My First Impressions of Vietnam's Mountain Paradise 🇻🇳 | 48 Hours in Sapa

We have just arrived in Sapa, left our luggages to our accommodation because it's even too early to do the check-in. If you watched the previous episode then you know that we arrived here with a sleeper train from Hanoi and there's no time to lose. Sapa is an alpine destination which means two things that I love. One, the weather is a little bit cooler than in other cities especially Hanoi and two, there are many beautiful views all around Sapa. So we are going to explore a little bit the views. The second interesting thing about Sapa is that it has so many ethnic minorities and you could see in the back as I was descending so many women selling specific handmade objects. The first thing we need to do is get a scooter and once we have it we are ready to explore more of Sapa. Let's go find one. Hello. Thank you. Come on. How much is the 160? 160 is 350. 350 for one day? For one day. And the 125? Only 150. 150. The big one. Yeah. Last time I think we got a smaller one and it was really difficult. Hello. Okay, so we will go with the big one. Yeah, yeah. Big one is more comfortable. This is such a good surprise. We scanned the QR code and we realized that we have previously got our bike from here. So you can see the helmet here. Maybe we're going to... You come to me on 2023. 2023, yes. Yeah, yeah, this is us. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much for coming back to me. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. So many things. Aha, we found it. This one for you. You try it. Tell me if you like it. Thank you. Right now we can say we are ready to start exploring Sapa. Yeah. Oh, our scooter is so pretty. I put on my helmet. I put on my jacket for the sun and for the wind. I'm totally prepared. Thank you. Bye. See you. Bye-bye. Okay, let's go. Let me get on the bike. This is so, this is so big. This is the biggest bike I've ever been on. How about hunting some beautiful views today? What do you think of this? It's a great way to start exploring the city. So right now we're still in the center, but we're going to go a little bit further away, maybe see some beautiful rice fields, and I think it's even a local market here. Vegetable local market open. I was discussing with Elia that so many things change in the meantime. There are many shops. It looks a lot more organized than before. Not that before it wasn't organized, but right now we can definitely see a difference. So right now I decided to get off the bike because this is so sharp and I was afraid to go down with Elia. Look at these views. These are surreal. You definitely need to go a little bit further away from the city center to witness these views. And we're going to a very hidden place. Let's go. I'm actually happy I'm not on the scooter right now because look at this. This is so pretty. Oh, this is so pretty. This place is so pretty. Oh, wow. The view is really nice. I will show you. Look at this. So because we didn't eat anything. Look at the butterflies. Look at this one. Wow. This is really magical. Because we didn't eat anything today, we decided to come here and try to have a breakfast and maybe a coffee with a view. Let me see. I know they have a view. Look at the view. Oh, my God. We're going to do something I'm really looking forward to because we've previously been to Sapa, but this time we're doing different things. We're going to climb on the highest peak of Indochina, which is Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. So if you want to go to the highest peak in this peninsula, you really need to be checking the weather forecast. We came this morning and we asked about the tickets to the fancy pan and they said that on the top it's cloudy and windy. So it's not a good time to visit. Now we're going to check again for the tickets because I think the weather cleared up. We are here now. We are here. You buy the funicular. OK, and then the cable car to here. Cable car. OK. Up and down. It's 1,000,000 cubic ton of proportion. 1,000,000, how much? 50. 1,000,000, 50. From the cable car to the fancy pan is around one kilometer. One kilometer. You can walk by yourself for 30 minutes. 30 minutes walk. And if you want 10 minutes and buy another funicular. Or 10 minutes and buy another. So how much is that for everything? 170 up for this one. Yes. 150 down to going down here. And the cable car is 1,370 for the whole trip. 1,370 for the whole trip. Going from here, here, here, up and then coming down. We recommend you should buy the last one. It's going up only. OK. Walk down to visit because the weather is clear up. The weather is clear. Yeah. Picture. OK. Oh, so beautiful. Yeah. OK. OK. Thank you so much. So, so. You buy the way up first. Yes. And now you can walk down. Or you change your mind. You can buy here to go down. OK. Perfect. Thank you so much. I saw that some people, they buy tickets and then when they arrive up, it's cloudy or not nice weather. If you arrive up and it's not nice weather, can you ask for refund? No. Because before you buy ticket. Yes. We show you the picture first. Ah, you tell us. I tell you. That's why. It's not nearly. It's cloudy. