Lao Cai Hotels - Reviews and Rates

Physical exertion, oh my!

So last night, we caught what was supposed to be a deluxe overnight train to Lao Cai on our way to Sapa, a mountainous resort north of Hanoi (374 kms away and it took 10 hours of train and 1 hour of minibus!). The sleeping berth wasn't bad, not to our expectation but it was clean and comfy. Our hotel travel agent booked the 2 bottom beds for us ...

First trail

9.30am and our guide Vung walks through hotel entrance raincoats in hand so we assume that our firt treck is about to begin but first the niceties of a apology from Mr Tom, the direcror of trails of mountains, for the hic up at Lao Cai station and Mr Tom wishes to reimberse for the cost, We thank him and decline the offer just to be safely in Sa...

La boucle nord-ouest du Viet Nam

La boucle nord-ouest "It's time to get up, the time is five fifteen." Mon réveil parle et c'est exactement ce qu'il me dit lorsque je le règle pas agréable du tout peu importe l'heure annoncée. Marc se réjouissait déjà à l'idée de retourner dans un profond sommeil alors que je devais me lever tôt pour faire je ne sais quoi son réveil ne tarda pa...

ONE MAN WALKING

In a small Vietnamese border town you sit down in the market and ask for a bowl of "Pho"--traditional noodles with chicken or beef--and out comes a bowl with noodles, big chunks of beef, and carrots so tender and sweet that it seems they've been lying around in some secret sweet sauce before being scooped into the bowl. The broth, garnished with...

Stupid, or just crazy?

One hour before "sunrise" (i.e. before the fog changed from black to white) I met up with Xin, my young (14 y/o I guess) H'mong guide who I had recruited in that rustic bar last night. For a few extra dollars he had arranged a Chinese-brand jeep (a.k.a. rattlebag) to bring us to the start of the trail, 19km away. Communication was a bit tricky (...

Lao Cai

Our final stop in Vietnam ... we'll try to make our way to China today. Can only say that we really have seen Vietnam from bottom to top. Kunming is our first goal in China - always exiting with a new country and especially this one where the nature is suppose to be beautiful and the people disgusting and rude. Let's see how it goes ... men det ...

Sa Pa, Vietnam

despite the problems with our train trip we arrived in sapa excited to be in the cool mountain air. located in the tonkinese alps sapa is at around 1700 meters (5100 ft) and so there was a very noticible and welcome chill in the air. we got a ride in one of the vans that shuttles people up to town after they filled it up with as many people as p...

Marché de Bac Ha

L'autobus passe nous chercher vers 8h du matin et nous ramassons quelques touristes à la gare de Lao Cai, histoire d'être bien serré comme des sardines, puis nous nous dirigeons vers le marché de Bac Ha. Une fois que nous avons quitté la "grande route" nous roulons encore 1h à toute allure sur des chemins plus ou moins carossables à flanc de mon...

Trekking in Sa Pa

While we weren't planning on heading north of Hanoi, we decided to make a 3 day trip to the hill town of Sa Pa, Vietnam. It is an easy overnight train trip from Hanoi that brought us into Sa Pa around 9am. We had made reservations in a remote cabin area that entailed a 45min jeep ride over washed out roads and dodging buffalo roaming in the midd...