Sapa

Fog-shrouded Sapa allowed us to get out in the natural, remote beauty of northern Vietnam and also enjoy an eccentrically lavish hotel.

The day we arrived, after a four-hour drive from Hanoi, the mist was so thick that it was hard to see across the street. Things improved the next day, when we biked down from a mountain pass called Heaven’s Gate, with wonderful views of jagged slopes and terraced rice paddies.

We drove and hiked into hill villages where members of the Red Dao tribe live, selling rice, vegetables, farmed fish, and needlework. There were several guest houses where tourists could spend the night, including a spa with a number of rooms with soaking tubs for 4 people.

Another day, we took a lengthy cable-car trip to the top of Fansipan, the highest point in what was once known as French Indochina (parts of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).

One night we shared a warming hot-pot meal with our guide, Hai, and two of his friends at a restaurant called The Lizard. Our Thanksgiving Day meal was delicious local salmon and vegetable curry at Red Dzao House.

The Hotel de la Coupole lived up to its billing as an homage to French Indochine haute couture with a touch of Vietnamese hill tribe culture. We particularly admired the elegant cocktail bar Absinthe and Le Grand Bassin, the spectacular indoor swimming pool.

By our last day the fog had lifted enough to allow us to see the city of Sapa from our hotel roof.