Finally Sapa!

Finally Sapa!

     When my students at Mickelson Middle School and I first spent a day looking at images from Vietnam, I KNEW I had to visit Sapa in the northeast of the country, fairly close to the Chinese border.  The town of Sapa is best known for its beautiful, terraced rice paddies.  Although our tour guide was apologetic that this was not the best time of year to visit because most of the fields are still not planted, we found the entire area to be strikingly beautiful!  (According to our guide the most beautiful time is at harvest in October when the fields are golden.)  We've seen Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh, but Sapa and the walk (hike) through the neighboring villages was by far the best!

     So, we took the night train from Hanoi to the town of Lao Cai, which is two kilometers from the Chinese border.  We booked a berth which included two sets of bunk beds and found ourselves traveling with two English teachers, one from Spain and the other from the Philippines.  Amazingly, we settled into our bunks, with poor Bob's legs hanging over the end, and slept fairly well for the trip to Lao Cai.  Arriving in Lao Cai at 5:30, we set off for the last leg of the journey by van since the train doesn't go as far as Sapa.

    Sapa has an interesting history as a French resort although most of what is present Sapa is relatively new.  History of Sapa

    Most tourists spend the days in Sapa hiking through the small villages just south of the town, and we did the same. These villages are comprised of theses three ethnic groups: Black Hmong, Red Dao, and the Dzay.  After a wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel, we set off for a walk through Cat Cat village and waterfall.  Our guide informed us that Cat Cat meant waterfall in French, but it doesn't seem to mean that at all.    Village walk  and a better video of Cat Cat village Cat Cat village. After our walk through Cat Cat village and a stop at its waterfall, we headed to Dragon Mountain.   View from Dragon Mountain  Then we returned to the hotel for lunch and set off to Fansipan Mountain, the highest peak in Vietnam.

    Fansipan has a cable car running from Sapa to its base, so we decided it was worth the trip to head off on our own to see "where Heaven and Earth meet."  Cable car ride  Unfortunately, the peak remained in the fog throughout our two days in Sapa!  However, the view from the near-top, underneath the clouds, was breathtaking!  If the clouds had lifted, we would have seen this! view

    The next morning we set off on another walk through a neighboring village.  Bob says this day was the highlight of the trip.  I think that might be because he saw several pigs and very few tourists!  We were about the only ones out early on this Sunday morning and were thrilled to watch the locals at their farming.  transplanting rice

     One of the highlights for most tourists is the visit to the Bac Ha market, which is held every Sunday.  When I booked our trip to Sapa, I had assumed (!) that this would be the market trip that was being mentioned.  Not so.  When we asked about it, the guide informed us that the market was three hours from Sapa- not quite- but close enough.  Actually, I thought I would be terribly disappointed by missing out on the market at Bac Ha, but after reading a bit more and feeling the pressure of the sales pitches in Sapa, I was ok with skipping the trip to Bac Ha market. Bac Ha Market Although, I  am sure I missed out on great gifts for everyone back home so don't expect much!

     There are serious issues facing those in Sapa and surrounding areas.  Of course, most tourists don't like to be bothered by those thoughts when on vacation, but just in case you are interested in the lives of locals outside of farming, handicrafts, and tourism, check out this site:  issues and opportunity