SAPA TOUR BY TRAIN (3 DAYS / 3 NIGHTS)

Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups and the area around Sapa is an exciting place to see the lives, culture and costumes of some of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. In this part of the country the minorities still dress in their traditional colorful clothing – especially the women. Each group has its own distinct color and style of dress.

Day 1: Night train Hanoi - Lao Cai.
You will be picked up from your hotel at 20:00 for transfer to the train station. Take a night train to Lao Cai. The night train leaves at 21:10. O/N on train (soft sleeper, deluxe cabin).

Day 2: Lao Cai - Sapa - Cat Cat village - Sapa.
You arrive at Lao Cai train station early in the morning (around 05:30). Pick up and transfer to Sapa by bus(35km - about 1 hour drive). Check-in at Cat Cat Hotel. In the morning, you will have time on your own to enjoy the view of Fansipan (3.143m) on the other side of the Sapa valley and to explore the market where some of the different ethnic minority groups come into town to sell their products. In the afternoon, you will walk down to visit Cat Cat village and the beautiful valley, which is home of the Black H’Mong people. Black H’Mong is one of the biggest and poorest minority groups in the Sapa area. But they are proud of their culture and stick to their traditions and way of living. They have their own language and wear traditional indigio blue clothing.
Stay overnight at Cat Cat Hotel, Sapa.

Day 3: Sapa - Ta Phin village - Sapa - Lao Cai - Hanoi.
Today a jeep or motorbike will take you to Ta Phin village where you will experience the customs and life of Red Dao people. The Red Dao women have very colourful red embroideries and coins on their clothing. On the head they wear a deep red scarf. Some of the women have shaved off their eyebrows because a hairless face is considered to be very beautiful by the Red Dao.
Return to Sapa town. You have time to relax before the bus take you to Lao Cai train station. From here, you take a night train back to Hanoi. Sleep overnight on train.(B)
Arrive in Hanoi next morning, at around 05:00. The trip ends at Hanoi train station.

(B: Breakfast)

What to bring:
- Trekking shoes or boots
- Rainwear
- Warm fleece jacket in the winter
- Camera and film
- Passport

Including:
- Transportation from Hanoi to Sapa and return to Hanoi (deluxe trains in wooden cabin)
- Shared public bus Lao Cai - Sapa - Lao Cai;
- Accommodation as mentioned above;
- Admission fee at any sights;
- Food mentioned above;
- English - speaking guide.

Excluding: Drink, travel insurance, personal expenses and tips!

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HALONG BAY CRUISE - CAT BA NATIONAL PARK (3 DAYS / 2 NIGHTS)

Halong Bay is a natural wonder of the world and one of Vietnam’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Halong is made up of 1969 islands of various sizes. There are two kinds of islands: limestone and schist with over 3000 limestone islands emerge from emerald green water of Halong. 

 Day 1: Hanoi - Halong Bay. 
08:00 AM pick up at your hotel. Drive to Halong city with a 3 hour driving trip. Have a short break on the way. On arrival, drop off at Fantasea Adventures office (Halong city) for a welcome drink. At 12:00 PM board a beautiful wooden boat and start cruising on the bay. Lunch will be served on the boat while we cruise around the bay. Now you have time to enjoy the beauty of Halong Bay and take photos. Drop off for a guided visit of Sung Sot cave. Discover Titop area (or Luon cave area). Weather permitting you will be able to hike up Titop mountain as well as kayak and swim in the bay’s emerald waters. A Vietnamese dinner will be served on the boat. Stay overnight on boat. 

