Sapa in Style was the description in the itinerary for our overnight train trip to Lao Cai (and on by bus to Sapa), with promises of luxury throughout the 3 day Sapa experience. It was with some trepidation that we headed off to the Hanoi Railway Station at 8.30pm (having dined at a local restaurant in town), as we had been given some mixed reviews on the train, and despite our best endeavours to get separate cabins, are sharing a 4 berth cabin.
Arriving at the station at 8.45am, our contact at Indochina Tours left us in the hands of the porters from the Victoria Express Train, and we were guided into the station, seated and asked to wait a few minutes before boarding. We eventually headed out to board the train at 9.30pm.
Hanoi Station
When we headed out to the platform we walked right down to the far end, past a train waiting at the platform , but obviously not ours. Before we knew it we had stepped off the platform at the end, and started dragging our bags across the tracks, thankful there were no trains moving at the time. Our train ended up being about three sets of tracks towards the centre of the complex, and we were shuffled aboard with the rest of the passengers on this elite train, all with far more baggage than looked like could be accommodated.
Our Carriage
We were led off to compartment 15, our home for the night, and our fears were not unfounded. We had no idea how all of us and our luggage was going to fit in the compartment, let alone who was going to be lucky enough to draw the top bunks.
Our room for the night
Mike tries to stow the bags
Fortunately we all saw the funny side of our predicament, managed to hide the bags under bunks and in limited overhead storage above the entrance door, not surprisingly the 2 Mikes drew the upper bunks and we headed off to the "restaurant" car for a settling drink.
A few drinks in the restaurant car and it was off to bed
We managed to all get enough sleep to e reasonably cheerful when woken at 5.30am, to go to the restaurant car for tea or coffee, before arrival in Lao Cai at around 6.30am. Lao Cai is only a few km
from the Chinese border. From here we are met by our guide from Indochina Tours to take us by private bus to Sapa.
The trip to Sapa is a climb all of the way up to around 1600m, and at this time of the morning visibility is limited due to fog.
Arrival at Victoria Hotel & Spa
We arrived at around 8.30am, too early to check in, so our bags are stowed and we are sent off to have breakfast. The guide reconnects with us at 9.30am to take us o a tour of the countryside and a Red Dao and Black Hmong minority village. There is going to be a fair amount of walking involved, so Joy decided to stay at the hotel.
Our guide, May, is Red Dao and the village we are going to is her home village. The fog begins to lift and we are confronted with expansive rice terraced slopes along our drive to the village, very pretty countryside, and lots of activity along the way as the locals went about their normal life.
Rice Terraces everywhere, although this years crop has already been harvested
Once we arrived at the village we headed off on foot to walk through the villages and rice paddies.
The entrance to the village
A group of Red Dao women quickly joined our group following us around, trying to make conversation, in a hope we would buy some of their handicrafts at the end of the tour. This is a significant income earner for their community, which otherwise has little opportunity to earn a bit of extra money.
Some of our followers
The local butcher
The local service station
Whilst the Red Dao are mainly vegetarians, the have a mix of livestock.
Water Buffalo are revered and only kept for plowing the paddies, not for eating
Black Pigs are only eaten on special occasions , like weddings
Chickens and ducks are sold for extra income
Whilst life is basic in the village, the children seem happy.
And some a little shy !
After walking into May's village, she took us into her family home, a simple wooden structure with dirt floors and the centre piece is the kitchens, one area just for keeping warm, one for cooking the family meals, and another for cooking for large functions, much less significant is a small paritioned off area for sleeping.
The main kitchen for cooking family meals
The large Wok used for cooking for large functions.
We then headed back to the bus through, the Black Hmong villsge and the paddy fields.
The irrigation is pretty sophisticated
Not everyone can afford a water buffalo
Mike with our tour guide
We headed back to the Victoria Hotel to finally check in and have lunch. It is now a relatively bright sunny day.
The Hotel looks much more inviting in the Sunshine
Our room is very comfortable
And the view is not bad
We went down to the villsge for a very pleasant lunch, to a restaurant recommended by our guide, and
although it was a long night it has been a great day. This afternoon we will just relax.
Sapa main street
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