Cable Car Ride from Hoang Lien Cable Car Station to Fansipan Station @ Sapa in Vietnam

The journey to Fansipan required a few transfers and after we took the Muong Hoa Funicular train, another cable car from Hoang Lien station would be needed to get to Fansipan station, which wasn't even the end of the journey! 

Seeing a queue is always stressful as we wouldn't know how fast it would clear and that's one thing I hate when I travel as this could literally be time consuming and take up too much of our precious time.

Thankfully, the queue cleared fast.

And we were almost at the start of the line in 10 minutes.

No wonder the queue cleared so fast! The cable car was huge and can sit around 30-35 persons each! With 33 cars in the system, it can carry an average of 2,000 passengers an hour. 

Handphones out to memorialize the views to come! 

This should be the Muong Hoa Valley; known for its terraced rice fields, it looked nice from high above although one natural factor marred the experience. 

The clouds took charge and limited visibility across the valley! It made us feel like we were caged up, and with pent up excitement since we wouldn't know what else would come to sight. Maybe a brachiosaurus with its long neck? 

A cloud of nothingness.

While the sky slowly cleared up, it was already past the valley and what's around us were just forests and more forests that didn't wow us. Nothing special and reminded me somewhat of the cable car ride up Genting Highlands. 

Boring everyone was.

So, wefie time! 

Finally some clarity although again, the view was meh.

Until we turned to the side! Peaks peeking out from the clouds. And the blue, oh so blue sky. In the past few days since we arrived at Hanoi for this trip, it had been continuously hazy, with no sign of the blue sky, until now! Sometimes, we really take such things (like sunlight, blue sky, green ocean etc) for granted. 

Before long, we were enveloped once again with gloominess. 

This angle still looked alright; with the sea of clouds below us. As we were pretty far from Hanoi, said to have terrible air pollution, I am guessing the situation in Sapa was more due to the winter season. 

Dad was still happy with the experience. Even though this cable car system is no longer the longest in the world now, it still maintained the "world’s largest height difference between the departure and arrival terminal at 1,410 meters"! 

My mobile phone was used for time-lapsed video taking. 

Arrival at Fansipan Station.

Distance covered: 6,292.5 meters. 

Purposely let the others depart first so that I could have the full cable car for myself for the above photograph showing the seating configuration. If you like to take photographs / video, do make sure to plan in advance to sit at the side. Remember, there will be about 30 persons jostling with you in the same car.

Picture time! 

More than two hours later, we were back at the same station, this time making our way back to Hoang Lien station. Visibility had worsened but well, we can't control the weather and the most we can do was to embrace and make the best out of it. 

Let's start the journey down! 

Well, it's literally the same way that we came up from. So you shouldn't be expecting something different, except for the fact that there was something I noticed on my way up but didn't have enough time to take a photo.

This wooden structure that appeared out of nowhere, where there's nothing around it. What does it remind me of? The movie "The Cabin in the Woods"!

Continuation of journey. 

Nothing outside caught my attention but something within the cable car did. There was like a amulet pasted in the car; anyone has any idea what it meant? The only character I am somewhat familiar with was the last one, which could have meant suppress.

 

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Location

Sun World Fansipan Legend,

Sapa, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam

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

Original Sugar Rice Cake (正牌白糖粿) @ Lingya Ziqiang Night Market in Kaohsiung City [Taiwan]

It wasn't even five hours since we last had our virgin experience digging into Taiwanese style white sugar cake on Cijin Island, and here we were; looking at the store in front of us, which claimed to be to the original with over 60 years of history, and a rating score of 4.6 from over 2,000 reviewers on Google Maps! 

Well, it's a snack, and there's always stomach space for snacks and desserts! While there were other options like fried sweet potatoes, sesame balls etc, we stayed focus on what we had.

Two tastes - peanut and sesame. And final process before packing was similar to our muah chee in Singapore, a pan filled with sugar, each mixed with either ground peanut or sesame. Eh... what if I only want pure sugar?! 

Whatever, one each it shall be for both of us! Since one was priced at NT$18 and two were at a promotional rate of NT$35. As a Singaporean, we love a good deal, by saving NT$1. Haha!

Sesame Sugar Rice Cake - beyond the paper bag, my fingers can already feel that the cake was deep fried to a crisp, and maybe due to the heat, the sugar appeared to have melted, resulting in a white, crusty layer! 

