From Hanoi to Sa Pa

Our next stop in Vietnam is Sa Pa.
Sa Pa is a region on North West Vietnam known for it s beautiful rice fields landscapes and remote tribes living in the mountains.
Sa Pa has been really secluded for a long time as there was no good road to get there and became more accessible only in 2014 when a highway was built to enter this amazing area. It is also not far from the Chinese border.

Today, to get there from Hanoi, the best way is by Bus.
We had booked a VIP bus to remain somehow comfortable as it is still a 6 hours bus drive. Unfortunately, our packing took longer than we thought and we arrived too late at the bus station and missed our bus.
We had 2 options:
- waiting another hour and take a local bus (pretty basic but still sleeping bus) to Sa Pa
Or
- waiting another 2h30 and being able to get the next VIP bus.
We chose the first option to not waste time. We ended up in a local bus and were the only foreigners in it! The staff was really unpleasant and put us at the very end of the bus, right next to the toilet ... we had the smell during the entire drive. There was a free more comfortable space at the back and we asked if we can take it but one of the 3 guys from the crew on  our told us no and later he came back to take this whole space to himself 😅 he also refused to help us get the wifi password. We asked another Vietnamese passenger who kindly gave it to us so we could keep busy during that time.
We had 1 stop during 6 hours at some sort of a rest station on a highway to get some snacks if needed and use their toilets (the one on board I luckily avoided but Niki had to use them and it was pretty horrible).
Overall the drive was actually ok. Without the toilet smell, it would have been fine actually.
After 6 hours we arrived and were very excited to go out for fresh air!
Mister Kanh (our contact in Sa Pa) came to pick us up by car at the bus station  which we were very grateful for. He dropped us off at our hotel in Sa Pa and explained us the program of the rest of our weekend that he organized for us: our 2 days trek in Sa Pa ricefields with a local guide.
It was already 8pm when we went out for dinner. The weather is much cooler there and we had to wear our only jumper that we brought. I also had a thin coat that I had packed in case and it was needed! The temperature is around 9 degrees in morning and night and maximum 22 degrees during the peak in afternoon. That was quite a change from humid hot Hanoi! The air felt much fresher too. We were indeed up in the mountains.
We had a very nice dinner and started it off with their traditional tea to warm us up, which was delicious.
Back at the hotel, we packed our bags again and prepared only an overnight bag to carry with us during the trek. The rest of our luggage would be brought directly to the accomodation at the ending point of our trek.Leggi altro