Out of Norm Travels

Sapa , is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa District in Lào Cai Province in northwest Vietnam . I had the privilege to spend 3 days 2 nights at this location which can be reached via Hanoi , the capital of Vietnam (where international flights connect into the country). I heard that there is a new highway that was recently built that links Hanoi to Sapa which takes a mere 5 hours (and at less expense). But for my trip, I took the longer route (and to me, more authentic way of travelling within Southeast Asia i.e. by train) which required 8 hours train travel from Hanoi to Lao Cai. For the way down to Sapa, I took the Livitrain Express Train that departed from Hanoi at around 9p.m. before reaching Lao Cai at 5.30a.m. For the train ride back from Lao Cai to Hanoi, I took a different train service which is the Sapaly Express Train that departed at 8p.m. and reached Hanoi around 4a.m. I will highly recommend the Sapaly Express Train as it wins hands down even though it’s sl...