13/9/23 Weds: Woke up at 7.30am and had pork pho and banana
honey crepe an hour later for breakfast~ As we were told that Moana was nearby,
the boss of the hotel drove two of us out himself haha.
Reached there at 9am and the entry fees costed VND80,000
per person. Saw the “Bali wannabe building” here and we took some photos of course~Spent more than an hour at Moana where we took lots of
photos. *PY got creative with some of them and so they turned out fun!* The
nature and decorations does remind me of a combination of Yogyakarta, Khao Kho
and Chiangmai. *Braided her hair but I was really bad at it lol.*
There would be local tribal people coming up to us now and
then to sell their handmade stuff… we just cannot give in la. The hotel pick-up
came for us at 10+am and we went back for lunch.
Had pineapple tomato veggie soup again and the hotplate
chicken was also not bad, *Paid VND230,000 for a can of coke and two times
of laundry we did.* We told the receptionist that we require a car to drive
us to Rock Garden Homestay Airbnb, which was about half an hour away from the
main town, in the late afternoon and they charged us VND200,000 for the ride.Before that, we walked around the main town for a bit. I bought a big umbrella for VND85,000 but there were already holes barely weeks into using it haiz. PY and I wandered into a hotel because she wanted to explore that and we saw the funicular station to Fansipan, which was closed for five days of maintenance works, in there too.
Also wandered randomly into an “atas-looking” hotel that had nice interiors. We then walked to Viettreking Coffee and restaurant for PY’s salted caramel apricot drink at 1.30pm. *video-called Potato to show him the nice scenery around keke~* After that, we walked up a small alley to get to Em O Day café which was known for its nice breads and cakes.
It’s apparently owned by one lady boss who loves baking. We
ordered the banana chocolate roll cake to share and bought two other pastries
for tomorrow’s breakfast. They were nice and not expensive. *PY and I wrote
our wishes and hung it on the lime tree in front of the shop too.*
By 3.30pm, our legs were a bit tired from all the walking,
so we headed back to the massage parlour next to Sapa Unique hotel for a relaxing
30-minute foot massage (VND100,000 per pax).
45 minutes later, we drove off to Rock Garden Homestay and because
it rained heavily the night before and was still drizzling, the unpathed road
up the mountains was rocky and unsteady. After 20 minutes of bumpy ride, we
finally made it to the entrance of our Airbnb!
Saw three dogs and cats they owned as we came to their
dining area, and where the owners lived at I presume.
It was still raining, but
the owners brought us to our “round house” room (S$219 for two nights). I
honestly was looking forward to the stay because I’d saw incredible video on
Facebook before I booked this Airbnb! It was somewhat to my expectation and Ta
Van village was below us. However, due to the rain and season, we did not get
to see “sea of clouds” at our stay there this time. *One guide told us April
and May would be a better time to visit Sa Pa to see thick sea of clouds.*
While PY was drying her shoes, I walked around nearby and saw a swimming pool that had quite a nice scenery ahead! *raining and too cold to swim though*
Walked to the dining hall because we’d reserved sturgeon hotpot (VND500,000), their local speciality for dinner from them at 6.30pm. *They had three cute cats inside the place.*
Quite a nice meal and great for rainy days. *I loved the
kway teow a lot haha.* The cats and dogs loitered around hoping we’d give
them some fish. We did in the end because there was just too much salmon meat.
PY kept saying the dog was too fat but I just couldn’t help it and fed her
after all… because she kept looking at me with those pitiful eyes lol.
The heater did not seem to be working so we got the owners
to come and take a look late at night. Finally, we ended the night with face
masks~ 19 degrees Celsius and it just kept raining. *I didn’t sleep well the
first night because I kept hearing rats jumping around the rooftop and other
noises from outside.*
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