Tag: Fansipan

If you are a trekaholic, when you visit countries, what would you be? The highest summit – rooftop of the country or certain region, right?

When you in Lao Cai, a north-western province of Vietnam, don’t forget to trek the rooftop of Indochina – Fansipan summit, at the height of 3143m above sea level. The summit is always the most attractive destination for not only for the local but also travelers around the world. 

And I really would like to tell you my Fansipan travel story – majestic and fanstatic!

Prologue

Despite a solo traveler, I didn’t choose to go alone this trip. Especially I heard the news that there had been a foreign trekker found dead months before. The poor guy really made an impression on how hard the incoming challenge would be. So I chose an safer option, that to go on a tour.

I booked VietDiscovery a tour of climbing Fansipan, 2-day-1-night, and price was reasonable: 50 usd, [link] the lowest one compared to the other. The introduction was good, especially when my friend suggested me a group of Fansipan hikers, which connects to the company. I believed this company was trustful.

That was my first time conquering the roof of Vietnam so it was excited but anxious a bit. I wasn’t sure that my health was able to fulfill the trip, I just kept in my that I had to make it, because one simple reason: we are born to do new things everyday and challenges make our life worthy.

Day 1 – trekking toward 2800m camp

Preparation at agency office

I woke up early, eager to the lifetime experience. Not as the day before, with a dense of fog, It was very clear, expected to have a sunny day of trek. I took a taxi bike to Sapa town for 30000 vnd. What a nice deal!

It was sunny in the city center. The agency office was very busy preparing for a trekking day, I saw them bring fresh chickens, pork, cooking oil, some veggies and water, which are necessary for a trek stop. We were also issued some personal stuff like a paper roll, raincoat, 4 bottles of water and a toothbrush along with a tiny paste tube.

“Crews” on trip

I made friend with a girl named Tra. She’s cute, big a bit and very open-minded, a typical travelers. Her English was good, I really admired her for the self-study. Ah, she also made two Vietnam bicycle trip (so shame that I haven’t made it).

During the trip, I also fell in friendship with Monica from Poland (she’s really good at hiking with an excellent base health), Daniel (and lovely Filipino guy) and Sunny (an American teacher, solo female traveler, you’ll admire her for what she’d done) and a group of young people, who are staffs from THE KAFE in Hanoi, they are cute, adorable and funny all the time.

We had a tour guide named Tung and two porters are Trung and Vac, who are just teenagers. They are very cute and I honestly miss them after trip.

Tram Ton station – the beginning

We started the journey at Tram Ton station. When you ride via O Quy Ho pass, you see a complex named Love waterfall, that’s it. The station is 1945m at height, so it’s the shortest and fastest route to the summit.

The dry day made it very easy to do trek, the path was clean and very clear to follow. Sunshine shot through leaves, coloring the ground with green. My guide said that the weather was rarely so those day, I was a lucky boy. Yeah, thank God for the blessing.

Though our crews included porters, we didn’t have them carry our backpack, everyone held a strong will and do-it-themself whole the time, so the porter’s main task was to guide and support people though.

After a short hike, we rested in a plain ground, and people did selfie, it was very happy when you were surrounded by energetic people, making the trek more funny and memorable.

There’s a stream crossing over the path at the beginning. Because it was a sunny day in dry season, so we passed it easily. Imagine its fury in rainy season, oh, so furious and dangerous!

I was impressed by sceneries here: sky was clear and blue, fantastic ambiance made by sunlight, ancient trees with giant, twisty roots, even shades also contributed greatly to the beautiful path. Some dead trees are really tasteful if you can shoot them at right angles.

Every time you climb higher, you have chances to change perspective and the landscapes are different, as well, which make it more exciting to keep going and explore something new ahead.

The path from Tram Ton station to 2200 height was quite ease and enjoyable, stairs built neatly so you hardly get lost.

2200m-height camp

This is where we had our lunch. After a long trek, any food you consume will own a beautiful taste, because you are in a great hungry pit. But we had to wait for nearly 30 minutes later that the tables were clear for us. Many trekking groups joined that day which made it quite a “traffic jam” at the camp.

There was a fatty cat walking around and to be honest, I did love it. I wanted to hug, tease, feed him (I didn’t really know his gender, who knows!!).

We did enjoy the meal, there were boild rice wrapped in silver screen, fish sauce, chicken cooked with sauce, boiled egg, cabbage,… it was not a party but really delicious, loud and happy. People were talking to one another, making the dining more “entertaining”.

We had a while to rest. I stayed awake and strolling around whistl foreign friends and Tra were talking, sharing theirs stories. I just enjoyed the precious sunbeam landing on my skin. It’s so “expensive” there, while fog were waiting all the time to hide my sun.

