thac bac (silver waterfall)

u see the bridge that connects the 2 banks at the centre



i hope i dun fall...haha...

our final stop is back to the silver waterfall...the 100m tumbling falls are really impressive and peaceful...you will get to climb the staircase up the falls and cross a bridge connecting both banks and come down by the other staircase...ling told me that the thac bac waterfall is actually the freshwater supply for the whole sapa and water are pumped from the waterfall all the way to sapa town...sometimes u can spot tourists trying to take a bath at the bottom of the waterfalls...around this time, the sky was getting rather dark...and true enough, when we were on our way back to sapa from the silver waterfall, it started to rain...i thought we were quite lucky that it only rained now and not earlier, else it will have spoilt our whole day tour...we also went pass a big pink building which is the starting permit checkpoint for those adventurous trekkers who wants to conquer the 3143m mount fansipan...i hope one day i will come back here again to take it on!!!

tram ton pass aka heaven's gate

at the accident site...safety first...better wear our helmets!!!

look how the mountains intersect with each other

the clouds are like cotton blanket covering the mountains

another group photo...my driver really looks blur haha

the gals trying to be funny!!! haha...

weather starting to get nasty...

on our way back to the tram ton pass, our drivers stop us at one very curvy bend...he told us that a tour bus have crashed down the valley here before and several died...we look down the valley and surely the fragmented tour bus can still be seen, leaving a trail all the way down the vally...how scary can it be!!!...we certainly hope we dun add to those statistics haha...the clouds at the tram ton pass now has already cleared...the view there was really breathtaking, i think there is a reason why they called it the "heaven's gate"...tram ton pass is a pass on the north side of fansipan...at 1900m, it is the highest mountain pass in vietnam...aside from the magnificent views, it is also known for its sudden, dramatic shifts in climate, from fog to sunshine (which we have experienced!!!)...we took a break at the roadside stall that we have seen earlier this morning...a few vietnamese tourists stopped over too and joined us to enjoy the strong cold breeze from the tram ton pass...the wind was really cold and i just hid myself inside the tents away from the chill while dawn and myyher tried to take funny photos of them in jumping positions!!!...also the vietnameses were really very fascinated with myyher's digicam haha...whenever she takes it out to take pictures, vietnameses will like crowd around her to admire it...i bet myyher is so proud of her camera haha...

red dao village

the red dao children

the 4 brothers...look how run-down their house is compared to the previous tribes we visited

the red dao village is rather small and consists only just around 10 families due to their young history...they are probably the poorest among the minority tribes too...when we reached the village, the parents were all out working in the rice fields, leaving only the kids behind to look after the houses...their houses are built directly on top of the dirt without any proper floor...they dun have televison like the previous tribes that we visited...the youngest brother didn't even have a proper pant to wear...=(

laos minority

look at their black teeth o.0

the laos children

look how playful they are!!! (notice that tv set at the end also)

we backtrack abit back to around tam duong town to visit the laos minority...we bought some sweets in a shop in the village so that we can offer to the kids when we see them...the laos people too live on stilt houses...we went into one of the houses to take a look at their living conditions...the house was pretty much like the white thai's...and they too have televison!!! haha...one interesting thing you notice is that they actually divide their bedrooms into different compartments...each compartment is for one generation...meaning the grandparents will take one, the parents another and the kids another...the most noticable characteristic of the laos people is their black teeth...to them, the darker their teeth, the more beautiful a women is...i doubt we will want to be like them haha...we gave sweets to the kids of that family...but u never know, within minutes, all the neighbour's kids also gathered in the house, waiting for sweets too haha...i guess they do learn community spirit quite young haha...

white thai tribe

the white thai stilt house...notice the 2 staircases

myyher and the white thai children

the tea leaves that the white thai grow and use

their kitchen...back to basic!!!

we continued our tour after lunch towards lai chau town...we crossed a few long suspension bridges along the way...it already look scary crossing them by foot, but it was even more frightening crossing them on motorbikes!!!...haha...our first village visit was to the Do village, home to the white thai people...they live in stilt houses with firewoods stacked below the floors...there is usually 2 staircases up the house...one at the back that leads to the kitchen (used only by the women) and another at the front that leads to the living room (can be used by anyone)...as their name suggested, their pioneers have came from thailand long ago to settle in vietnam...and they divided themselves into the white thai and black thai...we visited one of the stilt house after walking around the village...ling said that some of the thai people still know how to speak thai language...but when myyher tried to communicate with them using thai...they didn't seems to understand...they explained to ling in vietnamese that only the older generations know thai and most of the younger generations have lost touch with their thai language...they were really friendly, showed us around the house and treated us to some tea that they made themselves...we were abit hesitant at first to try them, but we still took a few slips, not wanting to be rude...it was a pity that we didn't bought sweets yet, else we could have at least offer them to the kids to repay their kindness...oh ya, i forgot to mention that they actually have televison and vcd player!!!

