Hike was great with a local guide, Bing. Guide is mandatory. Cost $150 for private guide for 2 people. Plus another $33 per person if you want to take the cable car down. To save money, you can hike it down and will take 5-6 hrs to hike down. We decided to take the cable car due to knee discomfort. The trail itself is easy to follow, steep in many places with tons of stairs, ladders and rocks with lots of slippery sections. Our biggest challenge was the altitude. We have been at sea level for a long time, arrived Sapa yesterday and went for this hike with less than 24 hrs since arrival. It would be helpful if we climatized first for at least 48 hrs before doing this hike. This will allow the body to acclimate. As we were hiking higher and higher, our breathing became more laboured and often I would take deep breaths but it felt my lungs were not filling up completely. The trailhead started at 1500 meter high and we hiked up to 3142 meter. Mt Fansipan is the highest mountain in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. We were very lucky the weather was in our favour. Rained a bit on the lower elevation but didn’t last long. We were in the fog most of the time but with occasional clearing. When it was clear we saw the valleys, view of the top. When we reached the top, we were lucky it cleared up and was reasonably warm.
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