September 7th, 2019
Today we had to explore more of Sapa before we got on an overnight sleeper bus that would take us to the Laos border. We had our nice big buffet breakfast that was included with our stay at the hotel. We waited until we had to check out at 11:30am before we started our day. The hotel stored our big bags and we rented a motorbike for the day so we could go see some of the sights.
We started by going to Silver Falls (Thac Bac Waterfall). A big waterfall that was really pretty.
On our hike up the stairs to a viewpoint, Brendan found 350k dong on the ground! He went up to the people in front of us and asked if they could have dropped it and everyone said it wasn’t theirs. So it was really exciting he just found the equivalent of $15!
After Silver Falls we went to Love falls which required a pretty, one km. hike to get to.
This one had really cool, golden rocks so it made the water a really interesting color. Surprisingly the bugs have not been that bad in Vietnam. But on this hike they were bad and we didn’t have any bug spray with us.
We somewhat quickly hiked back to the bike to get away from the bugs and continued on to Heaven’s Gate (Tram Ton Pass). This is a scenic high mountain pass by Mt. Fansipan. It was a nice ride and much cooler at the top of the pass at elevation. After a bit more driving on the winding, mountain roads we made our way back to Sapa.
Driving around Sapa is not like driving around Ha Giang. Since Sapa has become so popular there is tons of construction happening everywhere. The roads are also filled with shuttles and big tour buses taking people to the falls and other points of interest. So even though you still have really nice views, it is far less peaceful driving around with all the trucks and buses.
I didn’t feel like I could do anymore fried noodles or rice so we found an Indian food restaurant to switch it up. It was very good, just about five times more expensive than what local Vietnamese food would have been. I have liked the food or certain foods from each place we have been, but more than liking any certain type of food I realize I like variety most of all. It gets really hard to eat the same thing for weeks on end for every meal. In most places there are usually other options but they will always be super expensive in comparison to the local food. Sometimes you just have to go for it though and get something different.
After our meal we explored town a little more and Brendan found a place to get his hair cut.
We got some snacks for the long bus ride and made our way back to the hotel to turn in the bike and wait for our bus. Although Sapa is a bit over the top tourist-wise, it is still a pretty cool little town. I tend to like any towns that are nestled into the mountains with beautiful scenery.