After 6 hours on a sleeper bus from Hanoi, Mr. Jojo Di can can (27 years old, Philippines, currently living and working in Hai Phong) and a group of friends stopped in Sa Pa at 6:30 a.m. on a late January day.
The group had breakfast in a local restaurant and bought tickets, taking a cable car straight to Fansipan peak as soon as they arrived in Lao Cai. The group's goal was to "hunt" for snow on the top of Fansipan, so they did not spend much time exploring Sa Pa.
Before the trip on January 27, his friends had watched the weather forecast in the locality. Despite constantly verifying photos taken in Fansipan, Jojo and his friends are skeptical that a tropical country like Vietnam would see snowfall.
To be honest, Im not sure if those landscape photos are real or edited. snow in Vietnam? I find it a bit unbelievable, the male tourist expressed.
Coming to Fansipan peak at 8:45 a.m., the group of young tourists from the Philippines were immediately welcomed with a contrasting white scene on the high mountain. All the branches of the trees and railings were covered with white snow on the ground.
The weather was cold, maybe the temperature dropped to nearly -3 degrees Celsius or even colder, but the snow made the landscape around me a miracle. At that time, I did not pay attention to the cold because I was too immersed in the beauty of white snow. For me, it was a surreal experience.
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Jojo honestly felt like he was returning as a 5-year-old child, filled with excitement when standing on snow for the first time in his life. He tries to stay outdoors as long as possible, to mold snowballs, take photos and immerse himself in the rare moment on the "roof of Indochina".
Michael John Escosio (26 years old), a friend of Jojo Diotay, revealed that the group spent the whole morning on top of Fansipan watching the snow. Because it was the first time they touched snow, they wanted to make the most of the time they had in Sa Pa.
Before this trip, not just him, but his group of friends had seen photos and videos of snow. Indeed, there is nothing like experiencing Fansipan directly - an unforgettable memory for tourists from tropical countries in Southeast Asia.
The 9X male tourist could not hide his happiness: "Seeing the snow in person was great! Our whole group, everyone was excited. We spent a lot of time taking photos, touching the snow, playing with the snow, even bringing the Philippine flag to capture those moments.
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Grass on the top of Fansipan mountain from an altitude of 2,800 m or more is covered by a layer of white snow in the last days of January 2025. The space here is as beautiful as the sky in Europe after a snow-white night, the temperature dropped to -6 degrees Celsius. The phenomenon of frost lasting for many consecutive days and the rare snowfall of winter attracted tourists to Sa Pa.