Ninh Binh

It was raining in the morning which prevented us from going outside early as we expected. However, we were lucky that the rain stopped around 9 AM. We headed out to rent 2 motorbikes at a nearby hotel, then straight to the Ô Quý Hồ peak.

We passed “Thác Bạc” (Silver Waterfall) but then we didn’t stop long because all the beauty could be seen from outside. I heard that “Thác Tình Yêu” (Love Waterfall) was more beautiful, but someone didn’t stop on the way to the peak. So we reached the peak at around 10 AM. We took so many photos here because my lil bro always wanted to reach the top of the highest place of Vietnam where a bike is accessible, of course.

We went back to “Thác Bạc” for a salmon lunch. The price was quite okay, and we had a square meal with 3 dishes (salad, roast an hotpot) of 1.5 kgs of salmon.

Following a local or tourist advice, we went back to “Thác Tình Yêu” (Love Waterfall) for sightseeing. Someone opted out as he was too full to walk. The 3 of us (my siblings and I) could only walk to “Suối Vàng” (Golden Stream) because we were afraid of a possible rain.

We went back to Quoc Thai Inn, checked out then walked back to Auberge Dang Trung Hotel for dinner. We caught the coach there to the Lao Cai train station.

We did nothing while on board the train tonight. We silently went to sleep early.

We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel. The trek to Cát Cát Village started at 9:30 AM. The village was quite far from the center of Sapa as we leisurely walked for about 45 minutes to reach the place where the guide had to buy tickets. Around 11 AM, we reached the waterfall after passing through many ethnic display and sale points. I loved the place though it was fully exploited for the benefits of tourists. I was standing very close to the famous rice terraces of the Northwest.

It was blacked out in the morning, and when we were back, there was no electricity. I asked the hotel owner and he said it would be back around 4 PM. What a town!

At noon, we had lunch and then left Auberge Dang Trung Hotel for Quoc Thai Inn. I called it motel because it seemed you could bring your bike or even a car. But I wasn’t so sure. We took a rest.

In the late afternoon, we went out to visit the Sapa market and shopped a bit. Then we went to the Hàm Rồng Mountain area for a barbecue dinner. As there was another black out when we finished the meal, we went to a cafe called T-Bone Steak House which has a balcony overlooking the Cầu Mây Street. A very relaxing time for us all!
Then we went back to sleep early as we expected to wake up early for the Ô Quý Hồ Mountain Pass the next morning.

Around 5:30 AM, we reached the Lao Cai train station. Even though there’s a person to pick us up, we had to wait for about an hour for the coach to Sapa to depart (maybe because the hotel needed to pick up passengers for another train which left later than ours).

We checked in and had breakfast at Auberge Dang Trung Hotel (I loved their crepes) then hiked the Ham Rong Mountain near the hotel around 9 AM. Turned out the walking made us very tired, especially on a sunny day like this. Some steps were quite steep, so we only made it to the top around 11 AM (with many stops on several places below to take photos).

Around noon, we went back and had lunch at the hotel. It was quite a square meal with white rice and many dishes.

Because my siblings wanted to take a nap and it was quite cold in the hotel rooms (due to the natural air conditioning system :P), we could only leave the hotel around 4 PM also. We visited the Sapa stone church then went back to the hotel for dinner.

Around 10 PM, we went out for some foot massage, and then headed back to the hotel to sleep. I needed to use some foot massage for my aching legs, but it didn’t work out well enough.