pattyroth

Oh JC 98 and thursdaysd - you have both relieved my anxieties. My husband and I had already planned to quit drinking at 2 or 3 just to avoid the bathrooms! Can't wait to see the Bac Ha Market and Sapa!!! Next week!

suebm282

I agree with the above. I was also worried about the Fanxipans bathroom after reading reviews. I have a problem with not so good toilets and anything that crawls, but our bathroom was kept very clean by the guys looking after our carriage, and our cabin was also clean. I`m not a great sleeper but didn`t find our two person room too bad. We emailed our hotel and asked them to arrange transfers from the train to Sapa, and it was $6 U.S. each for a return transfer in a small mini bus which drops you off at your hotel (it was charged on the hotel bill on check-out).

To the non-pork eater, we don`t eat any meat (but do eat fish when there)and have no trouble eating anywhere. You are still able to enjoy the wonderful food without going out of your way

Re VOA at HCMC, I do find it worth doing. There were still people from our flight going through passport and customs by the time we were served. We had the paper work already filled in the correct currency ready, and we were through in about 15 minutes. The cost difference for us is huge. VOA is $45 for single entry and $US65 for a multiple entry 1 month using an Australian passport, and an extra $5 for the visa approval letter provided from the Halong Bay cruise booking people I used. The Vietnam embassy in Canberra charges $135 for a multiple entry, making a total cost of $300 for the two of us when the special postage bags they request you use are purchase, so I will continue with VOA.

JC98

** Tip #4. Trekking in Sapa **

We ended up doing all the trekking in Sapa on our own without a guide. It's doable but it might be worth it to hire a local Hmong guide (one of the girls) to learn more about their culture. We didn't arrange anything ahead of time, so we just went ahead and walked on our own. Got a bit lost in some places, but nothing major.

1) Cat Cat Village
On the first afternoon in Sapa after checking into our hotel and resting a bit (in the morning we went to Bac Ha Sunday market), we headed down the trail to Cat Cat Village which was right outside our hotel. (More about our excellent hotel later.) Since it was our first time seeing a Hmong village, we got pretty excited on the walk but later compared to other villages, Cat Cat is actually too touristy. Admission to the village was $2 USD per person.

Along the trek you can buy handmade souvenirs sold directly from people's homes. I bought 2 indigo-dyed purses with embroidery (around $7 to $10 USD each). They were made a grandmother with a kindly smile and her young grand-daughter (maybe 14) was doing all the marketing and selling. Notice that sadly the younger generation kids are not wearing the traditional outfits anymore, but sweatshirts and jeans.

The road kept on descending until you hit a waterfall at the end and some bridge. Don't remember anyone following us and pushing trinkets on us there. Saw some little kids with soiled faces eating ice cream on the bridge, and I wanted to take their pictures but they all turned their faces away.

Since it was quite hot that day, we didn't want to hike all the way from the bottom of the valley back up, so we took a motorbike (xe om) back up for only $2 USD -- both of us hugging the driver for a fun ride up.

More about the other hikes later...

JC98

** Trekking in Sapa (Part 2) ***

2) The next day we did the long trek starting at Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai. Like Cat Cat, both are villages of the Black Hmongs (their costumes are black). If we had known, we would have skipped Y Linh Ho and started at Lao Chai (which is more scenic) and continued on to Tavan (a village by a minority called Giay, something different for a change).

Our hotel staff gave us a hand-drawn map of where to go for the start of the trail to Y Linh Ho. We walked out of Sapa a little bit following a big road and asked around until we found a trail head. A older Hmong woman came up and asked if we wanted her to be our guide but she barely spoke English so we declined, but she still pointed us to the trail head.
(We found the Hmongs to be very gentle and honest. If you want to hire a guide, make sure you hire a local Hmong and not a Vietnamese, as you'll get a more authentic experience and also you'll be helping them directly economically. We noticed a lot of shops, even within those villages were actually run by the more enterprising ethnic Vietnamese (who don’t live there) and not Hmongs.)