Day 2: Halong Bay Cruise - Cat Ba island.
Rise early for another chance to swim or rise later and have breakfast at your leisure. The boat will drop you off at Gia Luan pier on Cat Ba island. From here, a bus will take you to Cat Ba National park for some hiking and cycling. After the excursion, you will head towards Cat Ba town to check – in at the hotel on Cat Ba. Lunch will be served at the hotel. In the afternoon, you can relax at the hotel, shop along the sea-side strip, visit Cat Co beaches or go for a trip to Monkey Island with your tour guide. Free time to explore the town in the evening. Stay overnight at Holiday View Hotel (***)

Day 3: Cat Ba island - Halong Bay- Hanoi.
Rise early to enjoy the sunrise or sleep a little longer, but check out is at 8:45 AM. You will head back to Gia Luan pier by bus and board the boat to cruise back to Halong harbor. Lunch will be served on the boat. You will have more chances to admire Halong Bay before the boat returns to the habor. Pick up and drive to Hanoi. Have a short break on the way before you arrive in Hanoi city at around 16:00.

(Group size: maximum 16 pax)

PRICE: 100 USD/person

Including: Buses and drivers, English-speaking tour guide, Halong bay registration, boat cruise in Halong Bay, clean air-conditioned rooms with private washrooms on boat (first night), plate of fresh fruit and 2 water bottles per room on the boat, meals (3 lunches, 2 dinners and 2 breakfasts), cave entry fee, kayaks, bicycles, Cat Ba National Park entry fee and a room at Holiday View Hotel (second night).

Excluding: Insurance, drinks, tips and other private services

NOTE: 15 USD extra for a single room on the boat; and 15 USD extra for single room in hotel.

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Hanoi Brief History

Human habitation of Northern Vietnam goes back about 500,000 years according to archaeological evidence. The site of present-day Hanoi has been populated for at least 10,000 years. These first inhabitants formed a feudally organized society that first relied on hunting, fishing and gathering, later developing animal husbandry and agriculture. These tribes developed in relative isolation until about 2000 years ago.

The Han Chinese set up a military garrison near present-day Hanoi in 214 BC, using it as a base of operations that would eventually control most of modern Vietnam. The next 1000 years of Chinese rule introduced important technological innovations to the Vietnamese, including ploughs and irrigation systems. But rebellion simmered in every town, and the millennium was punctuated by revolution and resistance. This tradition of rebellion shaped Vietnam’s national character.

Vietnamese rebels saw their chance when China’s Tang dynasty collapsed. In 938, revolutionary leader Ngo Quyen gave the Chinese a sound whipping and established an independent Vietnamese state, but after his death the region fell into anarchy. In 980, Vietnam became a semi-independent client state of China, stabilizing the situation all for the cost of a biannual tribute.

For the next 400 years, the site of present-day Hanoi served as the administrative seat for all of Vietnam. The Grand Royal enclosure, now the city’s Old Quarter, was constructed and the nation’s first university, the Temple of Literature, was founded during the first century of home rule. Attacks by the Khmers, Chinese and even Kublai Khan were repelled by national forces. All this was done with little Chinese interference.

The Chinese never forgot their plum province, however, and in 1400 they captured Hanoi again. National hero Le Loi’s guerrilla tactics and peasant support eventually reclaimed Vietnamese independence. A period of nationalism and renewed interest in Confucianism followed, a reaction to increased discontent with Europeans, their values and their missionaries.
The missionaries didn’t take the hint, however, and in 1858 several were killed. The French had an excuse to invade, and by 1867 south Vietnam was a French colony. Hanoi was captured in 1874. The impotent imperial court was allowed to remain, indulging itself in various coups and capers, but the French controlled the nation.

Modern History

As it had under Chinese rule, Vietnamese nationalism simmered quietly throughout the country, waiting for an opportunity. Young Nguyen Tat Thanh, better known by his alias Ho Chi Minh, thought that the end of WWI was a good opening, so he tried to present a plan for an independent Vietnam to US president Woodrow Wilson at the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference. Evidently, self-determination was for Europeans alone.
When France fell to Nazi Germany in 1940, the Vichy government allowed the Japanese to put troops in Vietnam. The United States knew enough not to count on any French resistance, instead opting to pump arms and funding into the communist-dominated Viet Minh forces. Their leader, Ho Chi Minh, graciously accepted and began harassing the Japanese mercilessly.

