Sapa

Feb. 27 – 28, Day 4 & 5: Sapa lies 350km north west of Hanoi and is one of the major excursion destinations from Hanoi (the other popular one is Halong Bay). Sapa was much more touristy than we had expected with some bars and restaurants having their signs and menus in English only. Also, there were many local village women and children trying to sell us trinkets – they were persistent and followed us around. Sapa was so different than anywhere we have travelled in Vietnam thus far.

Our hotel, Aira, was out of the main tourist area and was more a “North American” style hotel with nice rooms and a good restaurant. We were able to get our laundry done and catch up on emails and our blog while we were there.

Sapa has the highest peak in Vietnam – Fan Si Pan, which 10,311 feet above sea level. Although the terraced rice paddies are the main attraction, often you can’t see them for the thick fog because of the high altitude. We had a balcony facing the mountains and the view is said to be beautiful, but we could barely see across the road which was a bit disappointing, but not a surprise for Sapa.

It was interesting to see Sapa as we have heard so much about it, but we were glad to once again head out to the “roads less travelled”.

Our pictures include a few more stops we made in the Mu Cang Chai area before we headed to Sapa as well as our favourite spots in Sapa and the nearby village of Tavan.

On the outskirts of Sapa is Heaven’s Gate – a lookout with an Asian garden. On a clear day the views from the lookout are said to be beautiful. Unfortunately it was foggy when we were there so most of our pictures are of the gardens.

We visited Tavan Village on the outskirts of Sapa – it is the village of the Giay minority. It was a mix of traditional homes and tourist restaurants, bars and homestays. We enjoyed lunch at a Homestay.