Dear ecotravelogers, please checkout the items below. This is the checklist that you have to comply before we depart.

1. a valid international passport which has not expired or has more than 6 months before it expires.
2. flight ticket printed slip. for those who bought the ticket thru me, i will print them out.
3. personal medicine. please do not include viagra, otherwise your wife might be thinking you are up to something else…hehehe. And for mr waje, please dont forget your medication.
4. food. this have been taken care off by me an zani. but please do bring your own personal likings.
5. cooking utensils. cooking pan provided by syuk and paie. ( paie’s utensil is with zani ). liquid stove by arey. Remi’s MSR? tunggu…..
6. clothing – make sure to have thick clothing or just bring long sleeves shirt 2-3 pairs. The weather might be unbearable.
7. hand glove. strongly advise.
8. sleeping bag – thai binh provide sleeping bag. but it is strongly advised to bring your own sleeping bag that can resist a very low temperature say +2 to +5 degrees celcius. you can bring the cheap one, but please request extra sleeping bag from thai binh hotel later.
9. sleeping mat.
10. mess tin, fork, spoon, mug - this is for your own usage.
11. rain coat. we are still in the raining season in vietnam.
12. camera…hehehe. for those who have la. for waje, sempat ke beli dslr. hahaha.
13. headlamp or torchlight

How about food in hanoi?

I somewhat found the following address from this website.

1. 53 Ba Trieu, Hanoi.
2. 10 Hang Thung, Hanoi. 
3. Nisa Restaurant:

90A Nguyen Huu Huan St.
Hoan Kiem Dist.
Hanoi – Vietnam

Contact person:

- Mr. Ben Taat Haji Alias
Mobile: +84 912040537
Email: bentaat@nisa-restaurant.com
- Mr. Azhar Harris
Mobile: +84 934282813
Email: azhar@nisa-restaurant.com

info: http://www.nisa-restaurant.com

i am looking forward to visit nisa restaurant. The food is not cheap, but expected. But at least, we can start estimating the cost of living in hanoi. But i am not sure until what time that the restaurant operate. Below, 2 more malaysian restaurant, “nok make budu ko be…”:

1. Warung Sri belango ” The Malaysia Truly Asia Kitchen”
Menu: From $3US ++++
26 Ong Ich Khiem – Dien Bien – Ba Dinh – Hanoi – Vietnam
Tel/Fax : +844 734 7216
Direct voice: +84917348264
Malaysian phone: +60192710026 / Mr. Zuzainy

info: http://vietnamtouronsale.com/index.php?act=viewrestaurant&idrestaurant=43 ,

http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/en/venue/show/2009/Warung-Sri-Belango

2. Malaysia in Hanoi
136 E, Tran Vu St
Truc Bach, Ba Dinh
Hanoi
Tel: 0084 715 2512

info: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/11/24/lifeliving/19529763&sec=lifeliving ,
http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/venue/show/1196/Malaysia-in-Hanoi <– it is defunct. is this true?

and for FULL halal food / halal kitchen listing, please visit the following website:

http://asrichascroesus.blogspot.com/2008/11/halal-vegetarian-restaurants-in-hanoi.html

and this website too: http://newhanoian.xemzi.com/venue/category/66/Halal#1/66

when you look for it, insyaAllah, it will come to you.

Food Schedule

So the final food schedule will be like this:

wed – 11/2 – touch down @ hanoi, going on a train ride to lao cai at night
- breakfast: breakfast at lcct food court. if you are late, then eat on the flight
- lunch: nisa restaurant
- dinner: packed from nisa restaurant

thu - 12/2 – arrived at lao cai, proceed to sapa, and start trekking mount fansipan to 2900m
- breakfast: roti gardenia + serunding
- lunch: nasi + sardin + sayur + ikan masin
- dinner: nasi + sardin + sayur + ikan masin

fri - 13/2 – summit day, goind down to sapa, sleep over at thai binh hotel
- breakfast: roti pita + serunding
- lunch: nasi + kari ayam yeos + sayur
- dinner: nasi + brahim daging + sayur

sat - 14/2 – tavan village tour
- breakfast: fried rice
- lunch: packed lunch fried rice
- dinner: nasi + sardin gulai + sayur

sun - 15/2 – bac ha market tour, going back to hanoi in the evening
- breakfast: nasi lemak + ikan bilis (zani) + telur
- lunch: packed lunch: nasi lemak + ikan bilis (zani) + telur 
- dinner: roti pita + serunding

mon - 16/2 – sightseing hanoi / halong bay
- breakfast: nisa restaurant
- lunch: sri belango
- dinner: sri belango

tue - 17/2 – sightseing hanoi / halong bay
- breakfast: other halal restaurant
- lunch: other halal restaurant
- dinner: other halal restaurant

wed – 18/2 – 7 of us take flight back home at 9 am
- breakfast: on the flight breakfast

thu – 19/2 – todd returns to kl
- breakfast: on the flight breakfast

Note: for dine in, we estimate the cost at USD 5 per person. All dine in at your expense. Total dine in estimated at USD 50 throughout the trip. And we also need to include 2 nights of hanoi sleepover at USD 15 per night, so tatal USD 30. So our cost will be:

