Brett and Bernii

We departed Hanoi for Sapa on the 18th of February. I went with a tour group – the 4-day G Adventures Sapa Adventure tour, while Bernii was in a limousine van.

Bernii stayed at the Sapa Fanispan View House (AU$82.43 per night), and enjoyed some free time to breathe the fresh mountain air and explore misty and moody views of Sapa village.

Meanwhile, on the G Adventures tour, we stopped in Lào Cai to see the border with China and have a group lunch. Our tour group arrived at the Sapa Eco Bungalows & Spa at around 4pm. There were ten people in our group – two couples from Canada, a couple from Norway, a couple from China, one person from England and myself. We freshened up and met for a cooking demonstration where we prepared spring rolls and papaya salad for our dinner. We also enjoyed a few drinks and got to know each other.

The following morning we took the bus to a small village where we started our trek. The conditions were not ideal for sightseeing as there was a lot of mist covering the hills. Occasionally the mist would lift just enough for us to take in the views of terraced rice fields, buffalo and hills.

After a few hours of trekking, we stopped at a village for lunch before continuing on to another village where we learned the traditional wax and dyeing technique. We were also able to attempt to create our own masterpieces. Without any beer for inspiration, it was a challenge that would have been better left to the professionals. We caught the bus back to the accommodation where we had some time to freshen up before our dinner, which consisted of vietnamese hot pot, including beef, chicken, salmon, sturgeon, quail eggs, tofu, vegetables and noodles.

The next day we drove for about an hour before commencing our trek. This day was a bit shorter than the previous one and we arrived at our destination after just over two hours. We had lunch at a local house and then learnt how the local people make traditional bamboo paper. We had a go at making it ourselves. We then visited the house of a local shaman before making our way back to the bus and our accommodation. This night we enjoyed a BBQ feast for dinner.

We checked out of our accommodation the following morning and caught the bus to Sapa where we had some free time. I reunited with Bernii and we went to a local cafe before enquiring about the cable car to the top of Fansipan mountain. Sapa was extremely busy, given that it was the first Saturday after Tết, and we were advised that the peak was covered in clouds and the wait would be 1-2 hours. We decided against going and instead just visited another local cafe.

After lunch, Bernii decided to forge ahead with the journey to Fansipan summit despite the ominous warnings from the lady at the ticket counter. She began the trip at 1PM at the Sun Plaza station near the town square and took a short and pleasant train trip to the cable car station. So far so good, there were no crowds. Things were looking good until she reached the first of 3 long lines to get on the cable car. After an hour an a half of being herded through endless snake queues, she was finally aboard a gondola, enjoying the longest non-stop cable car ride in the world (6.3km). The ride took 15 minutes to reach the top of Mount Fansipan, but there was a further 600 windy and misty steps to reach the summit. As advised, it was indeed very busy and very cloudy at the very top, but definitely still worth it to stand atop the ‘Roof of Indochina”.

I re-joined the G Adventures tour group in the afternoon and caught a bus to Lào Cai where we had dinner before catching the overnight train back to Hanoi. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of sleep on the train. We arrived back in Hanoi at 5:30AM and I made my way to our next hotel, the Léman Old Quarter Hotel (AU$85.19 per night).

Bernii met me in Hanoi later that afternoon. After spending two more days in Hanoi, we caught the train to Ninh Binh and made our way to Tam Cốc where we checked into our accommodation at Tam Coc Full House (AU$42.33 per night).

During our three days at Tam Cốc, we went to the Trang An Landscape Complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known as “Ha Long Bay on land”. We took a 3-hour boat tour which visited three temples and went through nine caves. It was a very popular and scenic experience.

Bernii also went on a 2-hour boat trip from Tam Cốc where she went through three caves on an out-and-back tour through the scenic rice fields and towering limestone karsts.

We spent most evenings at the Sunset Bar at the Banana Tree Hostel. We returned to Hanoi for two final nights, staying at the Rex Hanoi Hotel (AU$$116.89 per night). After almost six weeks in Vietnam it was time to head to our first new country of 2026 – Sri Lanka!