Vietnam the third: day 8, Sapa
Mt Phan Xi Pang, at 3,143 metres (or, depending on the source, 3,174.3m) is the tallest mountain in Vietnam, and taller than anything in Australia, Cambodia, Laos, or Thailand. One nickname for it is the “roof of Indochina”. At times it can be covered in 60cm of snow.
It is also probably the easiest 3,000+ metre mountain in the world to ascend.
After picking up our laundry, we set off from our hotel base camp at approximately 0930, walking up the street, climbing the stairs to Fansipan St. The last couple of mornings we’re stopped there to pick us a couple of extra bottles of water, but today we figured we’d have enough supplies for the journey. The weather in Sapa was very good, with no low clouds so visibility across the valley was probably the best we’ve experienced.
Our first stop was the ticket machine at the behemoth, Sun Plaza, where L encountered some friendly locals while I wrangled the tap and go device on the ticket machine. From there we headed to the ticket gate for the first long leg of the journey, the mountain train. We had some impressive views of the valley, including of a house painted like a Mondrian, before arriving at our destination of the Muong Hoa station.
Muong Hoa is another amazing faux-European structure, full of steel and glass reminiscent of many Victorian-era railway stations. Inside is lots of shiny stone, while the gardens outside are full of flowers like roses, and are prime photo op real estate.
At Muong Hoa we realised where all of the tourists we’d seen arriving in Sapa were going. The queue to the next part of the journey, the cable car, snaked back and forth many times. As we were the only western tourists in the queue, we ended up with a bit of celebrity status, as many wanted to practice their best English “Hello!” and “Where are you from?”, and a few wanted to shake our hands. The man ahead of me wanted a photo with me, and I noticed him taking the occasional selfie and making sure I was in the background.
It didn’t take too long to get through this stage of the expedition, and once we were through the turnstyle a cable car was right before us, ready to board. The cable car is quite a feat of engineering, holding the record for the longest three-line cable car system (over 6.2km) as well as the biggest ascent by a cable car at 1.4km. The first part was smooth, with excellent visibility. Around the second or third pylon, however, the wind picked up and we had a little bit of unexpected sideways shimmying. At one point L gasped (she’s not a great fan of heights), generating much amused concern among our fellow climbers. By the time we reached the next pylon we were in the clouds, visibility was no more than 10 metres but it was onwards and upwards, with occasional flashes of green from tall trees below us.
Stepping out of the cable car near the summit of Mt Fansipan, we were almost immediately assaulted by the elements, as waves of cool air carrying the scent of popcorn whipped through the smaller station. With the wind swirling and a very fine mist in the air, we joined the throng clambering to purchase thin plastic ponchos at 20k VND, a buying frenzy reminiscent of Boxing Day sales where the generally laidback Vietnamese folks were just about diving over one another to get to the cashier.
Suitably clad against the elements, we began out ascent to the final stage before the summit, up several flights of stairs, past two temples, and to the funicular station, where again we joined a heaving throng of humanity looking to avoid the 600 step ascent through taking the 250m funicular. This track has a gentle arc, and passes an impressive 21.5m tall bronze Buddha statue that can be viewed on clearer days, but today wasn’t one of them.
Out of the funicular we girded ourselves for the final ascent, up some more stone steps, I had to frequently stop to clean my glasses as my mask made them fog up. We passed the small ticket booth and sausage on a stick vendor, and climbed the last few stone steps until the summit was in sight. By 1130am, we had summited Mt Fansipan, conquering the tallest mountain in mainland south east asia (excluding Myanmar), where we paused to take a breath, take selfies, and post these as there is excellent 4G coverage at the summit.
Climbing a mountain doesn’t really get much easier than that.
The trip down was even easier, as the crowds had thinned so there was minimal queuing. We did have to pause on one occasion as a family wanted a photo of us with their child — I didn’t know if I should bend forward a little to make framing the photo easier, or stand straight because at 6-foot I’m almost a giant in these parts.
The cable car exit on the return took us straight to the gift shop, and a choice of snowglobes, something that all mountains need. While we probably already have a Vietnam globe in the collection at home, this second one commemorates our ascent.
Back at the behemoth, we took the side door to Sapa’s swankiest hotel, Hotel de la Coupole, 10 storeys of neo-colonial opulence, where the promise of swelegant cocktails, fine dining, gluten free baked goods, and more early 20th Century imagery and pith helmets than you could poke a stick at awaited. The 10th floor cocktail bar was indeed quite swanky, with a marvellous view, but we thought we might take a stroll to the restaurant. One look inside, where diners were wearing ties and dresses, and we figured we weren’t suitably attired for the occasion. We instead made do at the ground floor patisserie nook, where I partook of a local coffee and a slice of red velvet cake, while L had macarons and a pomegranate spritzer. The drinks were fine, but the cake and macarons were a few days old.
After a quiet afternoon, where a thunderstorm briefly threatened but didn’t eventuate, we headed to O Quy Ho, another well-reviewed restaurant, where hot pot was calling. This seems to have become more popular in Vietnam lately, and in Sapa almost every restaurant offers it. At O Quy Ho, they do a very good mixed hotpot for 2 people, with a very generous plate of chicken pieces, thinly sliced beef, salmon, sturgeon, and cabbage, plus serves of multiple types of mushrooms, greens, corn, tofu skins, and packet noodles, all for cooking in a somewhat tom yum inspired soup, full of tomato, onion, and lemongrass flavours. Suffice to say we ate all that we could, and it was very impressive.
While out and about we also picked up some custom-made Hmong-style soft laptop cases from one of the hopefully ethical local retailers. We visited the shop yesterday, and gave them the dimensions, and chose the designs, and they were ready today.
Also ready and waiting for us at the hotel reception were the products of yesterdays batik workshop. L’s looked pretty spectacular, and mine certainly didn’t look as bad as I was expecting, so I think I did okay. The next challenge will be how we should use or display these when we get home.
This pretty much ends our sojourn in Sapa, as tomorrow it’s back in the car to Hanoi, then a plane to Hoi An. It’s been interesting, generally good, but I’m not sure that there’s much more here that I feel I need to do or see. As the world gets back to more normalised tourism, I’m sure some of the bumps we’ve experienced here will get ironed out. If you love the great outdoors, trekking, and impressive countryside, then Sapa is definitely for you. If you’re a bit less outside-active focussed, then 2-3 days in Sapa is plenty: just like everywhere we’ve been in Vietnam the food is great, there are a few interesting side activities, and hopefully in coming months more options to experience more of the local culture may return.