The hike was mainly a gradual descent on a dirt road among rice terraces cut into the mountains with houses made of thatched or tin roofs scattered here and there—some even had satellite dishes. It wasn't the season for planting yet (March), so the ponds were just filled with water glistening in the sun. Buffalos, pigs, chickens, ducks and cute baby versions of those were walking or lying about in the paths or floating and wading in the ponds. Even little kids (maybe 1 or 2 years old), naked waist down (no diapers), were walking barefoot and unsupervised, on pond edges. In Y Linh Ho, we passed by an elementary school and saw little kids holding hands dancing in circles. They were waving at us and smiling, but the teachers told us not to take their pictures.

At the beginning of our trek we saw about 2 parties ahead of us led by local Hmong girls, but we lagged behind and lost sight of them. At one point we got confused at a fork, not sure which one to take. We saw some little school boys coming home from school and asked them which way to Lao Chai, and either they didn’t understand us or just wanted to play a prank on us, pointed us in the wrong direction. We went the way they told us until the trail ran out and we had to walk on the edge of a big pond. I nearly fell into a pond at a spot where the edge got too muddy and soft, and we figured it couldn’t be right and turned around.

Anyway, at Lao Chai we saw more tourists, and it looked like most people started the trek from Lao Chai. (Later we talked to an elderly French couple, and they said they took a taxi from Sapa to Lao Chai and started the trek there and ended up in Tavan—I think that’s a better route than what we did.) Lao Chai was more expansive and scenic than Y Linh Ho, and there was a shop in a mud house where most tourists stopped to take a break and get a snack. We just bought coffee and hot tea, but didn’t want any food – not much on offer – cookie packages, instant noodles, fried eggs and rice at quite expensive prices for VN. Again, it looked like this shop was run by some enterprising Vietnamese and not by the local Hmongs. Little kids were staring at us from the outside and asking us to buy trinkets and we shook our heads no and said they should be going to school.

For fuel, we packed along some energy bars from the US and mostly survived on that until we hit a bigger village at the junction of Lao Chai and the trail to Tavan. While we were trying to figure out where to eat, a Red Dao woman (a tribe of the Hmongs identified by the big puffy red turban women wear on their heads) approached us wanting to sell us some handmade purses. I said we’re not interested, but we wanted to look for a restaurant to eat. She led us to a big restaurant but mostly empty in the late afternoon. She smiled a lot and seemed friendly, and spoke ok English. We invited her to join us for lunch, but she shyly declined and felt timid to enter the restaurant. We said it’s ok, and the proprietor of the restaurant (who was an ethnic Vietnamese) looked surprised that we had a Hmong woman to dine with us.

We ordered simple vegetarian dishes cooked on the spot – a tofu dish, some stir-fried vegetables. The Red Dao woman said she had never eaten in a restaurant in her life, as it’s too expensive. She never went to school but learned Vietnamese and English from talking to tourists. I asked how old she was, and I was shocked to hear she was only 40, but looked more like 60! Maybe from too much sun damage and the harsh life. Her husband had a small rice terrace farm, and owned 2 water buffaloes, and I said wow they're rich. She said no, the 2nd buffalo was a calf birthed by the first.

When we got out of the restaurant, about a dozen Red Dao women in their red puffy headgears were sitting on the steps, laughing and probably teasing her for getting invited to lunch by foreigners. We asked if we could take a group picture of them, and they were all smiles and posing for us. Afterwards, she offered to walk with us to Tavan village, and said it’s nice there, but it was getting late and we thought we should head back as we had to catch the train back to Hanoi that night. She recommended us to take a motorbike back up, as the walk would be as long as going to Tavan. We saw a Hmong man on a motorbike and asked if he could take us back to Sapa. He hesitated as it wasn’t his normal job, and she talked him into it, so he agreed to shuttle both of us back up. Glad we took the motorbike as it was a long hike up. Along the way, he stopped and talked to his wife who was carrying a basket and walking on the trail with other women.

He was very friendly, and told us about his family. His children were all in school, so he seemed quite better off than most. I asked if it’s common for Hmongs and ethnic Vietnamese to inter-marry, and he said very rarely. More common is for Hmong girls to marry western men.

