Road trip to the North of Vietnam: Lao Cai-Sa Pa-Y Ti

Y Ti, famous for its name "Sea of clouds" was not in the mainstream but it is getting more and more attentions from bikers and backpackers from Vietnam and other countries. My boyfriend and I decided to do this route in March, 2015 for 4 days and 3 nights  As I am sure many of you out there are looking for a clear detailed instructions, I am describing in this post everything we collected from Internet and things we actually did. You can follow our foot prints since we were as clueless as you are now when we started but everything turned out amazing, even the roads, despite most weather forecast saying that it was rain season.

From Hanoi, we took the 9pm train from Hang Co train station to arrive Lao Cai at 5am the next day. 35$ for one lower bed in AC coach, 40$ for upper. Once we got there and woke ourselves up with some hot noodle soup in a restaurant nearby, we asked the shop owner if he can help arrange a motorbike for rent. They know best, just make sure you bargain at the price of 2$ for a bowl of noddle soup and 22$ per day for a manual motorbike in advance. 

Here is our initerary from Lao Cai station - Bat Xat (11km) - Trinh Tuong (26km) - Lung Po (19km) - A Mu Sung (7km) - A Lu (7km) - Ngai Thau ( 5km) - Y Ty (7km) - Den Sang (10km) - Muong Hum (42km) - SaPa (38km) - Lao Cai. From the train station, turn right and head to Coc Leu bridge, this is the border brige between Vietnam and China. (With a 10$ borderpass you can visit China for a short daytour too) After Coc Leu bridge, there will be no difficulties reading the signboards with the milestones given above. 

The weather that day wasn't supportive so we decided to set off as soon as we got everything sorted out. It took us around 3 hours to get to Ngai Thau, mostly because of the weather. It was raining cats and dogs that kept us at Ngai Thau for roughly an hour but we fortunately met our first host. Phuong, name of the guy, owned a motorbike repair shop and was too welcoming to see us bear the rain. He offered us hot water to cook instant noodle, taught Matt how to use the bamboo bong and even let us try his home-brewed rice wine. It was strong, of course, that warmed us up right away. We only had less than one hour driving to get to Y ti - our first stop - however we didn't dare to take more than 3 sips.

First time trying Vietnamese tobacco.

And don't worry much about the road. We had been warned about the nearly-impassable roads between Ngai Thau and Y ti but turned out most of the roads are black-coated, only a few unadopted roads left.

This sh*t scared me to death!

There are not so many choices when it comes to accommodation, in fact the only choice you have is to homestay with native people. Ms My tel 0203501320 and Ms Si tel 01274546667 are two trustable addresses you can contact for now, as far as we know. They expect 3$ per person per night and 6$ per meal. As Ms My did not pick up her phone, we ended up staying with Ms Si and could not be happier with her generous hospitality. 

She cooked for us huge dinner and yummy noodle for breakfast the next day. We bought a few hand-made bags from her and gasoline from her shop before heading to Sapa.

It is recommended to discover Y Ty in the afternoon to watch the sun setting down in the sea of ​​clouds or in the early mornings when fog still covers the mountains. There was a few attractions: Muong Hum market, Sin Chai, Lao Chai: exotic architecture of the Mong, Ha Nhi native tribes, the border Milestone, A Lu: majestic stretch of road, Ngai Thau: a good spot to watch the clouds . 

One thing important to NOTE DOWN: When you arrive Y Ty, find a way to inform the authority about your present by showing your ID card. Follow instructions from any border guards you might meet. Most border stations have rooms available at a small charge, if the case you couldn't find anywhere else to sleep. There is nothing much in the evening other than sharing a good talk and drinks.

The road from Y Ti to Sapa is a piece of cake, as long as you leave Y Ti before 12 noon, you will reach Sapa town before dinner. There are 02 gas stations on the way between Y ti - Ngai thau, you have to run back to refill the gasoline before leaving for Sapa Town. We stayed there only for one night, I was in Sapa and knew the town since things had been far more beautiful than what it is today, however Matt loved it. We got excited to find a native Thai tribe girl who spoke the same language with Thai people in Thailand, Matt got exicted with the idea that Thai people were actually Chinese. Thousands year ago, they started their journey, a few of them decided to stay in the North mountains in Vietnam, forming a native Viet-Thai tribe, while the rest moved on and settled down all the way in Thailand nowadays. We spent all day walking as far as we can go, had some good food and took some photos. You might want to do some research yourself because there are quite many recommendations for internet, but I believe you will love this town. 

The next day, we left first thing in the morning for Lao Cai to return the motorbike and made it just in time for the 3pm bus. The new highway only takes you 3 hours and a half to get back to Hanoi center again. In the case of high season, you should keep your bike owner's number and asked them to reserve the return ticket for you. 

GLHF guys!