Sapa Tours

Oc Saigon is now part of Saigonese culture

toiban009 — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 02:25:10 +0000

Saigon has so many dishes made of mollusk and crustacean species that people call them simply oc (snail). And now oc is part of Saigonese life.

It is easy to find snail eateries as they are everywhere in Saigon, from downtown to outlying areas, from big restaurants in main streets to small bistros off alleys or along the city’s many canals. Don’t think for a minute snail dishes are only for beer drinkers, as it is a favorite snack for both young and elderly Saigonese, from students to executive and clerical officers, from cyclo drivers to glamorous celebrities.

Snail eateries often open from late afternoon to midnight. When students finish classes or workers gather to eat and make some jokes with friends before they head home. Middle-aged men with drinking companions enjoy idle talk while women come to satisfy their eating pleasure and gossip with their buddies. Also, celebrities come to sample something from home instead of signature Western foods in luxury restaurants.

People call them snail restaurants but they serve many kinds of dishes to meet diverse options of diners. From many kinds of snails such as oc buou (middle-sized snail), oc huong (sweet snail), finger snail or oc mo (fat snail), diners can also enjoy clams, oysters, shrimps, crab and duck embryos. They are often made with lemon grass, lemon leaves, tamarind and garlic – boiled, grilled or steam fried to balance the flavor of the seafood and make them delicious.

In some snail stalls, revelers can also find other dishes made of pork, beef, rabbit, ostrich and many kinds of hotpots. Therefore, boiled oc buou with lemon leaves, fried oc mo with tamarind, grilled oyster with onion fat, steamed oc len with coconut juice, steamed clam with lemon grass, snail salad, fried crab or shrimp with chili salt, grilled chicken wings, legs or fried rau muong (water spinach) with garlic, seafood fried rice and fish or beef hotpot are some popular dishes for oc lovers.

The price depends on location and season. But the dishes often cost from VND30,000 to VND100,000 a dish.

Beer or a soft drink like coca-cola are suitable drinks for snail eaters who are recommended not to drink fruit juice or sweet soup while eating snail dishes to ensure they don’t get stomach trouble. If you are also an oc addict, why don’t you make an evening out with your friends when you finish work today. I make a bet on that you will have a lot of fun and will enjoy some tasty delights.

The best & worst of our trip

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:59:57 +0000

Sapa is an amazing place, well worth the night train there and back.
Walking through the valley with rice paddies terraced either side is like walking through another world, it is a must see in life.
TV shows or pictures just do not to them justice, the colours are amazing on your eyes and the hard work that has gone into creating them has to be seen to be appreciated.
Definately one of the most amazing things we’ve seen in our lives.
The unfortunate thing about visiting the area is the damage we as tourists have done to their culture, the beautiful hill tribe locals (that we encountered) have gone from being self sufficient living off the land to “you buy from me” beggars for a better choice of word.
It’s really sad, whereever you go you are surrounded and followed by children as young as 3 years old all wanting you to buy something from them, far out, you can only buy so much before you’re just throwing money away.
Our kids loved the walk and the people, as did we, I just wish the dollar had not had such a detromentional effect on these beautiful (short) people.
Sapa is a must see but be prepared for “you buy from me” and when we return next time we will venture further into the mountains to experience the real hill tribes locals

my wonderful trekking trip

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:57:42 +0000

My husband convinced me to go on this tour and reluctantly I went along with it. I was pleased to find that personal attention was given to us during the entire trip. It felt like we were royalty as we were picked up by our guide at the Lao Cai train station and whisked away by car to Sa Pa to check in a have a brief rest. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the entire area and gave us in-depth tours of two ‘cat cat’ villages and a historic hydro station built during the French occupation.

Day 2 and 3 were no different – in fact I suspect our guide has some sort of history in the area as he knew more details than we could have ever imagined. Each night he specifically asked us if we needed anything, and in the mornings he asked if we had a good rest and if breakfast was to our satisfaction. While the tour was short in terms of time – it was packed full of adventure and service that we never imagined.

Visited July 2011

great weather , great people

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:55:13 +0000

I been in SAPA at March , the weather is cold about 17 c , we stayed there for two days
first day , we made trekking for 3 hours , we viisted local villages and took our lunch in traditional resturant , the food was great , the weather wa great and the people were great .
second day , we made trekking for 5 hours to the big valley , also the weather was great and the fog is heavy .
in fact we spent great time there and I want to come back with my wife .

Sapa – A beautiful place for trekking

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:53:00 +0000

Treking Sapa was the most wonderful part of our Vietnam trip. We took the trip as a family which includes me, my wife and my two children. Sapa is a beautiful place for trekking and relaxing. The trip took us through some of the most remote areas of Sapa where we occasionally met with some friendly local people.
We began our trip by walking through the beautiful Muong Hoa valley with lovely natural scenarios which was something pleasant. We also enjoyed our lunch by the river. We also trekked through Ta Trung Ho village, Ban Ho valley, Thanh Phu village, Sin Chai village, Ta thang village, etc. The green rice fields, the lovely natural vegetation, the waterfalls, the beautiful pools, terrace paddy cultivations, lovely valleys, bamboo forests, etc were quiet adorable.
At the night times, we usually put up at some village where local people received us warmly and offered some traditional Vietnamese delicacies. We also had the opportunity to meet with some little boys from the local schools. Their innocent smiling faces still stand fresh in our minds. My kids shared their toffees with them. Our trip was really an enjoyable one.

