Last Day of Our 3-Day Trip to Sapa @ Vietnam

<<< Day Two

Detailed Postings for the Day

• Sapa Lake
• Sapa Stone Church (Exterior)
• Private Limousine Transport from Sapa to Hanoi

Morning breakfast - fresh fruits drenched in the signature Vietnamese yogurt at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel! This was almost my defacto hotel breakfast every morning in Vietnam! 

Temperature for the morning.

Venturing out on our last day in Sapa! Despite the cold in the Vietnamese highlands, it was a happy three days spent and to think that we didn't even manage to cover most of the attractions! 

Making a mental note to return in the near future, maybe with my mom, and to stay at least four nights, flying in from Singapore and directly up to Sapa.

By then, the Sapa Square would have been refurbished and open for more activities. And hopefully, I would also blessed with better weather, one with clear blue skies. 

In spite of their adorableness, it's my wish that kids from the ethnic Hmong tribes would also be focusing on their studies, instead of being pulled out of schools to earn dough at such a young age.

Still drizzling lightly, it was still nice to breathe in the cool crisp morning air. My intention then was just to walk walk a bit before we were scheduled to leave for Hanoi.

Met up with my dad and Alex, who were done with their breakfast much earlier, and decided to venture out for a last glimpse of Sapa town. 

Sapa Lake - one of the highest man-made lake in Vietnam! If not the low lying fog, it would have been much more beautiful with buildings of European architecture surrounded it.

More photographs, and meeting up with the rest of my family.

Wait, this looked familiar! Was this a sister branch of Pho 10 Ly Quoc Su at Hanoi, famous for their beef pho!? Judging from the Google review score of 2.7, I doubt it.

Not sure if this was a replica of Fansipan! 

Nevertheless, let's be the human-Godzilla! 

The simple yet classic Sapa Stone Church! Built in 1895, with a 20-meter high bell tower, it's unfortunate we didn't manage to step in for a closer look.

Personally, I think Sapa town was quite touristy, with many restaurants and hotels serving visitors and tourists, instead of shops serving the locals; convenience for non locals for sure.

Continuing our way.

With a local hmong kid pestering us to buy her products. We really felt bad but knew that should our hearts soften, it would encourage more kids to approach us, or entice us to continue sacrificing their childhood to earn money. 

Taking the golf cart shuttle back to the hotel as we were too lazy to walk! Once I knew how much it cost in Day Two, it's just a no-brainer given that the walk back was close to 600 meters; uphill! 

Final look at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel before checking out, including the balcony of my sister and brother in law's room, the eerie corridor and the swimming pool that no one in their right mind would swim in with such chilly weather! 

Even on our last day, the climate remained foggy and depriving us of the breathtaking views that guests of ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel were supposed to be rewarded for staying there! Well, the operator can't dictate nature, and we could only blame our luck.

Hopping onto the private limousine that shall transport us, comfortably, from Sapa to Hanoi, at a price of S$321, and took us about five hours to arrive at Hanoi Tirant Hotel! 

>>> Summarized Itinerary

Day Two of Our 3-Day Trip to Sapa @ Vietnam

<<< Day One

Detailed Postings for the Day

• Sun World Fansipan Legend
• Muong Hoa Funicular 
• Cable Car from Hoang Lien to Fansipan Stations 
• Funicular Train to Top of Fansipan 
• 3,143 Meters Rooftop of Indochina 
• Cafe Du Soleil 
• The Spiritual Attractions
• Sapa Rose Valley 
• May Village
• A Beo Restaurant 
• Minh Châu Food 
• Shuttle back to Hotel 
• Viettrekking Coffee & Restaurant

While our hotel room at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel & Spa was heated, stepping out meant going right into the winter cold of Sapa, and a welcoming sign was this coal burner that gave us much needed warmth! 

First thing - let's fill our tummies with breakfast, complimentary as part of our hotel stay! p.s. breakfast was super good even though the variety wasn't as wide. 

Venturing out and encountering another foggy day. Well, I did mention in Day One that minimally, I hope that there wasn't any rain! There was some rain but it was more a super light drizzle. 

Temperature - 7 degrees celcius.

Where the heck was the mostly sunniness?! 

Let's venture up to Sun World Fansipan Legend; starting with the Muong Hoa Funicular, where w didn't bask in the glory of the valley beauty and then taking the Cable Car from Hoang Lien to Fansipan Stations, where we finally caught a few glimpses of the blue skies and sea of clouds.

A dead dragonfly on the floor.

Guess it froze to death.

Base of the The Spiritual Attractions section, at a height of more than 2,000 meters! The cold at this elevation was exacerbated by the strong wind! It was freezing, and my lips were drying at a unprecedented pace! 

Not wanting to endure the tortuous 600-step climb to the Rooftop of Indochina, we took another Funicular Train that would bring all of us up to the 3,143-meter summit! 

Checking out the rest of the Spiritual Attractions after Cafe Du Soleil, which felt more like a religious pilgrimage for Buddhists. Impressive no doubt, and comfortable to a certain extent since it's hard to break out into a sweat in the cold weather.

A wooden hut in the middle of nowhere. 

Taken along the cable car ride from Hoang Lien station.

Dad was pleased with Sapa.

Phew........

Rewarding myself with a bag of popcorn that cost just 25,000 dong (about a S$1.22). Lukewarm and not very crispy. I seriously think Eureka should set up a few branches in Vietnam; sure can sell. 

Do allocate some time at Hoang Lien cable car station! There were plenty to see and look; first of all would be the captivating Sapa Rose Valley, which was so devoid of visitors, we literally almost have the whole place to ourselves.

There was even a village, called May Village, made up of traditional houses of the various ethnic minority tribes like the red dao, giay, tay, xa pho, ha nhi, and showcasing activities like beewax painting, making of incense sticks! And yes, that's a real pony; albeit a bit temperamental.

More to explore but we were pretty shagged out by then; not to mention that it was way past lunchtime! I could only be comforted by the fact that we all had a heavy breakfast, and did manage to catch some bites at Cafe Du Soleil.

After taking the Muong Hoa Funicular back to Sapa Town, the first thing we did was to have a late lunch at A Beo Restaurant! Not sure if it was because of hunger but the bun cha and salmon hotpot were delicious!

Following a short rest back at ALIANA Boutique Sapa Hotel & Spa, we hit the streets again! As it was our last night in Sapa, we didn't see the point of giving our legs a rest! 

And our tummies were only partially filled at A Beo Restaurant; hence, let's dine again! This time at Minh Châu Food where we had pizzas and banh mis! They were good even though the banh mi felt more like a subway sandwich. 

The alluring lights in Sapa Town after sunset, and the absolutely gorgeous Sun Plaza! As there was a light drizzle and I was too tired to drag my feet over 600 meters to ALIANA, we opted to take the golf buggy shuttle back to the hotel! Only 50,000 dong for three of us; money well spent! 

Given the foggy weather, I didn't realize there was a Viettrekking Coffee & Restaurant right opposite ALIANA! It had a nice and relaxed atmosphere and was said to have a great view of the valley that unfortunately, we were not blessed to see throughout our three-day Sapa stay.

>>> Last Day

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Click here for my summarized itinerary of my 3 days trip to Sapa