off we go...on motorbikes!!!

first stopover view

we and our helmets...haha...

stall by the silver waterfall
our drivers...tang...?????...ling (i dunno my driver name lol )

i am sure singapore's corn taste better =/

second stopover view

notice the waterfall in the distance on the right

is that heaven???!!!...ling says it is lucky for one to see the peak =)

group photo!!!

those winding and narrow road that we be taking on later

we met up with ling and his drivers at around 1045 outside the hotel...and he handed each one of us a helmet...i thought vietnamese dun wear them!!!???...haha...but he insisted us to wear for safetly precautions...and so ling will take dawn, another 40 years old honest looking driver takes myyher while i had a pretty much blur-looking driver to myself haha...so off we go!!!...we headed northwest and the road was really winding and narrow at times...but the way they (maybe except ling haha) take the roads and cut the corners like some motorGP racers just proved how experienced they are already at it...we had a stopover at the roadside where the scenery was once again so fascinating...you just feel like u are in the middle of nowhere haha...we continued our way to reach the 100m tall thac bac(silver) waterfall...it is situated roughly 11km from sapa along the road to lai chau...we felt water droplets falling onto our face and thought that maybe it was the waterfall...but ling told us that actually it was drizzling...duh!!!...haha...so we took shelter at the one of the roadside stalls...ling treated us to some corns (i think singapore's corns taste nicer =P ) and also this steamed rice that was cooked inside bamboo with sugarcane juice, and when mixed with peanut powder, just taste so delicious!!!...since it was raining, ling suggested we continued the tour and come back again later to visit the waterfall...the road now is getting rather steep and is mostly uphill...we went pass the tram ton pass which supposely has very spectacular view...but weather permitting...it was really foggy when we pass it...we are in the clouds!!!...and it is so damn cold...i was already shivering and so try to hide behind my driver who at least got a windbreaker on, letting him brave the strong cold wind ahead...we also saw 1 little roadstall hiding beneath the thick layer of clouds by the roadside...wonder how they can survive the coldness lol...we travelled downhill finally and took another stopover where from there, we can clearly see the valley and its settlement...there is also a waterfall in the distance...we took a group picture before continuing our journey...we passed quite a few towns and i really have no idea where we are anymore haha...but from the map, i figured we should be in sin ho town...we stop for a lunch in a small home-converted "restaurant"...we had some rather strange food which includes frozen pork-leg...and also eggplant seed or something...in the end, we just restricted ourselves to eating "kang kong" vegetable and rice haha...

mountain view hotel

view down the slope from the hotel

taking turns to capture the beautiful background...haha...

the mini-van dropped us at our mountain view hotel...was way too early to check in yet as the check-in time is at 9am...so we decided to have breakfast first at the big balcony of the hotel...the name of the hotel really lived up to its name and as it suggested...mountain-view...the view of the mountains at the back of the hotel was just mesmerising...we quickly took turn to take photo with wonderful backdrop...the clouds were really floating very low and we can feel some of them just around us...and it was really cold!!! maybe cos i cannot stand cold haha...while we slowly enjoyed our warm breakfast, one young friendly vietnamese guy came up to us and introduced that he is one of the tour guides from the hotel...his name was "ling"...and so he suggested a few daily tours that we could take...in the end, we took up one of the tour (US$17 per person) where we get to visit the silver waterfall and some minority villages on bikes...the tour will prove soon to be really worth every cents...it took pretty long for the hotel to prepare our room and it was already way past 9am...we have been waiting at the lobby and was kinda abit frustrated...it was only till around 10am that the they finally gave us the room...time to shower!!! we have not really cleaned ourselves since yesterday tour and was feeling really sticky all over...haha...

lao cai train station / sapa town

couldn't really sleep well last night...i was like sweating one moment and feeling cold the other...putting my blanket on and off lol...so i woke up probably quite early and sat on the bed staring into the window...although u couldn't really see much thru it anyway haha...slowly the rest of them woke up too...the vietnamese lady tried to communicate with us, but she doesn't know english...so i ended up only saying "kom biet...kom biet" which means "dunno" in vietnamese...haha...finally we reached lao cai train station...taking all our stuffs, we have to squeeze thru the crowd to get to the gates, after which we look for our driver who will drive us up sapa to our hotel in a mini-van, but of course with many other tourists together too...the ride takes roughly around an hour i think and it is mostly uphill as sapa town is situated 1650m above sea-level...for those who like mountain climbing, sapa is also the starting place for the tallest mountain in vietnam, mount fansipan which peaks at 3143m above sea-level...the sceneries along the way is magnificent...u can see lots of rice terraces cutting into the steep slope of the hills...and also clouds floating very low and some just around you...reminded me of genting highlands that i went few years back...it gets pretty cold as we go higher and higher...in the distance, i can see the sapa town signboard...finally we are reaching sapa town!!! haha...