Here we go again!

The upcoming path would be more challenging, some of the trekkers who had just been back from the summit told me so. They said that the path from 2200 height to 2800-height camp was very hard ascending, so more fatigue. It was, as they said.

The sun was high, atmosphere drier and no more fog surrounding, no more fanstatic sense. After an hour away, we stopped another plain ground, which offers a panoramic view of mountain range, it was breath-taking and I couldn’t stand shooting a panoramic photo, here it is:

The group of young people from The KAFE – most of member are beginners, I think – were hiking slowly. They were really fatigue after a long trek because of not getting used to the pace. That’s why I think the practice before a trip is very important, especially when you do trekking or some games which require much physical strength.

The path features a cliff (indeed, it’s not a cliff but from a right angle of shooting, it makes an illusion of height). Tung – our tourguide showed us that was able to reach it firstly, by moving like a artful jumper and landing safely at the cliff, making everyone breathless.

Then Daniel joined the posing show, later is Sunny. It’s really exciting to get there, though the strong winds with its severe cold make you think carefully before putting steps.

Our group was not the same completely, someones strong, someones weak, so after all, we were usually splitted up in to 2-3 groups, guided by Tung, Vac and Trung. The stronger went first, and got the rest ground soon, then waited for the weaker.

In the late afternoon, the sun gradually turn into orange, which made the landscape more amazing. The trail was sometimes changing the color, as if neckos stick to every pieces of forest. They were all beautiful: rocks, trees, roots, bamboos, bushes,… it was cool down, and I felt so energetic again to conquer steep stairs. It’s very weary, but worthy.

Indeed, my body turned hot overtime, so, despite the very cold atmostphere at that time, I put off most of my warm clothes, but a slim t-shirt. But by the time we rest at the stop, my body temperature got balance and I had to dress up a bit to remain warm. Staying healthy when doing a trek is very important because the support is rare in remote area like mountains.

I was surprised that when we hiked high enough, it’s true that we could see the horizon at far, in a very clear day. The mountain range then piled like a giant sand dunes painted by green, so gorgeous, splendid and majestic!

2800m-height camp

When the sun was nearly down for his sleep and the light drew back to hideout, I reached the second camp, at 2800 height. Just few people of my group did it as soon as I did, so we had to wait for the rest.

It turned very cold and windy at camp. At first, I ran into a dorm to hide from the winds. But there’s a crowded fire-camp outside and there’s no reason not to join them. By the way, the fire could warm up me. So cool!

They roasted pigs and chicken. The flames were big and the smell was really tasty. I was very hungry at that time, you know. After a long trek, my body got tired and the promising delicious food was really a curse. Haha.

I tend to wash my hand with the water but when the tap was running, I pulled my hand out. The water was so cold that it was possible to make an ice-burn. There was a makeshift canteen selling mineral waters, energy drink,… but the price was double/triple so I used mine.

The campfire was very warm that I could heat my body from-top-to-toe while waiting for my group. There were a group whose members were up to 50 people, and they were very exciting sharing their painful experience to entertain the other, that was good. Sometimes I joined their joke.

What a cold night!

Very long time later, our friends reached the camp. They looked so tired, but full of happiness. The guide finally led us to our dorm and we could unpack. It was so so weary and hungry, and it went dark quickly. Someone brought along a tiny travel stove fuel by alcohol and she boiled water to make coffee while sharing some heat to the companions. It was nice.

To prepare for a definite cold night, we set up our belongs. Sunny used the heat patch for her back and really cool, I used it when I slept to find some precious warmth. Some people hang their flashlight to light up the room, which was very useful in the dinner later.

And when we rested for a while, then our dinner was served very in time. We had tofu, pork, chicken dish with small bowl of fish sauce. Very simple but extremely delicious. I found a theory that instead of having a delicious food, you can very enjoy your meal when you in a great hungry. It’s true!

After dinner, because the extremely cold atmosphere outside, we almost got into issued sleeping bag and enjoyed  the warm while trying to close eyes. I recharged my devices and reviewed all the media I recorded on the day. They were so nice.

Outside, the sky was very clear with milions of stars shining bright. I loved them so much.

Day 2 – to the summit

Trekking at dawn

I just slept a bit at previous night, better than ones who couldn’t stand the freeze causing them headache and a red-eye night. I didn’t know that until the morning, they confided the truth, which made them weary quickly by the time.

Around 4AM, Tung woke us up, and prepared our breakfast. Everyone seemed awake all, no sleepy sound was made. 15-20 minutes later, everyones finished their personal hygiene and packed up belongings. Then the hot breakfast came in. After a frozen night, everyone loved the meal. It brought us heat and energy, they were not delicious dish but in our case, they were super tasty. The situation really made sense. After that, we had a hot coffee to stay awake physically.