Total cost: ( train hanoi-laocai-hanoi + pick up + trekking + 2 nights sleepover @ sapa + tavan tour + bac ha tour) + hanoi sleepover + hanoi dine in

total cost = USD 165 + 30 + 50
                = USD 245
                = USD 245 x 3.612 
                = RM 884.94 + food we bought from kl: rm 50 per person or less.
                < than kinabalu total … hehehehe.

* hanoi sleepover can be cheaper. this is just estimation. i think we can find below USD 15 easily.
* hanoi dine in = day 1 x 2 + day 6 x 3 + day 7 x 3 = 8 x 5 = USD 40 + 10 ( over budget) = USD 50.
* — we can cut down hanoi f00ds if we would like to cook our own food, provided that we can get a hotel that allow us to cook or we just cook at the verandah.

ha noi accomodation

have been thinking of renting hanoi youth hotel. http://www.hanoiyouthhotel.com/infomation.asp?mnz=2&mno=0 . No contact number found but this is the address: 33-Luong Van Can | Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi 8404, Vietnam 

another one is  queen something2 hotel. my brother used my lappy and he shut down the browser…arrghhh. and i ve lost the link .

Prayer time

sapa kiblat direction: 282.462744 (From North Clockwise) 

sapa prayer time

hanoi kiblat direction: 283.699322 (From North Clockwise)

hanoi prayer time

thats the latest update. going to hospital…n

1. ok, i think this is the 2nd last post before we present ourselves to vietnam.
2. last night we have bought 80% of the ration needs. Spent around RM 177. Pending stuffs:
   1. aik cheong coffee
   2. all those brahims’ or yeos canned food. have brought sardines and maggi yesterday.
   3. salted fish
   4. cili api
3. zani has voluntereed to cook sambal ikan bilis.
4. syuk has bought the chicken floss and dodol too.
5. contacted thai binh hotel . Most probably will pick up the tour package from nam hong. The price is USD 167 inclusive of the following:
   1. train hanoi-lao cai-hanoi on livitrans. 4 beds per cabin.
   2. transfer lao cai-sapa-lao cai
   3. fansipan trekking for 2 days 1 night. With 1 guide + 4 porters.
   4. 2 nights sleepover for 4 rooms of twin beds.
   5. tavan village trip on saturday
   6. bac ha market trip on sunday
   7. we can cook at the hotel, gas provided
   8. cooking @ phang xi pang will use dry woods
   9. free wifi @ the hotel
   10. no need booking fees. just the 1st page of passport scan and email.
6. need someone to handle equipments. Most likely will need:
   1. tent? just for emergency. will communicate with nam hong on this.
   2. kettle
   3. cooking ware: stove, pan, etc.
7. im looking forward to buy my own backpack. my own msr ( found one irresistable 2nd hand set from ebay ). and some clothing. i need new cloth…adeh…habis la duit aku.
8. zaid has not make his passport. grrr.
9. waje might be having problem with his wife. we wish him all the best and we believe you can do it waje.
10. seriously reconsidering the personal tour guide from vietnam.

so the itenaries is like this

day 1: 11/2 – arrived in hanoi from kl, wandering around hanoi, take train to lao cai at night
day 2: 12/2 – arrive at lao cai, proceed to sapa, start trekking up to 2900m
day 3: 13/2 – summit fansipan, descent straight to sapa, overnight at sapa
day 4: 14/2 – go to tavan village, one more night in sapa
day 5: 15/2 – go to bacha – return from bacha, return to hanoi via train at night
day 6: 16/2 – arrive in hanoi, sightseing in hanoi, overnight at hanoi
day 7: 17/2 – sightseing hanoi, overnight at hanoi
day 8: 18/2 – going back to kl

after some dicussion, i think we will proceed with thai binh hotel.

