North Vietnam - 2012 (part 2)

Day 4: Hanoi

Path of the typhoon while we were
traveling in and around Hanoi

With the typhoon reaching the shores of north Vietnam, we spent a rainy day 4 in Hanoi. Although there was constant rain, the wind was not too strong, and we still went out to some of the places we had planned for when we came back from Sapa, so that we won't be so rushed to see Hanoi.

We started off the morning with some Bun Hanoi style. Usually Bun is in a bowl with the veggies and meat and then you add fish sauce, but in Hanoi, this pork Bun is with a hot fish sauce (well more like warm), and it's more sweet than usual. The pork is grilled over charcoal so it has a very smoky flavor. It's really nice, and because you use a small bowl you can mix the ingredients bit by bit as you eat, rather than the big bowls that we are used to outside of Vietnam where most of the time by the time you get to the end you don't want to eat only just noodles.

Afterwards, we went back to our hotel to re-pack our bags as we were leaving for Sapa tonight. Then we waited for Tien's relatives to come pick us up to visit their hometown. Tien's father's hometown is just outside of Hanoi, and N.T. hasn't seen his relatives since he was 5 years old! How much he's grown and changed!

While we waited, we ordered a Hanoi drink - Sau Dau with ice, like other Vietnamese food it's sweet and a little sour, very refreshing! When we left Hanoi, we even spotted jars of these fruit in syrup (which you just add water and ice) to make the drink, so we bought a jar each.

It took almost 30 mins to get to Tien's hometown, and it's quite similar to my hometown in China. The houses are close together with front yards and they have their own vegetable gardens and raise goose and chicken and pigs for meat. One of her uncles has business growing Bonsai, so his front yard is full of huge Bonsai trees. Actually some of those "village houses" are really nice, like Tien's uncle's home, it looks like a mansion/castle.

Pomelos in Tien's hometown - these are more round than usual, and are very sweet and juicy

Modern exteriors of the house, interiors are more traditional
(see the above photo with the ceiling made of wood beams)

After making her way around to all her relatives houses, we made our way back to Hanoi to the West Lake. This is a huge lake in the middle of Hanoi, and there are actually many little lakes around Hanoi. There's a smaller lake close to our hotel that is quite nice with a little building on an island in the middle of the lake that lights up at night.

Temple at West Lake
(rain and wind because of typhoon)

By the West Lake there is a temple, so we made a quick stop there, but it's quite small so not much to see. As it was raining and windy, we were a bit hungry so made our way to find another dish that was highly recommended by Tien's colleagues - Snail noodle soup. If you ever see the work "Oc" in Vietnam, that means they have snail in the restaurant.

This was the perfect weather for Snail noodle soup, at least that's what I think, because the soup is a little spicy and as you eat you'll feel your body warm up. Actually, compared to the dishes that I had the last time I was in Vietnam, I thought the bowl size and the amount of noodles in the bowl was more than what I remember. Maybe they have bigger bowls in the north...

As the rain continued, we were quite tired of walking around in the rain and the photos were also not that great, we weren't inspired to take photos of things. So we went to a cafe with a view of the smaller lake close to our hotel for coffee. Even there, we didn't stay that long as it got dark very quickly and it was becoming chilly. We soon returned to our hotel and sat in the lobby checking our emails and messages, while waiting till it was time to go pick up dinner and then make our way to the Train Station for the trip to Sapa.

Tonight, we will travel by train to the mountain village of Sapa, we will arrive in Lao Cai at 5:30am and have to travel another hour by van to get to Sapa.

Day 5 & 6: Sapa

Arrived in Lao Cai, waiting for van to fill up before we start
making our way to Sapa Village

We arrived in Lao Cai, and before we even put on our shoes or picked up our bag to get off the train, someone opened the door to our room, and started speaking in Vietnamese. I thought he was talking to another lady in our room, but actually he was offering his service to drive us to Sapa. We got a pretty good deal and followed him off the train to his van and waited while he went back to try to get more tourists. There are sooooo many of those vans in the parking lot, and everyone was scrambling to get tourists into their vans, but it looked like most people only managed to get a few and then had to merge two cars into one.

We didn't make any reservations beforehand, and so the driver just dropped us off at his friend's "hotel" and we found the price reasonable and the room looked "ok" so we took it. It was only for one night anyways. These cheap tourist hotels are usually very simple, so don't expect much - just a bed and hot water was enough.

After a nap and a hot shower, we went out for breakfast, had beef/chicken/pork pho and then we made our way up into the mountains for a short hike to look down on the village of Sapa.

I was feeling the effects of getting a cold as the air con on the train was blowing on me all night, so I was feeling lethargic in my legs climbing all those steps and going higher and higher. The view was really nice when we got to the top, looking down on the village, it looks almost like a European village in Sweden or somewhere....

In the afternoon, I decided to stay in our room and rest as I was feeling absolutely horrible, and I know if I don't rest, I won't enjoy the rest of the trip. So Tien and N.T. went out on their own for the afternoon and we met up for dinner. They visited another village close by, and as the area is famous for their terraced rice fields they saw the empty fields after the harvest. The period that we arrived in Sapa is not ideal if you want to see the golden rice fields - the best time is to come in September.

Although it wasn't raining in Sapa, the sky was overcast, but as you can see from the photos by N.T. and Tien that the landscape still looks spectacular and rain and clouds also have their own charm.

Sun after the rain
photo by Tien

Look at the colours of the rooster's feathers!
photo by Tien

photo by Tien

They came back at the end of the day and we went out for dinner to a restaurant recommended by the driver of the motor bike that they rode on. In Sapa, you can hire a motor bike with a driver and they will take you around to further villages to see waterfalls and rice fields and visit other indigenous communities.

For dinner we had a river fish that is common in Sapa, the cool thing is that most of the bones are edible - it's almost like cartilage..... we had the fish in a hotpot and also stir fried with lots of lemon grass. I prefer the hotpot, and the soup is good to drink too!

At night, there's not much to do in Sapa, but as there are many foreigners who visit, there are many bars that have opened up and most restaurants or cafes are opened late. We went for a foot massage afterwards, although it doesn't hurt like the Chinese massages that I have had, it was still soothing, and nice to relax in the big armchairs.

The next morning we had breakfast at the french bakery next to our hotel (which is called the Red Gecko, and it also has a restaurant). The food was not great, the omelet was too salty and deep fried as the egg was crunchy, and the baguette was very dough and thick, but good enough to fill us up for the morning.

We then met up with the same motor bike driver from yesterday and he brought us to the village of the Dao people, then to two waterfalls. The second waterfall, we had to hike into the mountains to see it, but it was worth it.

 above left: at the top of the hill in the foreground, a resort will be built by Japanese Investors

bottom left & right: waterfall no.1

Riding on a motor bike is the best way to travel around and see Vietnam. Especially on the mountain, there's no car window in your way, and you get the wind in your face (not in my hair as I a helmet on).... Most of the roads are paved and quite smooth, but there are still some rocky parts especially when you visit indigenous communities.

clockwise from top left: walking towards waterfall no.2

bottom right: father and son climbing the vegetation cover cliff face in search of something (herbs?)

As we were making our way back to Sapa, the fog started to descend on the village, and rain started to fall. After a quick meal of grilled meat and bamboo rice, we made our way back to the train station for the overnight train back to Hanoi.

The grilled mushrooms were especially tasty!