I came out, it was really cold. The sky was super clear, promising for a nice trek. It’s very dark and we had to use our flashlight to see what ahead.

There were a group who had started before us, so crowded. However, gradually, they couldn’t keep the pace and slow down, which meant we passed them easily. It’s very dark, but my sight was still good enough to see stars above, Sapa town far far away below and they were seperated by a blurry horizon. I had to dress warmly, every pieces of my body touching the dawn cold made me frozen, a sense of cold-burn. I used a scarf to cover my nose, keep my breaths warm. It’s very essential if you don’t want to get cold easily.

The first step was not tough, but some spots would be slippery a bit due to the moisture and small stream along the trail. Halfway was good, but the rest was more challenging because there was no clear path, and we had to climb by hands as well. Some steep slopes downward really made us carefully and slow down the pace for some times. Finally, we splitted up again, when Tung waved us to stop, we were only me, Daniel, Sunny and Monica as a leading group, the other were so slow. I asked Tung whether we should wait for the rest of team but he said there was no need because the 2 porters could lead them rightly and we were late to watch sunrise at the summit. So we had to hurry up.

From time to time, we saw a small water pool at side of the trail, made of plastic screens to get water from rains and condensed fogs, it was very clear and cold, some one said it was drinkable. I tried once, but I was not sure about the hygiene, while I still reserved a lot of water.

When we saw a station lit up by orange color, my guide told us that we nearly reached the summit and just 30 minutes or so and we would put our feet on the rooftop of Vietnam.

That’s news encouraging us to keep forward excitingly.

Final steps

5:30 AM, we saw a little lights from the east, they divided the sky into two half: light above and dark below. Then everythings got clearer and we could turned off our flashlight while it was still possible to trek in low light condition.

Some times we had to climb up metal ladders, which was very cold when I touched. Some times we climbed over trees growing horizontally blocking the path. It was tough a bit. When the strong sunbeams appeared, bringing us more vision, we saw cables were moving up and down, bringing staffs and stuffs, I thought so.

When approaching 3000m in height, we saw a construction site – Fansipan legend, a tourism complex – looking like a strict fortress.

The high we were, the less oxygen we could breath, yes, it got more and more fatigue. It was really a fight against your will and the body. I just kept going and followed the tourguide, if he could make it, so could I.

Finally we made it. Yesss, we made it!!! We reached the complex at late 6 AM, so the sun rose just a bit higher. There’s a barrier blocking you, just passing it and we. Despite tiredness, I tried as quick as I could to climb upstairs but I had to wait again to recovery my stamina, it was really tough, and I had to touch the summit, I had to do it…

Fansipan conquerors

6:30AM. I was stunned by the landscape mother nature showing me then: all the clouds were staying below me, like a vast ocean that we usually enjoy at shores and right at the center, the sun was shining so bright, as it possibly blinded me but I couldn’t stand watching a sleeping beauty waking up after a long dark night.

The sun was really like a princess attracting thousand of people to watch her getting up. Wow!

My fingers was almost frozen, though I tried to heat them by sunbeam uselessly. It was too cold at the summit. I walked around and enjoyed my victory and thought of all the challenges I passed. Oh ops. I forgot to take a picture with that trophy – a paramid engraved with words “Fansipan – 3143m”.

The ground was made of wood, so it look quite natural but indeed, I didn’t expect so many man-made objects at the summit, making it like a garden that you pay 600 000 vnd to touch at ease.

I took photo for Sunny, she seemly loved the gorgeous sceneries and Daniel intentionally took photo himself – an instagram-aholic. Afterall, we had a photo together to memorize these experience. That was a moment of lifetime.

Way back

8AM, sun was high and shiny above the sea cloud. It was getting hotter while cable cars were bringing more visitors toward the summit. When the summit base was full of people, and we had enough rest to get back.

But some of us chose to use cable car, including Sunny. That was the best route to save more time and stamina, but you then had to take taxi back to town.

For the way back, it didn’t take us much time to go back because of slopes downwards. I had chance to see what I hadn’t seen when on the way to the summit due to the dark. It was really nice when you lost in fog again, sometimes alone among forest, so peaceful. And I sang my favorite, enjoyed my life so deeply. I love it, my youth, because, you only live once, so live full.

Epilogue

My first attempt was fascinating, I really enjoyed it. However, there are still other routes more challenging like Cat Cat village route or Sin Chai one, hopefully I had chances to trek these ones.

Fansipan is a must-have experience, you travelers. Book a trek tour or do-it-yourself and you won’t be regretful for what you got.

After trekking Fansipan, Biking around Sapa is also a nice choice. Rent a bike and conquer Sapa steep roads!!