6/2/2009

after reading tripadvisor’s advisories, i think, yeah, we proceed with thaibinhhotel. when i was searching for thaibinhhotel travel advise, i found out they had negative feedback. but after futher reading, the one has bad reputation is at hue, not at Sapa. The one at sapa is very good as the owner himself arranges the tour package.

thaibinhhotel is slightly off the main road in sapa. Got internet connection in which i need most later. we’ve got further discount of USD 16. Emm..ok lah. not that bad. but i read somewhere that they dont have the view like in mountain view hotel. emm. emm. this is something interesting to ponder.

actually we can lower down the cost by hopping on cheaper train. But again, livitrans looks good and actually my friend who has been on livitrans had a good experience. But still, whats inside our mind is to get things done cheaper. We want to prove that, climbing fansipan can be done under RM 800. We want to prove that climbing fansipan is cheaper than climbing mount kinabalu. grrrrrrr….everybody is complaining about the steep price hike for kinabalu climbing trip.

syed called yesterday that he can work out on better exchange rate. For every 1 RM, he can get 3.54 USD. that is like 10 sen cheaper. i think i will proceed with syed’s plan.

anyway, about the ms tho, i think i need to work out some extra budget for her. since some may not like the idea of hiring an extra tour guide as it means more money has to be forked out from their pocket. I need at least 4 people who is willing to forkout some money for her. i just feel bad when we are about to brake the promise we had.

ok, thats all for today…cya.

ok guys. we are on. but the plan changed. we no longer use the travel agent that we have enquiried. so we are going to vietnam thru zani’s contact. She lives in hanoi, just returned back from malaysia.

she agreed to accompany us through out our voyage in vietnam. She will pick us at the airport, bring us to the city center, book the train ticket etc. she will accompany us until sapa. At sapa, we will climb mount fansipan and she will stay at the hotel. we will meet back after the climb and return back to hanoi. She can speak Malay and we hope she will be a good companion through out our stay there.

oohh…thank god for given us this solution. frankly speaking, we dont need those silver lining treatment while in vietnam. we are just mount climbers who want to conquer mount fansipan only. hopefully everything will flow as smoothly as possible.

anyway, i just received an email from airasia. basically the return flight of ak763 has been cancelled. we have to back early..arrghhhh….tensi2. below is the email from airasia. Can we complain? can we? can we? thinking of changing the flight to next day…arrghhh.

————-

Dear Valued Guest,
 
AirAsia regrets to advise that our flight AK 763 from Hanoi to KLIA (LCCT) is now cancelled & moved to the earlier flight AK 761 departure time at 9:15 a.m. (0915hrs).
 
Flight No.       : AK 761
Sector          : Hanoi to KLIA (LCCT)
Time             : Departure at 9:15 a.m. (0915hrs) / Arrival at 1:30 p.m. (1330hrs)
Effective       : 09Feb09 until 30April09
 
We appreciate your understanding of our position in this matter and hope your future flights with us will be pleasant and problem free and apologize for the inconvenience caused.
 
 
You’re sincerely,
 
AirAsia Bhd.
LCC Terminal,
Jalan KLIA S3,
Southern Support Zone,
Kuala Lumpur International Airport,
64000 Sepang, Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia

I have been asked to look for information on the journey between hanoi and lao cai..and of course between lao cai and sapa too. Below is the source in which i have found some answer to my question.

http://www.vietnamstay.com/service/sapatrain.htm

will elaborate on this later.

remi

———————————————————-

ok…i managed to get a reply from aurora travel, Here is the reply:

Day 1 (Wednesday, February 11, 2009): Ho Chi Minh City Arrival – Overnight train to Sapa (D) Our guide meets you at Noi Bai airport and escorts you to the city centre. You will then follow your guide to visit Hanoi Hilton prison and Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature). Then we are roaming to the old quarter (trade area) of Hanoi for looking and shopping. Cyclo ride through the old but busy streets should be highlight of the day. We then stop at Thang Long theatre for enjoying Water puppets show. 18:00: another driver will pick up the last member in your group of 8 and transferred him to join in yourgroup. In the evening, have dinner at local restaurant and then go to the train for an overnight train to Sapa.

Day 2 (Thursday, February 12, 2009): Lao Cai – Sapa (no guide) Arrive at Lao Cai Train station at about 6.30. Take a ride to Sapa. You will be free today in Sapa. Our suggestion is to walking or trekking around the town by yourself to stretch your legs, a good practice before climbing Fansipan. Overnight train in Sapa.

