1. Where is Hekou?

Lao Cai is famous for
many destinations attracting tourists, especially Sapa – foggy area with
non-stop joyness. However, lately, there is a place of a foreign country
becoming famous among netizens, just 6km away from the center of Lao Cai.
Coming here, you are totally comfortable to go shopping, discovering the
cuisine of China and taking check-in photos with amazing backgrounds.

This brand-new
destination is Ha Khau (Hekou) - an autonomous district in southern of Yunnan
province, China, separated Lao Cai – Vietnam from China with Ho Kieu Bridge - Nam
Thi River. Although not comparable to Shanghai, Beijing or major centers in
China, but Hekou still has its own beauty, still bustling, vibrant with
commercial centers and shops.

Go through Ho Kieu Bridge to Hekou - China

Here I will make a review on my trip focusing on travelling costs and experiences !!

2. How to go to Hekou?

I chose to travel by
train from Hanoi to Lao Cai and it costs me 540,000 VND/round trip. You should
take the train at night time and the next morning you will arrive in Lao Cai then
you will have a full day trip to Ha Khau. I departed at 9:30 pm on Saturday
night and arrive at Lao Cai station at 5.30 am. From here you can take a taxi
or Grab to the gate, which takes about 40,000 – 50,000 VND. After breakfast and
a little rest, it is possible to go to the border at 7:00.

In addition, you can
take a bus to Lao Cai from Hanoi bus stations, it only takes 5 hours of
travelling with the tickets from 230,000 – 250,000 VND. You should take a
sleeper bus so that you will feel more comfortable and your body will not get
exhausted. However after my trip, I realized that it’s much better for you to
take a sleeper train. Because the final sleeper bus to go back is 7pm while the
border gate closes at 9-10pm. If you go by train, you will have more time to
explore Hekou and then at 10 PM, you get on the train, enjoy a good sleep and
arrive in Hanoi at 5:30 am of the next day, have breakfast and back to school
or back to work.

3. Preparing Entry and
Exist Permit to Hekou

If you want to cross
the border, you have to make an Entry and Exit Permit. I made an Entry and Exit
Permit which costed me 350,000 VND for total, you can your passport immediately
by using service provider. You need to provide ID and 2 passport size photos.
The expiry date of the permit is 30 days, but only one time visiting China and
going back within a day is permitted. In addition, there was a guide taking you
to the border and end of the day, take you back.

If you already have a Chinese
visa, you don't need to apply for this Permit.

4. What to eat, what to play in Hekou?

Before going to Hekou, don't forget to change money! Along the road in front of the border gate
there are lots of money exchange shop, 1 NDT = 3,500 VND. There are also many Vietnamese people and Vietnamese traders in Hekou, so you still can spend Vietnamese money but the price will be inflated. Eating here is
extremely cheap, so don't change too much money unless you want to shop.
And you also can pay via WeChat or Airpay, even in street vendors.

Going to Hekou, no need to worry about the food, many kinds of food available for you to choose and the price is
extremely "stable". The highlight is food street stretching from
the border gate to Tu Ban park. I had the opportunity to enjoy 123Smile milk tea
(the price is from 6 to 12 NDT) and kebab shop owned by Uncle with bald head (2NDT/piece, you have to buy 10 pieces per time). And found it as good as rumors. In
addition, we also tried dumplings, char siu (7NDT/tray),  french fries mixed with chili, baked tofu with salt and pepper.

 Super delicious French fries mixed with chili

There are many delicious dishes for you to enjoy and believe me that you can choose any restaurants to try and you will not be disappointed at all. In addition, there is a Dicos chicken shop quite famous, you can try chicken here and also can visit supermarket on the second floor. I did get lost because of the many fruit cakes of which packaging is eye-catching, and super cute.

Beside eating and drinking, you also need some places to visit, right? Although it is modern, but the architecture is in the style of the 90s, beautiful and nostalgic, very quiet, holding up a camera at one corner also has a beautiful picture. Well perhaps because of that, the toilet here is totally dirty, a little scary and inconvenient but the secret is to close your eyes and "let go".

The street of the 90s style

We just went to the cafes to hang out and watch the streets and take photos for virtual life. The streets here are not noisy because people mainly travel by cars, electric motorbikes and walking.

The streets are quiet and comfortable for walking and enjoying

A street corner in Hekou

After discovering food and street in Hekou, around 4pm, we took a taxi to the Park of Light and it cost us about 15 NDT. The architecture here look a little bit ancient and is very romantic. If anyone in love with Phuong Hoang town, they should go here to view it immediately!

Beautiful scenery with charming style, charming paint

Discovering the styles, taking thousands of photos, it was about 6pm, the park started to light up. At this time, the whole space shimmered with the name of the Park of Light. At this time, the beautiful scenery enchanted and took pictures well.

Back in the center, the street lights up, the shops are crowded, the scenery is like that of a Hong Kong movie. We looked for a restaurant for dinner and then quickly went to the border gate and waited for the guide to take us back to Lao Cai. About 10 pm, I got on the train to Hanoi and ended the interesting trip.

The total cost for Hekou - China trip is about 1,300,000 - 1,400,000 VND, if you don't buy gifts or food, you can save about 200,000 VND, quite cheap and worth for an interesting border crossing trip.