Transit: Journey to Sapa, Vietnam
Hanoi Railway Station
I enjoy taking train rides. I think because it’s one of those means of transportation that’s not really prevalent in use here in the Philippines. Well, there’s the PNR (Philippine National Railways) alright which I have yet to try but I think it there are still a lot of work to be done there. Maybe one of these days I would try that. I was looking forward to our 9-hour train ride to Lao Cai that night since we’ll be sleeping in a soft-berth room. And from Lao Cai we’ll be heading of to Sapa.
Hanoi Railway Station
Most trains going to Lao Cai leave at 9:15pm and would arrive the next day in Lao Cai around 5:30 am. Good thing we managed to reserve our train tickets the day before at Handspan Adventure since it’s hard to reserve train tickets here. And being a Saturday, train ticket office are closed. We got a soft-berth sleeper for 32 USD each. We killed time on another resto, Huo Guom Café near Hoan Kiem Lake after our hearty dinner at Cha Ca La Vong. Then we took a taxi going to the Train Station. A Word of Caution. Beware of unscrupulous Taxis in Hanoi, they have tampered meters which just unrealistically add its toll like very minute the meter ticks. The overpriced taxi charged us 115,000 dong. The price which is outrageous since we took another taxi from the Train Station which cost us only half of that. I’m not really sure which taxis are safe but try to flag the white cabs on the move instead of those which are just on the standby on the side streets which are blue and green cabs. We experienced a couple of these taxis with tampered meters so be very careful.
Sapa Train Soft Berth
It was easy to find our section cart at the train station and pretty soon found our room. The room has 4 berths so we were riding with a couple of strangers. One seems to be a local Vietnamese already comfortably sleeping on his berth below while another seems to be an old European (judging by his accent) standing by the door. I was really curious at first why he was standing by the door at the narrow hallway. It turns out he was waiting for the comfort rooms to open. It seems that the comfort rooms seems to be open only when the train moves. You wanna know why? Well I noticed that the toilet hole goes straight down the rails. I don’t want to imagine how the train tracks looks like with all those human waste scattered about.
Sapa Hot Choco at Little Gecko
The soft-berth sleeper was pretty cool and comfortable throughout the ride since it has air conditioning and soft cushions. Of course you just have to get used to the bumpy ride once in a while as the train ride on its tracks on varying terrain. We arrived in Lao Cai Station by 5:30am. I wanted to get train tickets back first but it seems the ticket office opens at 8am and they only sell departure tickets on the same day. Fortunately we met Hie of the nearby Pho Cafe who helped us reserve the tickets going back to Hanoi the next day. We only paid him half and the rest would be paid once we get the tickets. There are buses going to Sapa for 30,000 VND there but we managed to get a van all for ourselves for 50,000 VND for an hour of misty drive up the mountains. Since Sapa has an elevation of 1600m, the temperature there was nice and cool. We are now in Sapa, drinking a nice cup of warm of hot choco and coffee while having breakfast at a small resto, the Little Geco,
Tags: Northern Vietnam, Sapa, Transit, Travel Tips, Vietnam
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Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 12:22 pm 
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August 11th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
“I don’t want to imagine how the train tracks looks like with all those human waste scattered about.”
parang di ko din ma imagine.. ^_^
August 11th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Nice, me too I was really fascinated when I ride a train. And now it was inhibited by my son, he goes wild when he ride on LRT or MRT. He’s also owns a Thomas train which he kept by his bedside while sleeping. Unfortunately, The PNR right now is no longer operational, as I heard those politicians “kurakot” again the budget for the rehabilitation of North and South Rail projects. Hopefully someday I could still ride the PNR co’z it is also my childhood dream.
August 11th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
first and foremost, bago ko pag isipan ang train, iisipin ko muna pano makarating ng vietnam. hehe.
sobrang naglaway ako dun sa presentations during the miss universe pageant.
ang daming spots na pwede pasyalan. and lahat parang exciting. malublob lang ako sa Ha Long Bay ayos na.