Visited June 2011

Great Going… Recommended!

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:50:26 +0000

As far as my personal experience goes, there are very few tour companies who can actually provide you with a wonderful and satisfying trekking experience. The reasons are varied… the most important of them is the lack of an expert tour guide with all the knowledge about the local areas, roots, languages etc. We were quite doubtful when we first opted for Sapa Trekking Company, but thankfully our trekking trip was a great success. Thanks to the tour guide, he was brilliant all the way. We would love to recommend trekking sapa company… great going…

Visited April 2011

Kept the promise of excellent services. Recommended!

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:47:05 +0000

The experience with our Sapa tour was memorable mostly because of the excellent services by our tour company Trekkingsapa. We were really happy with their services.

Our tour consisted of my complete family that includes me, my wife and the two lovely kids we have. All of us enjoyed every bit of our trip. The first day of our tour started with Sapa town highlights. We spent almost an hour at the traditional local market where people came wearing their traditional dresses, it was lovely to click them through the lenses. The other days of the tour were equally wonderful and some of the places where we visited and which were memorable for us include Silver Waterfall, Tram Ton Pass and Muong Hoa Valley. For the memories way back, my wife bought some handicrafts and embroidered clothes from the local market.

It was truly a memorable tour for us, the kids had a lot fun throughout the tour just in the way we had.

Visited February 2011

Sapa is the most interesting town in Vietnam

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:43:11 +0000

Trekking in Sapa for most tourists is simply walking to the local villages. Not very strenuous, but very interesting. The trek to Cat Cat village, Lao Cai, etc. Do not require a guide, but if you do hormone, go through the state agency in the center of town for good value and quality.

A good cooking school is worth your time, as is the trip to the Bac Ha market.

in sum, Sapa and it’s surrounding mountains and villages are the best sigthts we have seen in Vietnam.

what a creature

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:41:00 +0000

Just happen to access trekkingsapa website, I found this pretty attractive with promising tours and interesting information. Never travel to Vietnam, so I want to change the atmosphere by flying to Sapa Vietnam. And my trip is worth the cost. I was completely admired by the imposing beauty that nature grants for this place. Besides, I’d loved the terraced field too, but what I interested most is transplanting rice seedlings with the local farmer. Very very interesting. The night in Sapa is perfect. I enjoyed the seductive dance of Black H’mong tribe so much and still remembered the name of the beautiful girl who invited me.

My explorer in Vietnam just began.

Visited March 2011

Sapa Travelmate trek to seomity, ta trung ho and ban ho. 2nd most amazing place after chi phat

toiban009 — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 02:38:21 +0000

We booked this trek through Sapa starlight. The hotel is not the best but I didn’t dstay there and the guy who ran the place was friendly and helpful. Our guide , Luan was theer to meet me and we discussed the itinerary. The plan was to get a ride to Ta Van, head to SEOMIty for the first nightand then head to Ban ho for the second night.

I arrived in Ta Van and was really glad I didn’t stay. The place is a complete tourist trap, is wired up with electric,even neon signs outside bars. The local Black H’mong womwn just would not take no for an answer and followed us some way out of the village even though we had told them our destination.

That was soon forgotten as I climbed an easy track with luan and than our porter. We stayed at a farmhouse for lunch, the owners weren’t i and we were greeted by a young lass, no more than 4 or 5 years old who did her best to make us welcome. another couple of hous on and the track disappeared following a landslide. After a conversation with Than,Luan said we could either double back the way we came or take a rather steep mountain track to another village (i think it was Tha trung ho?) Anyway that was the start of an amazing trek down the side of the mountain on muddy slippy clay. Luan and Than were like mountain goats, even with 30kg pack on his back Than was amazingly agile and it was worth the cost of the trip to see him navigate down the maountain, talking to farmers in the paddies and eventually arriving at our village.

We were warmly welcomed, Luan told me we were the first visitors here for 3 months. I could believe it, the trek down the mountain was hard, but well worth the effort. We were cooked an amzing meal over an open fire and a wok (how do they do that?) and this was washed down with rather too much rice wine. Facilities were very basic but a really great place. Spent the evening teaching the kids to count to 10.
The next day we climbed up the other side of the valley and down into Ban Ho, a bit more touristy but a long way from reaching the levels of Ta Van. Our welcome was just a s warm and friendly and the food just as amazing.
Day 3 was a walk back up the hill to a road for the lift back to sapa. It was an awesome experience and physically tough going, but really worthwhile. Amazing Scenery, Amazing People. Well worth making the effort to go remote?