We did it. We climbed Mt Fansipan today! We found a deal for $44 per person (still a rip off) and decided to book with that hostel.
There were 3 Israeli's, the 3 of us and 2 elderly Russians. The Israeli's were friendly and a lot of fun to talk to, but the Russians were slow, jaded and looked like they had at one point been an active member of the Mafia... Seriously, the dude had scars across is face, tatoos across his arms, and talked with the deepest threatening accent I could imagine.
The walk was beautiful. It was green and luscious. We often found ourselves suspended in clouds for 15 minutes at a time, but once they cleared the beautiful surroundings opened up for us. When we got to the top, we found that the Vietnamese were building a hotel at the very top. There was loud construction work, incompleted stairs, and a perfectly functioning gondola. I personally hated that they were building a hostel up this high for 2 reasons: 1) it was destroying the natural beauty of the summit and 2) I don't think it'll even be that popular since no fancy rich westerner could cope with minor altidude sickness at 3100m. That being said, the total climb took 13 hours to comolete, so I changed my mind about the working gondola pretty quick.
Later on that night I went out drinking with the Israeli's. They had managed to find a place selling home brew beer in recycled plastic bottles. They were only 15000 dong ($0.8) per litre!! Trust the Jews to find a good economic bargain, eh? I really enjoyed that night, they told me heaps about Israeli culture as far as their military and religion was concerned. I think Israel will be the next place I visit on my next trip.
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