After the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Ho called for a general uprising known as the August Revolution, and on September 2, 1945, Ho and his National Liberation Committee (with US officials at his side) declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam independent at a rally in Ba Dinh Square.
The French were not pleased, and fought the Viet Minh tooth and nail for eight years, despite a massive military aid package from the USA and formal recognition by both China and the USSR. On May 7, 1954, the French threw in the towel and surrendered North Vietnam to the Viet Minh. Fiercely anti-communist leader Ngo Dinh Diem was elected (more or less; a lot of dead people voted in that election) president of South Vietnam. Soon afterward, the USA closed its consulate in Hanoi.
In 1959, Southern cadres asked that the North Vietnamese join them in ‘armed struggle’ against the Diem regime. Hanoi responded by agreeing to help the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, who were mainly communist South Vietnamese resisters with little training. Without French troops, however, the South Vietnamese army was incredibly weak, and the Western world looked on nervously as Diem began losing control of the situation.

The USA sent 2000 ‘military advisers’ to South Vietnam in 1961, the number swelling to 23,000 by 1964. By then, Hanoi was no longer helping the NLF out with guns and training; they were sending trained North Vietnamese troops across the border. Despite small victories, Hanoi’s war didn’t seem winnable until the 1968 Tet Offensive, when Hanoi gained the upper hand.
The USA continued to throw warm bodies – to the tune of 3.14 million men and women – at the increasingly bloody conflict until the 1973 cease-fire. The USA evacuated almost all troops out of Vietnam in return for Hanoi’s commitment to keep communism above the 17th Parallel. They also cut off most financial and other aid to South Vietnam. By 1975, the southern half of the country was running on fumes.
North Vietnam launched a massive attack on the South on January 1975; Saigon surrendered in April. No one, least of all the leadership in Hanoi, was prepared for reunification. At least two million Vietnamese had died in the conflict and scars ran deep; the environment and economy were a shambles. The violence wasn’t over, either: In 1979, answering for Vietnam’s 1978 invasion of Cambodia, China attacked Hanoi. The Chinese were repelled within 17 brutal days.

The 1980s witnessed a devastating famine that left Hanoi with rice shortages and strict rations, a continuing guerrilla war with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and the opening of European communism. Surprisingly, Vietnam finished the decade in much better shape than it started.
In February 1990, the government called for more ‘openness and criticism’, but was unprepared for the seething discontent behind the floodgates. Hanoi backtracked, but began allowing more economic openness while keeping government structure (and media access) in a lockbox. In 1992 Vietnam signed a peace treaty with Cambodia, and in 1994, the USA lifted economic sanctions on the country. The two former enemies now maintain diplomatic relations.

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Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Location: Vietnam Museum of Ethnology is located on Nguyen Van Huyen Street, Cau Giay District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: It contains more than 10,000 objects, 15,000 black and white photos and hundreds of video tapes and cassettes which depict all aspects of life, activities, customs, and habits of the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam.
 
The Vietnam Museum of Ethnology opened at the end of 1997. Since then, it has attracted the attention of visitors as well as ethnographers and researchers from all over the world.
The museum has successfully recreated the daily life together with the religious rituals and the symbolic festivals of each ethnic group in Vietnam. Visitors have the opportunity to admire costumes, embroidery as well as outside stilt houses and habitats from the different groups.
All displayed objects mingle and supplement one another to create a colorful and diversified picture of Vietnamese culture. An open-air exhibition in the museum’s spacious and peaceful ground features ethnic houses from all over Vietnam.
The displayed object area is divided into 9 parts:
- Introduction.
- Introduction of Viet (Kinh).
- Introduction of Muong, Tho, Chut ethnic groups.
- The ethnic groups belong to the Tay, Thai, and Kadai groups.
The outdoor exhibition area is only large enough for the most popular architectural styles to be presented. Already presented are the E De long house, the Tay stilt house, the Dao house half on stilts and half on earth, the H’ Mong house whose roof is made of pomu wood, the Viet house with tile roof, the Gia Rai tomb, the Ba Na communal house, the Cham traditional house, the Ha Nhi house made with earth-beaten walls.
There are future plans to present the Co Tu tomb and the surrounding completion of the Viet house. Between the houses, there are trees indigenous to the area of each house, zigzagging paths and a meandering stream crossed by small bridges. The outdoor museum is being realized step by step.

