Sapa was definitely the most dissonant place we have travelled to in Asia so far. But let’s tell the story from the start.
Before our trip we asked around to understand what other people liked about the destinations we chose to go to. We checked Tripadvisor and different blogs as well to make decisions which were as educated as possible. When it came to Sapa in North Vietnam people were raving – they enjoyed the landscape, the food, the activities they’ve done.
So we thought: great, let’s go!
When we booked Halong Bay with the travel agent in Hanoi we booked Sapa at the same time. We asked how many people were in the tour group and what the age demographic would be like. We thought we were going onto a trip with around 50 other young people, hiking through the rice fields. Sorted, we thought, so we went with it.
When the bus picked us up the experience was definitely not matching our expectations – cognitive dissonance at it’s finest! The bus was full with older passengers who didn’t speak any English and unfortunately all seemed to be sick and coughed at us whithout covering their mouths quite a lot. Joe got ill from that which was a great start. Once we arrived the bus was surrounded by people who belong to one of the minorities of Vietnam who followed us for the rest of the trips, sometimes four people around one person at a time asking if they wanted to buy something. The locals even waited in front of the hotels until we finished lunch. Afterwards, we were followed whereever we went.
We then thought ok, let’s see what the hike that was promised to us would be like.
The hike was walking downhill into a village where we were shown how the local people lived. This was really sad to see because it displayed the poverty of this part of the country a lot. Rubbish was everywhere and we even saw petrol floating on top of the rice fields. It was a very sad experience. Lots of children were selling crafted clothing and jewellery and a lot of women were carrying newborns on their backs.
We really wanted to understand how people lived but unfortunately the people from the bus sat down every 15 minutes because the walk downhill was too exhausting. After sitting in a bus for 7 hours you can imagine how much one wants to move so that was quite an unfortunate setback (sorry about the rant. #sorrynotsorry).
The next day we went to Cat Cat village, which was really cool to see. There was a big waterfall which was beautiful and a dance show we could see.
Again, we only walked downhill and after an hour and a half we returned to the hotel. Joe and I were the only ones who booked 2 nights so the tour guide returned to Hanoi with the other passengers so we were kind of just left there. We decided to go up Hàm Rồng, a mountain in the middle of Sapa, which was really cool. The national park is massive and there are loads of paths to explore. We met a French guy who has the most amazing job: he works as a TV producer in Qatar for 1 month of the year which earns him enough to travel for 11 months at a time. So insane!
Once we found the top of the hill (took us 2 hours and a helpful British couple to show us – all signs are in Vietnamese so we were a bit confused :)) it was just spectacular! Sapa is hidden in a cloud most of the year, we saw one of them moving in at an incredible speed and soon were in the cloud ourselves. An unforgettable experience!
The evening we spent just chilling out and watching some telly – Sapa itsself is only nice to hang out at if you get drunk, because there is literally nothing to do at night.
The next day we met our tour guide, who was only there for us since there were no more people to show around. He was like: ‘let’s climb the hill in Sapa!’ – the one we had done the day before. Our previous tour guide missed the fact that we would see the hill the next day. After some talking we convinced our guide to at last show us some of the rice fields. Finally!!! They looked really nice and impressive, it was a very enjoyable experience.
We went on a big 3 hour hike which was very nice, mainly along the main roads, but still much better than the days before. It was great to talk to someone who grew up in Sapa to understand how people are living, eating, working.
The bus ride back was much better as well – we were only 6 people for a bus of 50 so the ride was much more enjoyable than the way there.
This review is to be taken with a pinch of salt. We heard from so many people that the tours they’ve done were amazing – APT Travel just didn’t do it for us. We were hoping for a sociable experience like the Halong Bay tour and got bitterly disappointed. The rice fields look cool, but were covered in fog and clouds most of the time and we went there on the rare sunny days. Maybe it is just not a trip that should be done in February.So whenever one’s picking a tour, one that leads up Fansipan (the highest mountain in Vietnam) would be really great, the one we did we wouldn’t recommend.
Sapa itsself is under massive construction – for about 10 years now more and more tourists discover Sapa so the locals get bought out of their houses to replace their homes with hotel complexes. Hence the air is full of dust and the noise is unbearable.
We still got some nice pictures and a good experience overall, in terms of ‘we’ve done it now’ – but I don’t have any desire to come back. When we took the bus back we drove through scenery which is much more breathtaking than Sapa so this might be something to consider when visiting.
MAKE IT BAKE IT TAKE IT 