When we got to Sapa, he asked us if we wanted to continue on to see some waterfall in the mountain. We hesitated but he said it’s very nice, and we said ok, but regretted it later as the road there was long and at highway speed, and we were not wearing helmets. My DH and I said if the motorbike crashed we’d break our heads. Worse, at one point on the road, he pulled over and told us to get off and walk on own for a stretch until we see him. He said that junction had cops catching motorbikes with more than 2 people on it, and the fine was pretty steep. All over VN, there’s a new rule about no more than 2 people per bike (so no more photo-ops of a whole family of 6 on a motorbike!) and helmet is required. It was a bit nerve wracking, as we didn’t want him or us to get in trouble with the cops. We walked past the police car and he was waiting for us on the other side, and continued on to the waterfall.

Well, the waterfall (I think it’s called Silver Waterfall) was ok; water volume was low as it’s the dry season, and not worth the hassle and danger of going there. We took some photos and quickly headed back, and again near the police station, we had to get off the motorbike and walk. He dropped us back in Sapa near our hotel, and he said pay whatever we wanted, and we gave him $12 USD (at first he said $8), and he seemed pretty happy and wished us good luck with our journey.

Anyhow, it was a good day of trekking in Sapa. And if we were to do it over, we would start at Lao Chai and continue on to Tavan.

abs004

Hello JC98. I appreciate your Q&A format. Can you discuss getting money from ATMs in VN? Especially in HCMC, Hanoi and Phu Quoc (if you traveled in those areas). Generally I use ATMs and pay with cash when I travel, avoiding credit/debit card use (except at major hotels/restaurants). Your thoughts and tips on which banks/ATMs to use, and experiences using Dong vs US dollars?
Thanks much.

JC98

Hi abs004, we used ATM in HCMC, Hanoi, Hue and Danang Airport. We didn't go to Phu Quoc. In general, we didn't have problems with the ATM. A few machines didn't take our ATM card (Cirrus, Visa), so you might want to check the advertised logos on the ATM machine to see if they match yours.

Better to take out cash in big cities before you go to smaller ones, like Phu Quoc, just in case you can't find an ATM machine that's compatible with your card.

Also, best to use Dong instead of dollars. Who knows what kind of exchange rate the local will give you. ATM usually gives you the best rate, but there's a per transaction fee of a few dollars, so it's best to take out a large quantity at a time, but of course safeguard your stash of cash.

JC98

Also, pretty much in all foreign countries I've traveled to, I find ATM machines at airports work the best, so you might wwant to give them a try wherever you land.

abs004

Hi again. Thank you for your reply. Can you describe how often you felt like people were trying to rip you off in terms of cab rides and various purchases/activities? You hear people discussing it often, as if it is a terrible problem. It reminds me of discussions about Italy and how thieves and pick-pockets are everywhere. I'm a younger traveler who pays attention to my surroundings, and I never felt like I was being targeted while traveling in largest Italian cities. Is that the same situation in VN, where if you pay attention and communicate with people, the majority of these sorts of scams or over-pricing can be greatly reduced or eliminated? I understand it is often for a dollar or two, which isn't a big deal, but I'm curious if we should expect a battle every time we want to hire a driver/guide/etc. Thanks much.

JC98

TAXI

For taxi, most reliable and professional company is Vinasun (run by Vietnam's 1st billionaire who tries to emulate Western business practices). In HCMC, their cabs are yellow and elsewhere I think is green. But look for the name "Vinasun". They always run the meter, and don't ripoff customers.

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TOURS

I found sinhtourist travel agency to be most trustworthy and cheap for tours and bus tickets, etc. Actually, all tours are pretty much the same, so best to go with someone who doesn't rip you off. There are many copy cats of sinhtourist -- like Sinh Cafe and a bunch of confusing variations on the word "Sinh" and its blue logo.

Again, for tours ask around to gauge what the price should be. You could check websites before getting there.

For the one day Mekong Delta tour, we took Buffalo Tour, which was slightly more expensive than Sinh Tourist but still cheap ($15 USD/pp), as they had a smaller group.

Bus from Hue to Hoian we bought the tickets from Sinh Tourist in Hue, and it was incredibly cheap (less than $5!), and the bus was the best I'd ever been on. Two layer of seats like bunk beds and each one fully reclines like airline business class. Very clean and comfortable, and at that price nothing beats it! We were so amazed by the bus and kept on taking photos of it, that some locals who sat next to us laughing, as if we were country bumpkins. Actually, most travelers on the bus are foreign tourists.


