Hanoi - Sapa Hotel Day 2

21-Nov-2017, Sapa - Our last stop is back to the first hotel we arrived at, Panorama Hotel. The tour agency is actually at the ground floor of this hotel, along with a hiking lobby where you can store your luggage, take a bath, freshen up, get a massage etc. Convenient. And they serve breakfast when we first arrived in Sapa here, and our last meal of dinner would also be here. The start and end of our journey.

Above is basically what the breakfast buffet would look like. You can just go to the corner at the right side and load up anything you like and get a seat. Wifi is available although a bit weak at times. The place was beautifully decorated. Kinda reminded me of some Korean country resort. 

This is actually the hotel reception area. We weren't staying here, so never used the service before. But it just looks so cosy.

And I just love it when there are beautiful art pieces decorating the place.

And cosy corner with fresh flower is always a thumbs up!

They also have this whole wall of pickles and preserved stuff. Apparently some are actually local alcohol! We did ordered one glass for dinner, and it felt and taste like gasoline if ever I imagine what gasoline taste like! Super strong!

There was significantly less people when we came here for our dinner. We were actually early, having dinner at around 5pm. Dinner was provided, and they were rather generous with the food. Below is what we got: one starter which we both ordered spring rolls, a main consisting of meat/fish teppanyaki style and rice, and dessert which I ordered pancakes! The food was too oily and strong in seasoning for me after having village food for the past two days. But it was value for money!

To close of the entry on Sapa, I will share that our whole trip of 4 night 3 day in Sapa cost us around SGD350 per person which is inclusive of: 

• Return night sleeper train to and from Hanoi
• Train station transfer by car at Hanoi
• Train station transfer by car at Sapa
• 1 breakfast
• 2 lunch
• 1 dinner
• 2 days guided hike
• entry tickets to villages
• 1 night hotel stay

Just to note, nobody pick us up when we arrive via train at Hanoi. We waited about half and hour and decided to walk to our hotels instead. I thought that was kind of a wasted ending to an other wise quite an enjoyable tour. To fail at the last leg seems to put to waste all the effort that everyone have put in for the whole trip. I didn't feedback to them officially since they didn't follow up with a post trip survey either. Yes the package was expensive. We could have probably found a cheaper alternative. But I have no regret selecting this tour, especially if the locals learn from our trip, I am OK with it.

Ref:
Sapa Tour Reference