BE PREPARED FOR A BUNCH OF PICTURES!
We didn’t know it at the time, but Sa Pa would be our last true adventure of our trip. You all have probably seen pictures of Sa Pa at one time or another. When it’s clear out (which is not as often as you might think) you can see layers and layers of rice paddies climbing up the mountainside. When we arrived you could barely see the person in front of you and that continued for another day and a half, so we didn’t actually see the rice fields for about 48 hours.
On our first foggy day we made the most of it and got out for a misty hike. We made our way down to the village of Cat Cat. The village centers around tourism which is evident when you arrive and have to pay to even enter the area. However, it is relatively cheap and completely worth the price of admission. It really felt like we were in a Lord of the Rings book, not only because it is situated at the foot of these massive mountains but also because everything was so primitive. There are windmills, some rice crushing machines powered by water, and bamboo bridges throughout the area. We ended up also somewhat enjoying the fog because it added to the mystique of Cat Cat.
On our second day, the sun started to finally peak out and by the afternoon we had a completely clear day. We made sure to not waste the opportunity and got out for a long day of hiking in the rice fields. Once again, the lack of crowds was almost creepy because it’s hard to imagine a more beautiful place with such incredible weather. Little did we know the world was about to shut down in just a few days.
We decided to push our bus departure back to later in the afternoon on the third day because the forecast was for another bright and sunny day. Luckily the forecast was right for once, so we woke up and made our way to a cable car that took us to the top of Mount Fansipan. The ride itself was absolutely breathtaking and a little frightening because the wind was picking up the higher we got and we were suspended at 2,000 meters. After some research I also learned it has a couple of world records:
“The service holds two Guinness World Records for the longest non-stop three-rope cable car in the world, spanning 6.3 km (3.9 mi), and the greatest elevation difference by a non-stop three-roped cable car for the 1,410 m (4,630 ft) difference in elevation between the termini.”
Once at the top there are a couple of temples, a massive Buddha statue, and little paths around the mountain for amazing views.
Sa Pa was absolutely incredible and a “can’t miss” if you go to Vietnam. We didn’t know it at the time, but it would be our last major excursion of the trip. And while we are disappointed, it was a perfect place to end such an incredible journey.