Day 3 (Friday, February 13, 2009): Sapa – Heavens Gate – 2900m (B/L/D) You are having a couple of interesting days waiting ahead. You travel by car toward the Silver Waterfall where you will be able to take a short walk to the waterfall. You will then drive further to Heaven Gate,the highest peak of roads in Vietnam. From there you can see Fansipan, the highest peak of Indochina mountains as well as enjoy stunning views. The trek will be relatively soft until lunchtime. After a couple of hours of hiking, you will have a break at a nice spot in the forest and enjoy a good lunch. With new energy you start ascending as well as descending towards the campsite. En route you have many opportunities to enjoy the scenery and magnificent views to Sapa area and beautiful landscape of Lai Chauprovince. You will arrive to the campsite at 2900m ASL in the late afternoon. Now it is time to relax and enjoy a well prepared dinner.

Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 0,5 hour driving/ 5 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.

Day 4 (Saturday, February 14, 2009): 2900m – the top of Fansipan – 2700m (B/L/D)After having breakfast, you climb to the top, where you can celebrate your victory. From there, you canenjoy the best view to beautiful sceneries. You will then start descending. You stop on the way at a nice spot for lunch. After lunch, you start the tough trek, which is all the way downhill through rainforest. This part requires a great concentration to step on steep trail until you meet the campsite at 2700m ASL. Here you spend another night in tent.

Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 6 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.

Day 5 (Sunday, February 15, 2009): 2700m – Sin Chai – Sapa (B/L) You wake up in the fresh and pure morning in wild nature, before heading back to civilization. You trek downhill through well protected forest and after a couple of hours of hiking, you stop for lunch. You will then continue descending toward Sin Chai village of Back Hmong minority. On the way you will be able to enjoy valley views and beautiful surrounding. You stop at the village for a while before you go by car back to Sapa, where you can celebrate your achievement and relax. Overnight in Sapa.

Approx: Grade 3 of 5/ 0,5 hour driving/ 6 hours walking/ 1 hour lunch.

Day 6 (Monday, February 16, 2009): Sapa free – Overnight train back to Hanoi (B/no guide) You will be free today in Sapa for relaxing until late afternoon when you’re transferred to the railway station for your overnight train back to Hanoi.

Day 7 (Tuesday, February 17, 2009): Hanoi (B/L) Arrive early morning (around 05:30-06:00) in Hanoi. You will be picked up to a local restaurant for breakfast and then depart for a city tour. We will go north to visit Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, His House on Stilt, One Pillar Pagoda, Tran Quoc pagoda, Army Museum and Hanoi Flag Tower. After lunch, you will visit the Ethnology museum and then transfer 5 members to the airport for departure flights. 3 others will be free at your own arrangement.

QUOTATION

Price is net, PER PERSON, based on twin shared, non-commission for a private tour for a group of 8 people

Breakdown services Mid-range (3*)
Land service US$443.00

Hotel Propose/Confirmation City Mid-range (3*) Notes Sapa Royal View Hotel
– Standard room
Check- in time : 13:00 or 14:00
Check- out time: 11:00 or 12:00
Check-in/check-out time is subject to availability and with additional charge.

Service inclusive
-Accommodation with daily breakfast at hotels mentioned
-Returned trained tickets: Hanoi – Lao Cai – Hanoi in a first class 4-berth cabin with soft sleeper and air-conditioning (Tulico/Ratraco train).
-Tours with private local English speaking guide in each area -Transfer services in a private air-conditioned car
-Entrance fees for sightseeing
-Black Hmong porters (to carry food and luggage)
-Cook (from group sizes of 6 clients)
-All needed transport
-All indicated meals, plus snacks
-Water on the whole trip
-Sleeping bag and mattresses
-Silk sleeping bag
-Waterproof bluebag for luggage
-Tents
-Mosquito net
-Meals as the indication (B: breakfast, L: lunch and D: dinner)

Service exclusive
-Meals not clearly mentioned
-Services not stated in the program
-Domestic airfares and tax in Vietnam and in Cambodia
-International airfare from/to Vietnam
-International airport departure tax
-All type of visa fees to Vietnam and Cambodia.

hi all,

i am so sorry that if you have made it to this blog for the last couple of days, you may have encountered an empty blog of mine. The reason is because my last web host had wipe away my blog from their server.

The hosting has not expired but the reseller license has expired. That’s the lesson learned when u trust ur friend so much …. grrrr. anyway, fortunately i have installed something like wordpress backup plugin and i managed to get previous post up and running today.

ok, to dr j, all the best with your hajj trip. thanks for the comment and hopefully i can stuff this blog with a nice theme so that ‘orang orang dewasa’ can read it happily….hehehehe.

ok, that’s all folks.

remi

ps://i think i might be missing the oppurtunity to take part in this year’s pesta blogger indonesia. OK…nevermine, some other time maybe…huehuehe. cheers. have a nice day