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SHOPS

I think all shops and vendors will always give you a higher price and you should bargain down. Best to ask the price at a few places and try to throw out some numbers, so you can gauge what's the ballpark price they want is. It's tiresome sometimes, and if you think it's good enough, just go with it.
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HOTELS

Hotels that are highly recommended on tripadvisor and other publicly reviewed websites (hotel.com, agoda, etc.) are very good. I went for hotels with at least 4 to 4.5 * reviews, and in some places they're cheap as $35 - $40 USD with free wi-fi and breakfast--incredible value!

Let me know your itinerary and I can share with you which ones we stayed at.

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Good luck and have fun!

thursdaysd

Actually, the original Sinh Cafe has been around for ages, probably as long as Sinh Tourist, and there are a lot of knock offs of it.

WRT taxis, you do have to be careful, at least in Hanoi. Better to use the recommended company, otherwise watch out for fixed meters (turning way too fast) and drivers going the long way.

JC98

Also, wikitravel is good for getting info on latest scams and what taxi companies are reliable, etc.

abs004

Hi JC98.
Thanks again, great info. I'll be traveling to Saigon, Siem Reap, Hanoi and Pho Quoc. Prebooking hotels at SR and PQ, planning to use Agoda on the fly at the other cities. Regarding eating at restaurants, street food and items washed in water (veggies, fruit, etc), can you tell me about your experience? Did you avoid certain foods? Did you get ill? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.

JC98

In general, we avoided eating raw veggies (lettuce and greens) that come with many Vietnamese dishes. The only exception was when we ate at Quan An Ngon, a reputable chain restaurant with a couple branches in Saigon and Hanoi. You should go there to sample a variety of VN food in a nice ambiance, set in a courtyard or interior of an authentic French colonial villa. There are different stations and you can walk around to see what the dishes look like before you order. There's also an English menu, or you could just ask your waiter to follow you around the stations as you point out the items you want. Price is relatively cheap, and we didn't have any stomach problems from eating raw veggies and ice there.

Otherwise, we always avoided eating raw ice and veggies outside, even in restaurants. We loved freshly pressed sugar cane juice sold on the street, but I always asked them without ice. It'd taste better with ice, but we didn't want to risk getting sick. Without ice, they'd usually charge you a bit more for the same volume or give you less.

For street food, we sometimes sampled hotly made items, but all vegetarian. Didn't want to try meat. In Hanoi, we tried some small eateries highly recommended by guidebooks, but also avoided raw veggies. In some places, we asked the vendor to dunk the raw veggies in boiling water or the broth before giving it to us, and they all complied.

We were pretty cautious, so didn't get sick.

JC98

HOTELS in Saigon and Hanoi

Saigon
* We used our hotel points and stayed at the Sheraton for 3 nights. Nice hotel, centrally located, decent pool.

* The first night we stayed at a recently renovated boutique hotel called "Saigon River Boutique Hotel" since the Sheraton wasn't available with points that night. But this boutique hotel was very good, right around the block from the Sheraton, which is located in the most central part of Saigon--Dong Khoi in District 1.

The room had high ceilings and modern bathroom. A bit small and without a window, but very charming and artsy looking wall papers, of exquisitely painted birds and foliage. It was like some classy boutique hotel in Paris. I think we paid like $35 USD and it also came with breakfast--an item each from the menu. The banana pancake was freshly made and good. Skip the noodle soup dish. If we didn't use the Sheraton, we probably would have stayed at this hotel.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Minh_City.html

* Hanoi
We stayed at the Sheraton in Hanoi, again using our hotel points. Although the hotel is nice with a good sauna and spa, but the location is not. Too far from the happening areas, and taxi costs of going back and forth do add up to like $20 USD a day. And once we're out in the sightseeing area, we couldn't just easily go back to the hotel to rest. I don't recommend it mainly due to the location.

We crashed at the famous Metropole twice. Just confidently walked in and sat on their beautiful sofas in the lobby to rest. It's a very classy historical hotel, so you might want to check it out to see what it's like.

abs004

Excellent, thank you for continuing to share your advice/experiences. I'm very excited for my trip and you've been very helpful. If I think of other questions, I'll post them here. Cheers.