Susan's Blog: North Vietnam 12D11N Day 4

31/12/2024

Before breakfast, made transport and photoshoot arrangement to Cat Cat Village with the reception. Not exactly the cheapest choice but was the easiest way.

Simple buffet breakfast at Sapa Relax Hotel & Spa. When I booked, I opt for no breakfast, but they included it for us for free.

The buffet wasn't fantastic but good enough.

Our driver came on time and drove us to this costume rental with photoshoot at this shop called Gio Studio.

They had a wide range of costumes including shoes, bags and accessories.

The locals love China costumes but I wanted Vietnam and they had some Vietnamese ethnic costumes.

So here I was with Hmong costume. Cost for 2pax with 1.5hrs photoshoot was a lump sum of about S$96 (breakdown forgotten). They had hairdo, and makeup but I did most myself.

I didn't wear the cloth shoes as I needed sole support, I just wore back my own walking sneakers.

I slapped on as much makeup as possible cos I knew the color would be "washed off" in camera.

This was how the makeup looked like in reality, in fact may be thicker.

For the hairdo, front view ok, back view too much exposed hair pins.

We had to take a S$1 or S$2, 5mins bike ride to the entrance of Cat Cat Village. The road was too narrow for cars. Walking was possible but there were too many blind spots, not a safe option I would say.

Entrance tix at VND150,000.

It was a lot a lot, hell lot of stairs to get down the valley (I just found out I have arthritis thus all the pain I am suffering).

Some photos taken by old man while he was waiting.

There was this one and only plum tree in the village lolxx...

It's so pretty that it looked fake.

White doves flying around freely, kinda creating a romantic ambience.

After the photoshoot session was over, we spend some time roaming and soaking in. Thankful for the clear weather.

Not sure what were these: cabbage + rose.

Lots of photo spots in Cat Cat Village, looked like scene where ancient material art experts flew around.

武林高手聚集的红尘客栈。

Here's a few photos taken by the photographer.

Leaving means climbing up the flights of stairs where we came down from.

So half way, didn't want to make life too difficult, went into this cafe.

I was so scared of their chicken that looked so dry and stiff hur hur hur...

I couldn't remember what cafe this was, but along the way there were a few with similar views.

I am feeling so happy run through these photos again, it's more than a month since we are back.

We had some drinks, a corn and a bowl of hot instant noodles with priceless view.

If you ever come North Vietnam, you can miss pho or binh minh, but do not miss their corns.

I had egg coffee while old man's was some fruit tea.

Total bill of about S$7.30, wasn't too bad in a tourists area.

We had the same bikes came to pick us up. They stopped by let us take photos.

I told my biker that I lived in a city and do not have such view at home.

The bikers were damn good and accommodative, I gave them big tips.

We returned our costumes waiting for our driver. Another one came to pick us up instead. Later we found out there was a mini mud slide and there was a road block. The impromptu driver drove us as near to our original driver as possible.

Still, we had to walk a bit to get to him. We were initially very angry, but after understanding the situation, we knew it was beyond his control.

The next stop was Moana Sapa which was 5 or 10mins away.

It's all fogged up but we still went ahead.

Entrance was about S$4.70 with a free drink.

We had our drinks first, hoping the fog would disappear.

It would take a miracle for the fog to get lost, well it didn't happen.

I had actually planned "one time make-up, kill 2 photo spots", haiz... Not only did it fogged but it was wet and misty as if the giant diffuser was above us.

Moana in fog, the following pics were edited to as clear as possible.

The backdrop was supposed to be a valley surrounded by mountains.

All white out and kinda felt like Xmas even without snow.

The fog and mist dampened everything, we left within an hour, missing many other areas.

As we felt that our driver was too expensive, we could only had him to drive us back to the hotel (included in the initial arrangement and price), then crawled out to town.

Like what was speculating on social media, the people here dressed up young children to attract tourists to earn money, even in such cold weather.

Before coming, I had intention to buy some packet cake/bread to distribute to these children. Had to give up the idea cos it was too cold and wet.

We saw a better historical Notre Dame Cathedral Stone Church in day light through the mist.

We walked to Sapa Lake. One could fall into it if there wasn't a fence. The visibility was so bad.

So we missed the little Switzerland view as part of the regret in this trip.

We couldn't tell if it was raining or just too misty.

School children going home.

We went back to Relax Spa for a foot massage, it was around $18 for an hour.

We randomly walked into a restaurant, food was ok only.

The spring rolls coated with bread crumbs was cringe though the filling wasn't too bad.

We had horse meat on hotplate which tasted like beef, the seasoning was a bit over powering.

Pumpkin soup was like custard.

After dinner, I found a replica Northface white long down jacket, paid about S$130. I hoped it's good enough for upcoming winter trip to Lapland.

It was still too early to lurk till mid night, we decided to walk back to our hotel to rest before popping out at 11pm.

Found the globe icon by chance.

The stage was ready when we walked pass around 8pm, we just hoped the fog would go off.

The church beside the stage left with perimeter again.

It's silly, but this China chain was even more cheaper than Singapore.

Ice cream cone was S$0.50, milk tea was S$1.30

Gotten back to the hotel rolling about, didn't really get to sleep, but I had my face washed.

Stepping out at 11pm in chills.

Crowd was good and in order, no rowdy or dangerous people, never once felt unsafe in Sapa.

And the fog was gone, it was cleared, like suddenly.

2 under dressed dancers on platforms, a few DJs on the center of the stage. Music blasting, stayed a while then moved on to find the best spot for fire works.

Xmas tree with clock at the top reminding the crowd the countdown.

What's around.

My checked green brown wool pants was used as a neck scarf for old man last winter In Turkiye lolxx...

And now it's here as PJ waahaahaa... Ever since after pandemic, I grew my wardrobe (and waist line) while travelling. Puma slippers from JB, wool pants from Istanbul, blouse from Okayama. Black fleece jacket (Uniqlo) belonged to old man but fitted right cos I put on so much.

We timed and it was a good 15mins fire works. Due to the fog, the sky was lit up in the same color as the fire works burst into the sky. Visually it was different and it was an experience to remember for a life time.