With soft, melty mochi that was thick, it was surprisingly filling although still remaining unforgettably delicious, especially when the teeth bit through the airy, crunchy sweet layer before cutting through the squishy inside.

Peanut Sugar Rice Cake - same for the peanut taste. Between the two, my heart lied with the sesame which was more aromatic, and to be honest, the sweetness from the sugar totally covered the peanut, instead of complementing it like the sesame.

p.s. mochi inside was stretchy! So which was better? This original one or the one from Cijin Island? If you like deep fried stuff with lower filling ratio, Cijin was better. For me, this original one took the cake; pun unintended. 

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Address

No. 41, Ziqiang 3rd Rd, Lingya District, 

Lingya Ziqiang Night Market,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Map

As above.

Operating Hours

From 1.30pm till 9.00pm

Menu

As above. 

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)

Vegetarian Stinky Tofu @ Lingya Ziqiang Night Market in Kaohsiung City [Taiwan]

My last stinky tofu in the stinky tofu country of Taiwan was five days ago at Chiayi City and I am craving for one so badly on day six of our 11-day Taiwan trip! 

This particular stall, with no name, at Lingya Ziqiang Night Market had no queue yet it enticed me with its captivating aroma! Oh damn, the crave must be placated and without much thought, we ordered a small serving that cost NT$50.

Preparation for her only customers; us. I am just wondering if the lack of crowd was due to the timing which was at about 8.40pm; not exactly late for night markets although this was said to close at 10.00pm.

Decent serving size for the pricing but the tofu was more like tau kwa, which was hollow and lacked the satisfying texture. Admittedly, it was still smelly and skin remained crispy, given there wasn't not much "meat" within anyway.

Another picture to show the hollowness. When it comes to stinky tofu, the different ingredient I enjoyed would be the pickled vegetables; the ones here were more stir fried than pickled and while it was acceptable, a more crisp and vinegarish version would have been more memorable.

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Location 

Corner of Siwei 4th Road and Ziqiang 3rd Road,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Pricing

Stinky Tofu (S) - NT$50

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)

The Shortcut to Cat Cat Village @ Sapa in Vietnam

To save money For a healthier lifestyle and to slowly enjoy the crisp mountain air, we decided to walk all the way to Cat Cat Village, putting ourselves in danger from the vehicles travelling up and down the narrow vehicular road.

Not a decision we regretted since this was what holiday should be all about; on a relaxed, unhurried pace, with our faces brushing against the morning mists, and the chance encounter of docile animals in the great outdoors. 

Like the water buffalo, known as Vietnam's "unofficial national symbol revered for strength, diligence, and prosperity"; to the extent it played an important role in the country's culture, agriculture and history.

And there was a second one coming up to greet us! 

The sisters were excited to bump into the two gentle giants! Less so for me as I have had experience with buffalo riding at Hoi An, as part of our participation in the Hoi An Village Experience Cycling Day Tour.

That's when we saw the sign; shortcut to Cat Cat Village! According to Google Map, this would likely cut short the walking distance; from over 300 meters to less than 100 meters, albeit a climb-down. 

Coming to a platform for photo-taking.

Pity we couldn't see beyond the clouds. 

Picture with and of the entry arch before we took the shortcut. What's in there for us? Would there be a booth halfway through asking us to pay for the shortcut? Or some shops that would accost us to die die buy some souvenirs?! 

Nothing happened.

It was really just a shortcut. 

Dewdrops on spider webs are so mesmerizing, although I do have an ignorant question. I don't usually see the spiders around; did they freeze to death after completing their master art piece?

More photo-taking moments along the way. Definitely recommended for visitors as you don't even have to pay a single cent, whereas Cat Cat Village was ticketed. p.s. Cat Village would be much more beautiful though, so treat this as a bonus. 

Climbing down to this spot with its highly contrasting red tiled flooring, with a red Vietnamese star in the center! Guess what would be good at this location? I can imagine a cultural performance.

Sadly, our family can't dance.

So more pictures for the photographer! 

Singaporeans hate the heat but when it comes to cool weather, the Singaporean soul in me shall make a hasty retreat and would draw closer to the pile of embering charcoal whenever I see them at Sapa! 

Back on the main road leading to Cat Cat Village, which was less than a hundred meters away. According to the distance calculator on Google Maps, I think we saved around 200 meters by taking the shortcut. 

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