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

ok. i guess this will be the trip of the year in 2010. Its 2 years from now but this is not just a normal trip. This is not the usual “relax, mas kaboel will take care of everything”. At this point, we dont know anyone in that region. Hopefully, we will find someone who can shed some light.

anyway, mas jamal had initiated a thread in his blog. The post can be found here: http://www.tembeling.com/blog/?p=367

i have also consulted mr razim faris. Have invited him to join the trip and asked him to apply for another job so that he can join this trip when he is in between jobs. Hehehe. one some research on the silk road. And suprisingly, he has bookmarked one very good site for this purpose.

The site is located at http://www.seat61.com/SilkRoute.htm

ok, i’ll stop here. till then sweet dreams silk roads

actually the trip to rinjani was planned when we just came back from lawu in august. Its gonna be a big group, consisting of mainly photographers. The trip will be in june 2009. hope i will be able to get a super wide lense and a video camera by then. The trip should consists of few days of shooting spree in bali. i guess, that would be my 2nd trip to bali and lombok.

 but before that, we are going to climb mount Fansipan of Vietnam in february 2009. At the same time, another group of us will be going for sightseing in the region of Dieng of Central Java, Indonesia. That will be another big group of photographers outing. I want to go but since it clashes with the fansipan trip, i just have to forgo the oppurtunity.

so, next year, ecotravellers will be going to 3 escapades. 2 mountains and 1 sightseing. And i think i might be going off for another trip, maybe all by my own since i’ll be getting a free airasia ticket. I dont think i will be using the tix for silk road in 2010. Anyway, silk road is still in planning stage. nothing concrete. hopefully can ask inci angie narina regarding her trip along the silk road. <– hopefully she had been there coz she told me that she will going there this year.

i will be detailing the info for silk road. The trip might be as short as 2 weeks and may reach 1 whole month. need to find out about Lhasa and stuffs. this trip was brought up by Mr Jass. We have to really plan since this is not a cheap trip. its gonna be fun. cant wait….

anyway, mr jamal and mr ali are planning for another escapades to down under. Oh…i want to go….i want to gooooo. never been to countries outside south east asia ( im lame ).  hopefully their trip would not fall on those days that i have to submit my projects/research etc.

for me, 3 overseas eco-vacation is a lot to consume in a year. Unless i have people to do the jobs for me…ooh gosh this is the time when i pray that there will be more people like me in this world. i hope to accomplish that as easy as this –> copy remi remi2, muahahahahahahahha

as for local event, i have been invited by todd to join him to climb a mountain near kampar, perak this weekend. I dont think i will be able to join him since my neighbour is getting married this weekend and my friend zani is having his open house too. I have to help zani with picking up the foods from pencala this sunday. oh gosh, i’ll be missing another trip.

nevermine…till next time, keep up the eco spirit in yaaaaa