VietNamNet Bridge – Two days at the Topas Ecolodge resort in Sapa, Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend stayed in a special bungalow and enjoyed a lot of Vietnamese cuisines.
Topas Ecolodge resort is located in the 10ha Muong Hoa valley. The resort has 25 rock-made bungalows on hills. The resort’s managers said that Zuckerberg and his escorts hired high-class bungalows, which cost $135/night.

To give visitors private and quiet moments, bungalows in this resort do not have TV sets or telephones. This is the reason the Facebook CEO chose this place. He told the resort’s staff that he has only two weeks’ rest a year so he really likes peaceful places.

Zuckerberg and his friends enjoyed a special menus at Topas, including specialties of Vietnam and Sapa like rice, pho, nem (spring roll), fried su su vegetable, grilled fish (fish caught from local streams), grilled pork, Sapa mushrooms, etc.

“Zuckerberg and his friends praised our cuisines all the time. His girlfriend Priscilla Chan asked us recipes,” a resort employee said.

On December 26, Topas resort organized a walking and cycling tour to villages of Dao, Tay and Xa Pho ethnic minority groups to Zuckerberg and his friends. These people tried many folk games of locals like nem con, bit mat bat de (blindman’s buff), etc.

After the dinner, American visitors enjoyed Mong music and dances, performed by Mong children. “Mark and his friends highly appreciated the show. They were very easy and close, not like VIPs,” a resort staff said.

In the morning of 27, Zuckerberg and his friends returned to Lao Cai city and then to Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi on two helicopters.

After that the group flew to the central city of Danang. He is now in the ancient town of Hoi An.

Mark Zuckerberg, 27, is one of the two youngest billionaires in the US. He is best known for co-creating the social networking site Facebook, of which he is chief executive and president. It was co-founded as a private company in 2004 by Zuckerberg and classmates Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, and Chris Hughes while they were students at Harvard University. In 2010, Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's Person of the Year. As of 2011, his personal wealth was estimated to be $17.5 billion.

Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Priscilla Chan choose Vietnam as the place to welcome the Christmas.

PV