An Aussie Abroad #4 Sapa Part 1 of 2

Hello Steemians!

Today I'm taking you to that magical mountain area of Northern Vietnam called Sapa. Sapa is a great place to explore if your interested in learning more about Vietnams ethnic minorities and take in some spectacular views along the way.

Getting there
@chauphan and I decided to get to Sapa on the overnight bus from Hanoi's Old Quarter through Sapa Express. If your looking to save a bit on accommodation this is your best bet! After booking our tickets we were told to be at the office at 10:30pm for an 11:00pm departure, note that there is no seating reservation so you kind of just find a place that you like when you board. Once i boarded (after removing my shoes and placing them in a supplied plastic bag) i decided to go for the front and centre seat of the top bunk as id read on other threads that recommended staying towards the front of the bus to get more fresh air and be as far away from the on board toilet as possible (fair call).
The seats are like extra long bus seats that recline a lot further and are equipped with a small tray surface above you feet to strap your bag onto for the journey ahead, you are also supplied with a blanket (with Vietnam Airlines logo on them for some reason) and a bottle of water and some crackers for the journey. Before leaving the city however we had t stop for some more passengers, at this point there seemed to be a small issue though, it turns out that the bus had been overbooked by one person so were short one spot. This obviously caused some distress among the new arrivals as they did not want to travel separately as the guide said he could organise. Eventually a Vietnamese woman spoke up and said something that turned out to be her volunteering to sleep on the floor for the journey.....
So thats what happened she was given some extra blankets, refunded her ticket cost and set herself up on the floor, well it solved the issue and again we were on our way! Hooray! Many people on the bus seemed to put on their eye masks (recommended) straight away and nod off to sleep, i decided to stick it out until after our pit stop which happened about an hour and a half into the trip. The stop lasts about 20 min so plenty of time to grab a quick soup and brush my teeth before getting back onto the bus and crashing out for the journey. Vietnam has in the last few years put in a highway leading to Sapa which makes the journey pretty smooth allowing some zzz's.
I managed to nod off for most of the journey and awoke when we pulled in at the Sapa Express office at Sapa, this was about 5am but was told that you can stay on the bus until 6am as everyone did. At 6am we were woken and welcomed to Sapa by our guide and assaulted by the cool air once the door was opened. (make sure you bring some warmer clothes as it does get cold up there) Upon disembarking the bus we were all met with lots of drivers and locals trying to get you to buy something from them or give you a lift somewhere, as the hotel we had booked was only 600 meters away Chau and i decided to walk so we could get a bit of a feel for the town.

The Sapa Express Overnight Sleeper bus

Sapa Town
When we arrived at our hotel our room wasn't ready (to be honest we weren't expecting to be) so the hotel said they could store our luggage for us great! We noticed they also did scooter hire so decided on this to explore the town. (Sapa can be walked easily enough but a scooter does give you a lot more freedom of movement and is really cheap!) This cost all of about $7.00 AUS for the day bargain! The traffic is also much lighter than in the cities making it easier to ride around without fearing for your life quite as much. Theres plenty to see in town such as the old French Church, the markets, Sapa museum and plenty of shops and cafes, though we decided to start at the famous Cat Cat village, a few k's from the town centre.
If you after food make sure the menu has prices on it before you order anything especially in the town centre, we went into a restaurant for lunch and the menus didn't have prices on it, should have walked out straight away but we were so hungry at the time it didn't seem to matter but were later charged twice what we would have expected to pay. Won't be making that mistake again... generally if you walk a few hundred metres from the town centre you'll find prices will be lower.

Cat Cat Village
This village is a Hmong village that you must buy a ticket to enter but is really well worth it, especially if you want to se some great sights and the local Hmong villagers. Before entering the village we stopped at a shop to grab a bottle of water and were told we should buy some lollies for the children in the village, we figured why not so grabbed a bag each of hard lollies to hand out to the kids. After purchasing ticket and having it checked at the entrance you make you way down some stairs past stalls and gift shops. After the hard selling of Hanoi it was a great relief to be able to check out these stores and wares without being stood over or having random items shoved in my face, the Hmong people here are really friendly and are happy for you to wander around their shops with no pressure. It was still early so there wasn't that many other tourists around yet which was great as it felt like you almost have the place to yourself and gives you the opportunity for some great photos. Theres plenty of kids around too who seemed to be accustomed to tourists giving them lollies as they all stick their hands out as you pass, it must be like halloween every day here! (about half way through we gave a young boy some lollies and he put the into a shopping bag he had hung on a post, the bag was already a quarter full and it was only about 9 am!)
As you make your way through the village you come find yourself at some amazing waterfalls, rivers and the famous rice paddies everyone comes to Sapa to see, your provided a map when you buy the ticket and i recommend you use it as it makes it that much easier to get around and make sure you see everything.

Locals in Cat Cat village

Exploring Cat Cat village

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My Girlfriend @chauphan taking in the views

In part two I'm going to write about Fansipan the highest mountain in indochina, the markets and getting back to Hanoi, hope you all enjoyed this post if you did please up vote as it helps a lot

cheers!