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. OK. OK. OK. OK. Thank you. Thank you so much. Every 10 minutes. Wow. This station is so pretty. This is so nice. OK. Thank you. Thank you. Come on. Oh, thank you. Wow. So, it departs every 10 minutes. We're in the funicular. Ready to go. Yeah. I think we're departing because the door just closed. I just read that the way we're doing right now, it's, this one is six minutes, but around two kilometers. So, until the top, normally, if we would walk, we would need two or three days. Oh, this was so fast and so nice. I really enjoyed it. And the view was so pretty, especially if you go to the front of the funicular. Look at this. This is so pretty. Look at this. This is so pretty. OK. Going up to the second transportation method we're going to take. I'm really excited. Rose Garden. I'm wondering if you can visit inside. So, maybe when we come back, you can also visit inside. And look at this. This is so pretty. Oh, this is so pretty. So, so, so many places where you can take nice photos. I'm not sure where we're going, but my guess is that we're going up. So, I think so. Yeah. Cable car station. I think it's up and the funicular is where we come from. It's a little bit of walking and it's an inclined way, but the view is so pretty, especially with all the flowers. I really enjoy it. And the weather is a lot cooler, so you can already feel the difference. Oh, what is this? Is it like a small village? Look at this. Traditional clothes. A horse. This is so nice. This is like a place for performances. Look at this beautiful temple. This is so pretty. Wow, this is so impressive. This is so beautiful. I am so surprised by everything I see. And I think we will take the cable car from here. I can see coffee places, places for buying souvenirs. Aha, going downstairs. Okay, let's go. Thank you. Come on. The cable car station is huge. Huge. There's a bit of walking between the funicular station and the cable car station. Okay, let's go. See you. Bye-bye. Oh, I'm a little bit worried. Look at this. It's very modern, right? It's a glass cable car, so you have like a 360-degree view, which is really nice. It has three ropes, and they say it's record-breaking. So, it's the longest cable car on three ropes in the world. There are more trees here, so no rice fields. You are in the mountains, and you can see you are so up in the sky. But this cabin is really steady. It's huge, like a huge cabin. The vibe is so scenic, a little bit not cloudy, but I think we are in the clouds. And right now, we have to head to the Fancy Pants Summit. The weather is perfect. That's why I feel dizzy. We're really up. They said take breaks, but it's because of the altitude. This is so crazy. I didn't expect this, but I wanted to say I don't see anything. There's a gong here, and I think that on those red hearts, you can make a wish. This trip is never-ending. There is a third funicular that we take to go up, and it's this one. Come on in. Thank you. I just filmed the tower in the back, and now I cannot see it anymore because of the clouds. This is so crazy. I almost cannot see anything. One minute, you can see the way. The other minute, you don't see anything. This is so interesting. Such an interesting experience. This way up is really scary. Maybe more than 90 degrees. It's crazy. I think two minutes, something like that, very, very fast. Quick recap. Walk back to the cable car. You go this way. Summit, you need to go in front. And if you want to take the funicular, that we just do, we will go this way. And you see the flags over there in the back. So actually, I think you can take one flag and raise it like this. That symbolizes that you kind of won. You conquered. You arrived to the highest peak in the Indochina Peninsula. It's so crazy. I just met some people who came all the way up. They said five, six hours. It took five, six hours to come all the way up, and they have the medal. So that's why I saw the medal. I wanted to ask them how was the experience. And they said it's very, I think very rewarding. But they said they are going all the way down again by walking. This is so brave. No, no, I don't think we can do this. But this is so impressive. If you don't climb all the way here, it's easy. This is the way down. But unfortunately, we still have no visibility. We also made it to the pagoda. I think the highest pagoda in Vietnam. And there's a big temple complex that you can visit here. So this is what I find really beautiful. The process of making to the top. And the view also from the monorail. It's really nice. It's a lot to see. You can easily spend one day if you want to visit every single corner. This is so magical. We might not have a view, but this is a magical experience. I also think it's very rare to see the beautiful view from the top because we are on the top of the mountain. So it's more likely to be clouded and to have less visibility. Have you been to Sapa? Did you visit? Did you have good visibility? Were you able to see anything? Let me know. And also let me know if you're planning to visit Sapa or if you're planning to visit Vietnam soon. If you liked what we did so far, don't forget to leave Elias and I a thumbs up. And also subscribe to Molina's Vibe if you want to join our small family. Our tour at Phan Si Phan was really beautiful. Really worth the experience. We enjoyed it so much. And now you're back in the city center where there is a beautiful lake where you can walk around at sunset or during the daytime. But I think that at sunset the view isn't real. So beautiful and so relaxing. So this is how we're going to end today and we'll see you tomorrow. Good morning from the rooftop of our accommodation. Imagine this is the view we have here at the restaurant of the accommodation we stay in. You can get this view almost everywhere in Sapa because Sapa is very hilly. So there are many many hotels where you have nice views on the terraces or even from your room. And this is one of the things I love the most about Sapa. We are going to take again the scooter, see some rice fields and maybe a waterfall also. And then come back to the city, explore a little bit the city center and maybe do some shopping also. So let's go. We are right now on the way to the place we're going to and I wanted to make a quick stop to show you how beautiful the view is. So if you want to drive a scooter, if you are comfortable with driving a scooter, I suggest you to add the location we were yesterday at and the location we're going to today and witness these beautiful views. You can also walk around but it's a little bit of a walking, maybe more than one hour of walking. And over there, there's Elias waiting for me to finish recording. Maybe I'll take some photos also here because it's really really beautiful. And this being said, I'll see you from the next location. Okay, this is the place we're going to. I will show you the view. This is the view. Look at this. Unreal. We came a long way but not too long way to