Wonderful Sapa trip with Local Guide Ms May

Vietnam | Oct 25 - Oct 28, 2019

We had a wonderful trip to Sapa with Ms May who picked us up from Lao Cai Train Station.
Ms May was helpful and took good care of us throughout the trip. She was with us from the start of our Sapa tour till the end where she sent us off at the Lao Cai Train Station for us to take our overnight train back to Hanoi.

During our tour in Sapa, she showed us the ways of the local and we went to the less crowded spots to have a splendid view of rice terraces. As it is very crowded to queue for the cable car at Fansipan, she made sure we got in and prebought tickets for us.

Overall the tour is to our pace and we didn't feel rushed- which we appreciated. As she knows we like to visit markets, we made additional stops to see "pop-up" weekend/Sunday markets set up by local farmers and traders selling their produce.

She also brought us around Bac Ha market so that we didn't miss anything out. The Sunday buffalo sale is quite a sight not to miss!

Hanoi portion:

1) The pick up from the airport to the "cafe" (to take the train from Hanoi to Lao Cai) to wait for our tickets was frustrating at least. We were given a piece of paper (which apparently can be exchanged for train tickets) and with no instructions whatsoever. Do we wait for our tickets to be collected? Or do we collect them ourselves? In fact we walked out of the cafe and suddenly a kind gentleman told us to wait and have a seat whilst he collect our tickets. Then he disappears for quite a while- leaving us confused again.

But fortunately he returns in time for us to trolley our bags to the train station to board the overnight train to Sapa.

2) The pick up from Hanoi Station was at the same meeting point as we waited (see 1)) Unfortunately at wee hours in the morning 5am meant we had to exit the Hanoi Station at the other end of the block. In order to get to the same cafe (1), we had to make a huge detour around the block, in darkness. But luckily our driver was looking for us in the dark and we finally found each other and he drove us safely to the airport for our onward journey.