Vietnam, Hanoi, Sa Pa
3:00 PM
Located in the north-western Vietnam, is Sa Pa, the capital in Lào Cai Province.
While waiting for our 8 hours night train to Sa Pa, we spent some time walking around Hanoi.
We left our luggage in our hotel in Hanoi, Delano Hotel (highly recommend!!), and only brought along a bag pack each, ready to concur Sa Pa!
At 9pm we caught the train at Hanoi Train Station. We booked a 4 berth cabin, which means 4 beds in a room. We shared the room with 2 other travelers from Germany, who were also heading to Sa Pa.
I took the lower cabin and the bf took the top deck. The entire night was a rough and bumpy journey, with me thinking all the time, "when are we reaching?" till I fell asleep halfway through. The train was nothing spectacular, it was old, even the toilet was horrible, especially when the train was already moving, it's impossible to pee lol.
And so, we reached Lao Cai Railway Station at 5am in the morning, it was so chaotic and everyone was busy looking for their tour guide, in order to board the 1hr bus ride to Sa Pa. Yes I know, 1 more hour ugh.
It was an uphill journey, the weather was cold and wet. It was about 12 degrees at Lao Cai Railway station, and i only had my Hanoi weather long sleeves wear on, which i find it still bearable. Till we reach Sa Pa.
I remember stepping down the bus, it was drizzling and I was instant freezing! It was SO COLD. We were left stranded in this particular scary-looking motel, waiting for our personal tour guide to find us. After asking around for half an hr, he finally came, and we checked into the weird motel for a wash-up (as we did not brush our teeth/wash our faces the entire night on the train).
I quickly went into the room and double up my winter wear. I wore a long john, a legging and on top of it, my jeans. Yes it was THAT cold. I can barely feel my legs. It was said to be 5 degrees and it was my first in a cold country. I guess it was exceptionally cold as we were on top of the mountains.
After being forced to eat the shitty breakfast in that weird motel, we are on a trekking journey to Cat Cat Village, which was part of our itinerary. Tbh, i was cursing and swearing cause I just couldn't wait to check in our Hotel.
All i remember was, I am dirty, I am cold, I wanna sleep. I was in a cranky mood.
We went ahead for the trek downwards, and it was SO COLD. We went for a house visit, which has a fireplace. Thank god. Everyone was putting their hands around the fire.
Our first decent meal in Sa Pa, this is our appointed restaurant that we will be having all meals at. It's called Michelle Restaurant or something. So each meal time, our tour guide will give us a time to meet them there and he will order the food for us.
Everyone was just hogging up the fire place..... The restaurant does not even need to have air-con like seriously? It was VERY cold inside too. (i know i repeated VERY cold for the third time haaha)
Here we go, finally checking into our stay ~ Sa Pa Lodge. We were so happy when the Delano Hotel Supervisor got a top-up for us, with balcony and awesome view.
This is the balcony outside our room, which we barely even go to. It was freezing our asses. Once i open the door, my face FREEZES. I brave the cold and took some selfies though.
Guess what's worse, there's no fking heater in the room!!!!!!! omg..... there's only this air-conditioner which can be set at 30 degrees celsius, which obviously ain't enough to keep us warm. I wore socks to sleep that night. Even the heater in the toilet broke down, i showered with ICE COLD WATER.
I guess that's what you have to expect when you are staying at a countryside. I don't even wanna imagine staying at their home-stay.
The lucky bf got to shower in warm water and when it was my turn, i was just screaming yelling and cursing in the shower.
Trying out their Egg Coffee. Pretty good. Anything warm will be good in this weather. The temperature dropped to a good 2 degrees at night.
So when we were walking down the streets halfway, the entire Sa Pa blacked out for a good 10 minutes. It was in complete darkness and we couldn't see a thing. Everyone instantly turned out the torch light from their mobile phones.
This was the only place that was not affected by the blackout. We ran in and sat for awhile till the lights came on again.
I settled for some hot wine. It was pretty good.
The entire day filled with ups and downs. I was telling myself, I SO WANNA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE.
But, just wait for Day 2 in Sa Pa.
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