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Bat Trang Pottery Village

Location: Bat Trang Pottery Village is located in the south east of Hanoi, passing Chuong Duong Bridge turns right and go about 10km along the dike of Red River. Bat Trang belongs to Bat Trang Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: This is a pottery village with a half-millenary historic development.

Some decades recently, the vitality of this village is still blown up by the thousands of pottery-kiln on fire day and night.
In the period about 12th – 14th century, there are a numbers of families in Bo Bat Pottery Village (in Thanh Hoa Province now). They were Bui, Phung, Tran and Vu families coming there to work pottery, selling it to people in city even doing business with foreigners. At first, it was called Bach Ho Group and when there are the thousands of pottery-kiln, it was called Bat Trang – the age of name is as approximately old as the age of group.
Who was the Bat Trang pottery ancestor? As a popular documentary he is Hua Vinh Kieu who gained a pupil scholar certificate under the reign of Ly. On the occasion of being sent to the north country under the Sung Dynasty ( China today) as King’s envoy, he learnt work and taught to people when he came back. He was regarded as the founder. But according to the “Dao Tuong Kinh Su Bi Ky” epitaph, Tran Hoe Doctor in Tu Chi built it. Quy duke, Nguyen Thanh Chau, in 1737. He was the founder. On the other theories, Luu Phuong was said to be the founder…
When it was seen on the Dai Viet administrative map, Bat Trang products were got the favor of people from the top citizen class in Thang Long to the poor peasant in country. Bat Trang family use items gone far abroad. From the early 15th century, China was the place with the tradition pottery work for the thousands of years and well known in the world but there were ever the tens of Bat Trang pottery sets in the tribute festival. Since then in every reign, in decline or prospect situations, Bat Trang Pottery Village still assured the worth of goods, kept position and passed every trial. It is proud of working, living, old origin in Bat Trang. In the Gia Lam proverb, there is a word: “living to be man in Bat Trang, dying to be tutelary spirit” that means it is very happy to be a man in Bat Trang because of the stable pottery work, big fortune. In Kieu Ki Village, there was a work of making Indian ink; material was the skin of buffalo. They had to kill buffalo and worship tutelary spirit so this tutelary was well off. Bat Trang likes a symbol of Vietnam traditional trade village.
It is a famous trade village, recently, there are over 6,000 people in 1,500 families with the total 153ha. The rate of pottery kiln in Bat Trang is the first rank at the other same villages in the world. Most men in Bat Trang follow the traditional work (nine of ten) except for person leaving home. After over an innovation decade, many traditional trade villages are recovered, the innovation and increase of Bat Trang Pottery Village are increasing unbelievably.
On the basic of tradition pottery technique, Bat Trang pottery workers have taken – abused-propagated greatly the progress of science technology into every stage in making pottery. It has made many types of top class pottery, that is useful and beautiful and it upgrades the sense of pottery art. The Bat Trang list of pottery getting high quality is longer more and more by day like bowl, dish, pot, cup, wine pot, a big flower-vase, leg lamp, lime-pot, big-bellied jar… It made by all sort of glazes as ancient pearl blaze, crackle glaze, dark glaze, indigo-blue flower glaze, grey flower glaze, melt glaze…
In 10/2004, Bat Trang Pottery Market was opened in the area of over 5.000m². It is not only the place to display and trade but also an interesting tourist site in Hanoi.

