$130 (~S$164.10) in total (2 pax, 2 way). But because I was unsure at the beginning, I only opted to upgrade one-way (Hanoi-Laocai) and paid US$70 (~S$88.50). Subsequently, I topped up another SG$100 for the Laocai-Hanoi ride.
06. This is the 4 train tickets for the 4 bedder cabin we booked. We were not allowed to keep the tickets so I took a picture.
Decides to abruptly end the entry because after the train ride we woke up and went to Halong Bay. The pictures are not yet loaded to my photobucket. So one more entry ba!