enjoy this place. So right now I'm really really excited. We've actually previously been here before but... Hello! But we didn't film from here and I really want to show you this place because they have a beautiful seating area just in front of the rice fields. You have such a beautiful panoramic view here and I think it's so beautiful and you also have the river view. You know what Asian people love to do the most? It's taking beautiful photos. So this place is also very suitable for taking beautiful photos around. We are going to order now and we got one salted coffee and one coconut coffee and each of them was 80,000. You need to try the coconut coffee, the salted coffee and they are really really delicious. So I do recommend you to get outside of your comfort zone and order them. Thank you. Thank you. So we have an order number that we're taking to our table. Look at this view. It's so real. It's not real. This cannot be real. I'm a huge coffee lover so you can also support me by buying me a coffee and I will show you where I drink it. Today I drink it here. We are back in the city and I think it's about time we have some lunch and for the lunch there is one thing we particularly adore here in Vietnam which is banh mi. So we are searching for a good banh mi here that we can peacefully enjoy. Let's find it. Oh this is so pretty. I will show you. There's a sort of an alley and there's so much greenery and it's so it's so scenic. I love it. This is the place. I will give you the location also and it's very pretty. I really hope the food is going to be really good so I can properly recommend it to you. The funny part is that we came here for banh mi but banh mi is actually only for breakfast so they didn't have it anymore and we decided to get instead some traditional dishes and this is rice with vegetables and I think with tofu also but what is really interesting and what made me order this is that the rice is from here from Sapa and Elia's got some noodle soup I think with a cracker and also with some vegetables and my rice also came with some soup. What I also really like in Vietnam is that almost everywhere they serve you water so they have a table with water where you can serve yourself actually so no need to order it. This place was such a hidden gem. The food is approved, the portions were very generous, the atmosphere is really beautiful. The best way to see as much as you can in a city is to take a scooter but the best way to deeply explore that place is to walk so we just dropped our scooter and right now we're walking around the center of Sapa, the central part of Sapa which is this area and this is one of my favorite areas in here because at night all these restaurants here turn on their neon lights and it's a super cool vibe. I really enjoy it, I really love it and they are selling so many local snacks here for example this cake I don't know what is the name of this cake but I tried it today this morning. Ask the lady here I don't know the name of it so if you know please let me know in the comments because I really really enjoy it. Look here they are having something with durian. Ah with durian oh this is nice and maybe peach oh corn this is so interesting this is so unique to see and many snacks I think jackfruit yeah jackfruit I don't know the English name for this one actually and nuts and maybe mango mango spicy wow this is so cool so many I see again this cake but I don't know what what is the name of this one what is the name and in Vietnamese chest chestnut chestnut and and this one almond almond no this is a chestnut walnut and almond and this one bean bean mung bean chestnut with mung bean ten thousand one which one I want to try this one can we have one like this place yeah with a bean and then you want to try also or you share with me yeah we will share sharing is sharing ten thousand only oh she's making oh okay she's making it hot over there okay come on thank you come on thank you oh look at this one oh it's so hot it's so hot really really hot chestnut she told me it's chestnut so I don't know why it was written red bean but it's so delicious please try it when you come it's not too sweet which is a compliment here in Asia if something is not too sweet and it's delicious this is exactly what I was telling you about right now I want to go to the I think it's called the is a central point in front of what is that the the name of that building I always say train station but it's actually the station where you take the monorail from in front of it it's a very big amphitheater and in front of the amphitheater there's a beautiful church let's see you can see the stone church over there and here is the big amphitheater what is really beautiful about Sapa is that it was transformed into a French colonial capital so that's why the architecture here is very different from the architecture in the rest of Vietnam and also it's reopened to tourism recently I think 30 or 33 years ago we saw it online it's incredible that since we came here last time many things changed they are improving the infrastructure because right now the roads outside the city center are so much better than the last time and it's so beautiful it's so beautiful by night it will forever be one of my favorite places in Vietnam and this is also why we decided to come here and what is also unique and very interesting about Sapa is that you will find so many street vendors and so many kids will come to you do you want to buy this do you want to buy this if you want to buy and support them you can easily do it everywhere here around the city this being said I think it's time for us to wrap up today's episode thank you so much for watching if you like what we did today don't forget to give Elias and I a thumbs up and we have a family a small family of 34,000 people so if you want to join the family don't forget to subscribe to Melina's vibe there is one more destination we want to discover in Vietnam it's going to be a surprise location for us also because it's going to be the first time we're traveling there so I will see you in the next episode bye