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Bai tu long bay in viet nam

Bai Tu Long Bay in Vietnam is located in the Gulf of Tonkin in northeastern Vietnam. Bai Tu Long Bay covers a sea area of Halong City, Cam Pha town and the island district of Van Don. South West Bay bordering the East Sea, west by land to the township of Cam Pha to the east and north Co To Island District. Bai Tu Long Bay includes hundreds of islands and in which many large islands and residents.

Legend of the Bay:

When the ancient Vietnamese people newly formed country was against foreign invasion. Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon Dragons bring a child down to help fight the Vietnamese. When the enemy ships at sea from the shore, countless dragons sprayed pearls and escape into a myriad of islands in the sea, forming a solid wall to block the advance of the enemy boats. Labor union is the enemy ship quickly, blocked suddenly crashed into the rocky island crashing into each other or shattered. After the victory, Mother Dragon and Child Dragons did not return Heaven but stayed on earth, where the battle had occurred. Location Mother Dragon landed was Ha Long, Rong Bai Tu Long is a down. Forum dragon tails of white water was thrashed Long Vi (Tra Co peninsula today) with fine sand beach over ten kilometers long and

Climate:
Bai Tu Long Bay is the island's climate division 2 seasons: hot and humid summers and cold dry winters. The average annual temperature of 15 ° C-25 ° C; rainfall ranges from 2000mm - 2000mm per year. Bai Tu Long Bay have tidal system with the tide at about 3.5-4m/ngay. Salinity ranges from 31 to 34.5 MT in the dry season and lower in summer.

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This relic of an ancient urban area and military citadel is located in Co Loa Village, Dong Anh District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: Throughout history, Co Loa was nominated twice as the capital of Vietnam: the first time during the An Duong Vuong era in the late 3rd and early 2nd century BC, and the second time during the Ngo Vuong Quyen reign in the middle of the 10th century.

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Co Loa Historical Site

Published By tourisminvietnam On December 10th 2010. Under Hanoi    

Location: This relic of an ancient urban area and military citadel is located in Co Loa Village, Dong Anh District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: Throughout history, Co Loa was nominated twice as the capital of Vietnam: the first time during the An Duong Vuong era in the late 3rd and early 2nd century BC, and the second time during the Ngo Vuong Quyen reign in the middle of the 10th century.

The three ramparts archeological relics from the Bronze and Iron ages are 16km long. The complex of religious and commemorative relics includes Ngu Trieu Di Qui Communal House, My Chau Temple, and Bao Son Pagoda. Mystical relics such as Ngoc Well, Flag Tower, and Ngu Xa Castle make of this area a culturally and historically interesting area.

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Hanoi Cathedral

Hanoi Cathedral is at 40 Nha Chung Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.
Characteristic: Hanoi Cathedral was built on the site of the former Bao Thien Tower, which was famous in the ancient capital of Thang Long under the Ly Dynasty (the 11th and 12th centuries).

Hanoi Cathedral, also known as Saint Joseph’s Cathedral, was inaugurated on Christmas Day 1886, two years after its construction. Its design is similar to the architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Many catholic rituals have been held there. A ritual ceremony dedicated to Jesus Christ is held in this cathedral every year on March 19.

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Ha Long Bay

(vietnam tours operator) The total area of Ha Long Bay is 1,553 sq. km with 1969 islands of various sizes, of which 989 have been named. The islands in Ha Long Bay are mainly limestone and schist islands most lying in the two main areas: the southeastern part of Bai Tu Long Bay and southwestern part of Ha Long Bay. These islands represent the most ancient images of a geographical site having a tectonic age of from 250 million to 280 million years. They are the result of many times of rising and lowering processes of the continent to form a karst. The process of nearly full erosion and weathering of the karst created the unique Ha Long Bay in the world.

