Mountain Paradise

Wednesday the 22nd til Friday the 24th of January: After taking the night bus, Julia and I arrived in Sa Pa in the early morning. Though we reached the town at around 04:30, the bus driver let everyone sleep until 07:30 o'clock. In between, he just left and got some breakfast I guess 😂 We left our stuff at the hostel and started exploring Sa Pa and its surroundings. The little town is about 1600m high and has a bit of an alpine ski resort feeling to it. We walked to a little village called Cat Cat. You have to pay entry and it's a bit touristy, but still very nice. Rice terraces, the charming village, and the waterfalls are worth the entry fee of not even 3€. I loved the traditional dresses they sold there, and we could watch a lot of beautiful ladies taking pictures wearing them. Back in Sa Pa, we wanted to take the cable car up to the peak of the highest mountain in southeast Asia, Fansipan. Luckily the lady at the counter warned us that it would be completely foggy up there. So we chilled at the hostel and got some dinner in the evening. We wanted to go to the sauna as we felt quite cold in the cool, humid climate, but it was a bit pricey. Instead, we went for a nice meal and some mulled wine. The next day was clearer, and so we went up Fansipan. The peak is 3143 meters high, the cable car has to climb 1410m, and has a length of 6292m. It is quite expensive but absolutely worth it. The views were breathtaking. When we reached the peak, it was very foggy, windy, and cold (despite my 4 layers of clothes). But I had a feeling that it would not take too long for the clouds to part. I waited a little bit, shivering, and they did me the favor. Absolutely stunning! After coming back down and feeling cold to the bone, we got some food and some wine and juice, to make mulled wine ourselves. Best decision! The lovely hostel owner Huyen joined in and invited us to try a Vietnamese specialty called Banh Chung. It is rice and yellow beans, filled with pork, wrapped in a banana leaf, fried in a pan. It's only made for the Vietnamese new years celebrations, the Tet holiday, and we were very honored to get such a treat. It was delicious! The mulled wine turned out quite good as well, and we had a lovely evening chatting, eating, and drinking. Later that night I had to say goodbye to Julia, who was leaving for Thailand. The next day, I was actually not planning to do anything, but I met a group of travelers (a German, a Brit, and a Frenchman, haha, perfect start for a joke 😂), who were going to do a little motorcycle tour through the mountains, so I joined them. Being a bit scared of riding a motorbike, I was glad that someone took me along. It was a very nice ride, again with wonderful views. One of them, Tom, had to catch the same train back to Hanoi as me, so we took a cab together to get to Lào Cai, as the public buses were not running because of the Tet holiday. Generally, I cannot recommend traveling Vietnam during this time. A lot of services don't run, and most places like restaurants, spas, and even hotels are closed. It is not like our new years, where everybody goes out to party, but a very important family holiday where most Vietnamese want to spend time at home with their loved ones. So transportation is hard to come by and expensive. From Lào Cai, I took the night train (which was really nice) to Hanoi and another train to Ninh Binh.