hi all,

we have just returned back from a very adventurous trip to hanoi, vietnam. It was not 100% pre arranged but we think we had secured one of the best deal in town. Just imagine, in that short 7 days, we have managed to cover 7 places altogether. Below is the summary of what happened in vietnam, “the land of flat butts”:

DAY 1

arrived in LCCT early, by around 12 am. Rearranged the food ration and trying to sleep but i just could not do that. Others arrived as late as 530 am and we rushed to check in the baggage. I think the guy at the counter were trying to cheat us. I think he pocketed some money from the baggage weighing machine.

wandering at noi bai international airport

anyway, we departed at 6.30 am and prayed Subuh prayer inside the plane. It was full house with vietnamese and i..myself sat beside a german/switzerland couple. After three hours of flight, we touched down at noi bai international airport in hanoi. The weather was like foggy, i am not sure, is it haze or something else.

upon embarking the arrival hall, we called ms tho but failed. Tried several times and finally we got thru. Since we have already booked thai binh hotel, we decided not to take ms tho service.  its kinda disappointment to me since i really appreciate being accompany by a local. Local people means localized information at your finger tips .

We took a van/mini bus to the city center, specifically to the mango hotel. The cost was USD 20 and i think, it is ok lah. The cost might be cheaper if we pay in dong. after 30-45 minutes of travelling, we arrived at the mango hotel. To our suprise, we do not need to pay for the train ticket, i think we will only required to pay when we arrived at the hotel. Anyway, we got a tourist class Livitrans ticket from Ha Noi to Lao Chai. But we need to wait until 8.40 am to embark on the train journey. It was still 10 am in Ha noi and we decided to put our baggage in the train station. For one locker, we pay like 17000 dong. The staffs at the train station were nice. They did not overcharge us and we just have to show the train ticket to qualify for the locker service. Thanks to Mr. Nam Hong for his tips.

nisa restaurant, hoan kiem lake, ha noi

And after that, we asked the locker man to show us the way to Hu Huan street in which Nisa restaurant is located. Although we did not understand what he said, but based on the pointers he draws on the map, we managed to reach nisa restaurant at noon. Nisa restaurant strategically located near Hoan Kiem Lake at the old capital or Old Quarter. We were greeted by the restaurant manager Mr Azhar and we quickly ordered our food. I had “pho” – pronounced as “fur”. It is basically a bowl of noodle with meat slices. Some what like “Mee Sup”. The pho was nice. 4 of us had pho while the rest enjoyed the meat beriyani. Nisa restaurant is one the two remaining Malay Moslem Halal restaurant in Ha Noi. The meal and the drink cost us around 4-5 USD per person.

after that we proceed to the one and only mosque in Hanoi. I think it was 15-20 minutes walk from Nisa Restaurant. The mosque is currently being renovated. We took a rest for 20 minutes while waiting for the Asar prayer.

On the way to the mosque, we bumped upon some tour operator. We asked for the tour to Halong Bay – pronounced in vietnamese slang “halong by”. The cheapest we can get was USD 33 for a 2 days one night tour. All meals included which means we will get lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch again. We think it was a good deal as Azhar from nisa restaurant did offer us a one day trip which is closed to USD 40 per person. We have not made our decision yet coz i would like the team member to recalculate their budget to include the halong bay trip cost.

tranquility of hoan kiem lake

After praying, we quickly search for Hanoi Youth Hotel. Hanoi youth hotel is situated at 33, Luong Van Can St. We negotiated for 2 rooms with 4 person in one room for the last day of our trip. Few steps away, there is the sinh cafe tour agent. We booked the halong bay excursion from him. We paid for USD 33 per person. After that, we quickly walked to the train station thru the Hoan Kiem Lake. Hoan kiem lake was beautiful. You can see several woman offering the service of measuring your weigh. I think this is a good service. It promotes healthy lifestyle within the hustle and bustle of the city life. A lot of hanoian run around the lake and that makes me wanna live in hanoi

we arrived at the train station early. I think around 7 pm. We had coffees and some pancake while waiting for the train. At 8 pm, we quickly moved to the Mango hotel to board on the livitrans coach to Lao Chai. As advised by apek, we did not give our baggage to stranger but unfortunately one man tries to help us by showing the way to our coach. We thought that he was one of the livitrans helper. He ended up asking for several USD for his service. Syed, i think had given him 1 USD and told him to go away from our cabin.

Livitrans cabin was ok. We were greeted by a beutiful lady and that just made our day…hahaha. We were given 1 small drinking water, a chocholate wafer and a wet tissue. The bed and pillow… i think was ok too as we had a good sleepover on the train. We did not have our dinner as we really need that sleep for our next day trekking up the phang xi pan mountain.

syed on his livitrans bed

day 2

at around 5 am, the “stewardess” knocked on our doors signalling that we were about to reach lao chai. We stopped at lao chai @ 540 am and find our way out of the station. I spotted a man holding a placard with my name and i quickly approach him and he excorted our entourage to the mini bus. That morning lao chai train station was busy as usual. We were not the only passengers in that van, but with us were 1 euro couple and 1 french lady.

we continue our journey to sapa. i think we took nearly 40 minutes to reach Sapa from Lao Chai. I could spot a lake on the way up to sapa. When we reached thai binh hotel, we could feel the strong wind that awaits us in the mountain. We were greeted by Mr. Pham Nam Hong and a lovely smile from Ms. Feng. We were served a welcoming drink and we took that oppurtunity to have our breakfast. And you guess what, we had high 5 bread with anchovies sambal plus beef floss. Mr Nam had given us the key to 2 rooms so that we can take our shower before climbing mount fansipan. Indeed, we really need the shower. After 2 days of not taking bath, a hot shower had really refreshened our body, mind and soul.

After bath, we quickly repacked our bag. Everybody gave all foods, sleeping bags and cooking utensils to the porter while we only carried a small bagpack with us. We had 4 porters and 1 guide. Our guide name is Mr. Nam. He is a young man, aged 26 years old and he is very energetic. He had climbed mount fansipan 40 times and with us, he is going to make his 41st. At 9, we started our journey to Tram Ton Pass. Tram Ton pass is the starting point for all climbers who want to conquer mount fansipan. We stopped by Hong Lien Son National Park office. Mr Nam handed our name and obtained the climbing permit for us.

if i am not mistaken, we reached tram ton pass by 10 pm. We didnt waste anytime and started to trek. Actually, i didnt really timed our journey up to fansipan. May be it is because, i am always late and i will be the last man to arrive at the checkpoints. hahaha.

Anyway we arrived at a campsite at 1 pm local time. we cooked our lunch i.e. rice and sardine. Actually, the porter had already cooked the rice for us. Its just that some of us who are very pious did not feel comfortable eating the rice. There is a nearby waterpoint at the campsite and also WC..(“some called it WelCome…hahaha”)

We continued our journey at 2pm and the first part was an ascend of about 20m of nearly 90 degrees. after that the journey continues on a flat land. It was like walking on a range before going through several 70 degrees ascend. We reached our campsite at about 5-6pm.

We camped inside a hut built by the monk who used to climbed fansipan. The guide said that they perform prayers at the top of fansipan because fansipan is the highest peak before you reached the sky in indocina. I think that means, by reaching fansipan summit, the closer you get to the god. Anyway, fansipan means, the stone between the earth and the sky/heavens.

We had a good dinner.,,,

day 3

day 4

day 5

day 6

day 7

day 8