To enter Ta Phin Village, visitors need to pay VND 5,000. To me it was a no-brainer, just like you been asked to pay in order just to get into a city, much more like daylight robbery. Anyway I don’t mind if the money been used to develop the village and their livelihood, which is very much still in native and primitive condition.
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Water buffalos were still very much in used in Sapa to cultivate the land. After all Vietnam is still considered an underdeveloped country, but the method I think is too primitive.

After a short rest at Sapa town, we continued to drive to Ta Phin Village. On the way, I asked this guy for the way to Ta Phin village, didn’t notice that he was actually holding a snake.
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The church is located at the center of Sapa town.

Hoang Lian Hotel is prominently located in Sapa town center, facing a grass field. Here at Sapa, other than some minorities, most people dressed modernly.

Thac Bac Silver Waterfall is about 100 m tall
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We then went to Thac Bac (Silver Waterfall). There were a lot of stalls lined up beside the entrance to waterfall, and they were not embarassed to ask us to park our motorcycle at their stall. The treat is, you have to buy something from them so that they will look after the bike for you. They all seemed know the rules, as most guide books mention about it. Even the guy who borrowed us the Honda bike suggested us to buy something for about VND 2,000, but we ended up paying much more than that.
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Tram Ton Pass, the highest mountain pass in Vietnam is located 14 km from Sapa, 3 km farther toward Lai Chau from Thac Bac. Here was the view of the road towards Sapa from Tram Ton Pass.
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View of the Sapa valley beside Mountain View Hotel
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We tried to rent a bike at Mountain View Hotel. They insisted USD $10 for a bike per day. I felt that it’s too expensive. Later a guy approached us on the street, willing to rent us his Honda motorcycle for USD $6 a day, or USD $7 inclusive of petrol. So we made a deal for the bike and petrol.
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