30/12/2024
Made our way to the 9th floor for breakfast and discovered more areas in Hotel de la Coupole.
Even the public washroom was extravagance.
Enjoyed every wall.
They called their buffet breakfast place Chic.
Big dinning area with high ceiling. Felt that the narrow "stage" right in the center was redundant.
They had an island with western and coffee. Then another bigger section of buffet with more warm dishes at the rear end of this dinning hall.
Saw this baked egg dish and reminded me of Turkiye.
As usual I never have much appetite for breakfast. But I'd always try to eat while old man was eating like a wolf no matter he hungry or not.
Had a bit of everything.
Ate a small bowl of porridge, I think porridge is my new fav for breakfast now.
Yogurt and local green bean pastry.
Morning fix of cuppa.
Went to the pool after breakfast. Failed to get a swim suit, pity that we didn't dip in.
Gorgeous indoor swim pool.
Too reluctant to leave but had to check-out.
He lepak while I did the check-out, check Fansipan's weather, get the tix and WOW pass, arrange luggage keeping...
Free & easy tour isn't exactly free & easy de... But for the seek of freedom and cost saving, I will do it (over and over again).
Our tix to Fansipan. The tix was bought with the hotel in advance and we were offered fast pass without paying extra.
WOW pass which we had to hang on throughout so that we could be easily identified.
The hotel had this cute smiley bouncing crew to escort us to the Sapa Station.
She was like super duper happy and it was contagious lolxx...
We walked pass the crowd which were going for the monorail (little red train).
We would need to join them if we didn't have the WOW pass.
The crowd was no less than those of Japan Disney, really scary just by looking. They were very far away from the boarding point.
We walked pass the queue.
WOW pass lane different from normal tix.
It seemed that the locals didn't know about WOW pass, everybody in the normal queue were staring as us as we entered onto the platform without queuing.
With another family of 4 and Caucasian couple, we entered the train before the gate was opened for the rest of the people.
The atas feel was very shiok lolxx... Most importantly we saved at least an hour by skipping the massive queue.
Supposed beautiful scenery of rice padi fields and mountains all hidden by fog.
The train ride was only a few mins, we then had to take the cable car to go up to Fansipan peak.
Snake queue of cable car which we skipped.
We were leaded into a lounge area to rest before boarding cable car. One man without the pass tried to enter and was being chased out.
The cable car was able to hold up to 35 passengers, the ride was about 20mins.
The ride was more exciting than expected, no video or photos could relay the feel of it. It had a few small bumps along way, so all in the cable car would mini screamed lolxx...
Everybody cheered when we finally got out and above the clouds. The sky was incredibly blue.
The weather was so different from Sapa City. Was clear and sunny once we were above 3000m sea level.
A spectacular sea of clouds were beneath us.
It was our first time to see sea clouds, that made the entire trip worth it just for this natural phenomenon.
Bloated face ugly grin with the most happy heart.
Couldn't grin when I saw the crowd.
Thank goodness this didn't last long, the crowd was dispersed to other area of Fansipan.
We also found our spot to take as much photos till heart's contend without hindering others.
Loving my Russian hat bought at Shopee for less than S$9.
(Russian hats makes face smaller heehee...)
Climbing up some flights was unavoidable as the tram station to the peak was there.
The sea clouds very "tahan". As in I thought they would disappear in a while, they were still nicely floating when we were leaving.
The huge buddha statue looked little from our point.
There 2 things I hate and scared of in life:
1) crockoach
2) stairs
FML.
This was the iconic tower of Fansipan but not accessible to enter.
Climbing up slowly, was very breathless probably due to the high altitude.
The view was super 壮观雄伟. I would say, with this view, it would be the greatest regret if one came to Sapa without coming to Fansipan. But again, whether one could see the sea clouds or completely clear with green views or the worst - all blocked by thick fog, luck and weather plays a majority part.
Tram station.
One crew came running towards us and escorted us to skip the queue.
We were beyond happy and relieved to walk pass the massive queue sia. Saved our life and probably half an hour of wait.
The tram tickets were purchased on the spot, not included in WOW pass.
Some visitors preferred to climb up and see tbe buddha statue. Had to say sorry to buddha, I couldn't with those stairs...
Little red tram which took only a few minutes to get to the peak.
The tram passed by buddha.
The tram was packed like sardine but not uncomfortable, moreover we had the best view, short ride only.
The view after alighting, this was the view with buddha below.
Sibei sweeeeee.....
This crazy photo took by old man.
Some stairs again to get to the peak's point.
It's very irritating when inconsideration people hoarded onto photo shots. Hope they continue to waste more of their own time and life.
"I made it!" photo. 3.143m above sea level.
Breathless and old man said he was hungry, went into this expensive cafe at the peak.
About S$16 for 2 drinks and a big fat croissant.
Relax and enjoyed the view.
After tea and coffee took the tram down.
Up close of the buddha statue from the tram.
Looked like a scene in ancient china marital art movie.
The crowd waiting to board the tram.
The sun was so strong but was so cold.
We spend about 3hrs in Fansipan peak before making our way down.
Innovative corns of Xmas tree.
Fansipan Sunworld Garden... in fog. Looked like Beast's garden though I am no Beauty.
There's Cinderella carriage.
I would disappear into the fog...
Back to Hotel de la Coupole to collect our luggage and checked into more Sapa Relax Hotel & Spa. From the map it's very near but in reality there were stairs. Anyway, we made it.
S$92 for 2 nights 2pax, comfortable enough.
Love the multi-purpose long table.
Water basin was outside WC.
Bathroom was decent.
Went to the roof top. Supposed to have a nice view but it's too foggy now.
The hotel offered transport to Relax Spa, so we took the free ride with bookings of S$21 1hr body massage.
No matter what service opted for, they served customers with tea and biscuits with a foot soak.
After the massage, we walked around this area near Sapa Lake. Didn't go to the lake cos it was dark already, I doubt we could see anything with the fog also.
Looking for dinner.
Went for BBQ buffet at Hai Yen.
It was around $10/pax, beer was about S$1. Limited food choice, taste not really to our likings but the octopus and squids were yummy.
After dinner was a fun experience entering a local hair salon. We had a hair wash at S$3 for each of us!!!
They had beds joined together so I kinda crawled up and crawled down. Probably this wasn't the way cos they were laughing. Then I saw the owner simply walked on the beds lolxx...
S$3 but was actually quite a good wash!
We decided to snail back, saw tourists buggy in ghostly green, one could frightened to death waahaahaa...
Couldn't see a stone from Notre Dame Cathedral Stone Church, could only see outline.
We saw the stage set up for New Year Countdown, but so foggy how sia???
We saw more BBQ restaurants which I think it should be cheaper.
Walked pass and saw this amazing mosaic art work. We were the only ones taking photo of it.
These shops were expensive. Nevertheless, I managed to buy a jacket with cross stitches and had woven design at around S$50.
I like how the locals light up the streets with lanterns.
Saw another very nice European style building, probably a hotel.
Local BBQ.
In front of old man was a few local women, all had babies on their backs, they were selling hand-made purses. They shouldn't bring young babies out in the cold like this, but I bought from one of them, 3 purses for S$5, haiz...
It was a good walk exploring little town of Sapa and we were back to rest for the night.
Next day we were at Cat Cat Village.
