If you are visiting Sapa via train from Hanoi, you will need to stop at the provincial capital of Lao Cai -- a bustling town right by the international border crossing between Vietnam and China. Open from 07:00-17:00, this border crossing is a handy entry point for those planning on heading into Kunming, and while the Chinese border town of Hekou is a dive, it is a straightforward undertaking to get out of there and onwards further in to China.

If Lao Cai looks kind of new to you, that's because it is. The town was largely flattened by the Chinese during their invasion of 1979 and the international border crossing here did not re-open till the early 1990's. What you see today, including many of the glorious concrete egg-carton-style buildings are just 25 years old.

Being destroyed by the Chinese aside, Lao Cai's biggest selling point is its fleet of little white electric cars. Easily recogniseable as the white buggies that roam golf courses the world over, in Lao Cai they've been let off the greens and onto the streets in a somewhat bizarre attempt to boost tourism. To say that these whizzing little carts are the highlight of a visit to Lao Cai isn't far off the truth and should help to indicate just how long you need to stay here.