In a not very large area, thousands of islands with different forms look like glittering emeralds attached to the blue scarf of a virgin.
The area where many stone islands concentrate has spectacular scenes and world-famous caves and is the center of Ha Long Bay Natural Heritage, including Ha Long Bay and a part of Bai Tu Long Bay.
The area is recognized as the World Natural Heritage that is the area of 434 sq. km with 775 islands. It looks like a giant triangle with dau Go Island (in the west), Ba Ham Lake (in the south) and Cong Tay Island (in the east) as its three angle points. The nearby area is the buffer area and areas classified as national beauty spots in 1962 by the Ministry of Culture and Information. On 17th December, 1994, the World Heritage Committee officially recognized Ha Long Bay as a World Natural Heritage Area.
On 2nd December, 2000, the World Heritage Committee unanimously decided to recognize the universal geological value of Ha Long Bay.

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Bac Ha market

Bac Ha Market, Vietnam markets, Bac Ha is famous for its Sunday market, it is a trading centre and meeting place for couples, friends, and relatives every Sunday.
Every Sunday, Bac Ha hosts the biggest fair near the mountainous highlands and the Chinese border.
The market was very crowded, local products for sale or barter are carried on horseback. Besides the usual items like pigs, cows, chickens, and ducks, the Bac Ha market sold dogs. As dogs were available as cuts of meat, they were also available live, right next to the live pigs, chickens, and other livestock.
Rounding the corner and pungent fumes of alcohol accosted our senses of smell, from corn whiskey, a Bac Ha specialty. The potent moonshine is decanted by vendors from large white plastic jugs to used bottled water containers. If you doubt the ability of a vendor’s hooch to peel paint or light your senses on fire, you can try a shot for free.
At the fair, adventurous gastronomes can try thang co blood porridge, a popular dish of the H’Mong and other local people.

 

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Dau Go Cave

The grotto is on Driftwood Island. Seen from afar, the entrance to the grotto appears to be blue, and has a shape similar to that of a jellyfish. After 90 steps up the island, the entrance is reached. The ceiling of the grotto is about 25 m. Hundreds of stalactites falling down from the roof of the grotto look like a waterfall.
The grotto is divided into three main parts.

The exterior is a room with a vault full of natural light. Many forms may be seen in the rock formations of the chamber, depending on the imagination of the visitor of course.
Crossing the first chamber, one enters the second chamber through a narrow passage. The light here is mysterious, and new images appear in the stone. It makes us having a fear and be inquisitive.
The third chamber of the grotto is widely opened. At the end of the grotto is a well of clear water. Looking up in the dim light we recognize that surrounded is the image of an ancient citadel and a scuffle of elephants, horses, man with bristly sword and spear. All are making a rush and be petrified suddenly.
The name Driftwood Grotto came from a popular story of the resistance war against the Yuan – Mongolian aggressors. In a decisive battle, Trân Hung Ðao was given the order to prepare many ironwood stakes here, to be planted on the riverbed of Bach Ðang River. The remaining wooden pieces found in the grotto have given it its present name.
And the name Giâu Gô is associated with the legend that General Trân Hung Ðao (1226-1300) hid ironwood stakes in preparation for the Bach Ðang battle against the Yuan-Mongolian invaders.
If the Thiên Cung Grotto is monumental and modern (in its natural form), then Driftwood Grotto is solemn, but also grandiose. In “Marvels of the World,” published in France in 1938, the author called the grotto “Grotte des merveilles” (a site of many marvels)
In the first chamber, in the very middle of the grotto, is a colossal pillar supporting the large vault. On the top of the pillar, there appears to be a monk draped in a long, dark cloak, with his right hand clasping a cane.
The second chamber is narrow. Here, the stalactites look smaller but more graceful. One feels like going to a pagoda with a monk in meditation so that one steps more gently.
The third chamber features high stone columns out of which nature has carved images of a large kingdom, of heroes and soldiers holding swords and spears rushing up, of war elephants and horses or lions, etc. All of them suddenly was petrified and remained there for good.
In 1917, Emperor Khai Ðinh came to visit the grotto, and amazed by the beauty of the place, ordered the erection of an engraved stone stele singing the praises of Ha Long Bay and the grotto. Today, it remains to the right-hand side of the entrance.

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