August 11th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
wow, wulfriend, reading your entry makes my mind wander back to the trip. going from hot and humid lao cai to the cool highlands of sapa seem like going from manila to the cordilleras. kaka-miss din.
kakatawa rin yung mga na-meet natin on the train. hmmm, going back, may instant fan ka pa, hahaha.
the softsleeper going back to hanoi was so comfy, doing our accounting and clowning around came very naturally.
i think at times, it shocks people to realize that the toilets flush right down to the tracks, whether it be liquid or solid eherm wastes, hehehe.
hmmm, i think i’d better not elaborate as there might be people reading this while having their meals.
it makes me think lang of how we can use that kind of transport here sana, especially going from manila to bicol.
i’d be shuttling to bicol and camarines if we have that here.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:23 am
OMG, now that tourists are flocking to Vietnam they should do something about the facilities on their train and where it goes afterwards, otherwise, oh I can’t begin to imagine.
I love trains too. If possible I would like to take a coast to coast train ride someday.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Haha! Naku Mimi, let’s say I wouldn’t want to walk along those tracks.
Hi Marchanazie! It’s amusing your son is interested at locomotives. Fascinating naman talaga kaya I’m really hoping they improve on the local PNR.
Hey JP, di ko napanoon yung Ms U. Dami rin talagang pwedeng puntahan, I hope one day nga makapunta ka.
Ei Ogbear, di ba ikaw fan nun. Hehehe. It startled me as well when I flushed the toilet kasi nakita ko yung train tracks sa baba. hehe. Onga sarap sana mag train to Bicol.
I hope so Photocache. There are more expensive trains din there and I think mas maganda facilities. Am not sure about their toilet sanitation though. Naku, would be excited to travel by train coast to coast as well.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:41 am
sarap bumyahe. kaya lang hindi ko pa na try na bumyahe ng mahaba sa train. pero siguradong enjoy yan kasi parang kama din lang ng mga barko dito sa atin. haba din pala ng byahe.
August 12th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
masarap mag-train ride sa Europe and other developed countries, sa mga third world countries, nightmare ang train rides, hehe. minsan, hindi ganun kaayos ang facilities lalo na ang mga cr. pero yun nga siguro ang kagandahan kapag galing ka sa third world, kaya natin either way. sorry to hear about those taxi crooks pero noong nasa Ho Chi Minh City, nalamangan din kami ng mga taxi driver na yan, hehe. parang luxury na ata ang mag-taxi sa kanila tapos mahilig pa silang mambawi ng mga pasahero lalo na turista.
August 13th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Looks pretty clean ! I’m surprised their train service looks more superior to ours. Trip looks pretty exciting.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:53 am
love your pics, so artistic and evocative. the berths looks really homey; such a contrast to the almost-clinical eurail sleepers.
August 13th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hey Dom, the longest train ride I had was 14 hours in China and medyo grueling sya compared dito. This was a lot comfortable.
Naku Rayts, I’ve read about those notorious taxis, didn’t expect na magogoyo rin kami. As for the train ride on this one. Comfy naman sya, yun nga lang medyo nagulat lang ulit ako kasi flush to the tracks ang toilet.
Yep BW! Compared to our PNR, their Railways service is miles away.
Many thanks for the kind words Caryn. Yep with that added lamp light and curtains it does feel homey. Hope you visit again!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
hi, i’ve been following your posts… for 6 days what should be a must see for vietnam?
was eyeing on cruise on halong bay and angkor wat, but looks like di ata kaya for 6 days
August 14th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Hi Freeze, 6 days is good but really depends on where you would want to go or where would you start in Vietnam.
If you are in Ho Chi Minh, it think it’s possible to do both HCM and Angkor Wat.
August 15th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Mukhang cozy at homey nga ang train ride nyo. Akala ko closed cabins lang meron sa train tapos magkakatabi lang kayo sa upuan, buti may soft bed and aircon pa. Tagal ko rin dream sumakay sa train, well aside sa MRT at LRT. I could imagine itsura nyo sa comfort room heheh. What a fun and exciting trip
August 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] a long 9 hour overnight train ride from Hanoi to Lao Cai and another hour van ride up the mountains from Lao Cai, we found ourselves [...]
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I want to travel to Vietnam. Do they need a visa from Philippines if one wish to go there? what needs to be done?
December 13th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
ei just want to ask what can you do in sapa.. worth it to go??