After an eight hour train ride (supposed to be five only)
from Hanoi and an hour's bus ride from Lao Cai,
we arrived at Sapa, a tourist magnet town in North West Vietnam.
We got off the van at doorsteps of our hotel.
What we saw around in the little misty town was
soul refreshing and the view beyond, breathtaking.
It felt like we finally started to find what we were looking for.
The arrangement made by our travel agency, Handspan,
was fantastic. From Hanoi airport pick up to this moment,
they had not missed a beat, it was incredibly good service, I
am sure I will write about them later in the Vietnam series.
Town of Sapa is a busy little town or a village full of
small congested building, souvenir and travel accessory shops,
restaurants and local manufacturers producing local
handicrafts, sculptures, clothes and gift items.
Town of Sapa.
We started off trekking right after having a small breakfast
upon our arrival. After about half an our walk around
town, we branched off the dirt road heading towards
Ta Phin valley, the residency of local H'mong people.
The village is a frozen in time snapshot of rural life
probably in middle ages with very little touch of
modernity.
H'mong children in front of their house
Village has trails and we walked on the paddy fields
directly on the walkways made at the edges.
That means we came as close as we can get to
the plantations, people and their surrounding.
The walks were a calm, out of the rat race experience
that is unforgettable. It is hard not to get astounded by
the natural beauty of the place and the people in
these villages.
Farming in the terraced fields seem to be
the major occupancy of the locals. However,
you would also come across a lot of women
making their traditional clothing, robes getting
dyed up with black ink and put to dry up in the sun.
Lot of locals are also involved in making other
hand made goods such as the handbags, gift items
and shoes. People labour in the beautiful
landscape looked upon by green mountains all around.
It was primitive, pure and simply awesome.
Picturesque buffalo sheds, farms,
children, cottages made of bamboo fill up the scene.
Water buffaloes were found either working hard with
the farmers ploughing or just resting up in the mud
pools. They seem a curios bunch as they look at
you directly and follow you with their eyes
where you are going. It appeared
they were as curious to see us as we were to seem them.
Lots of black pigs, chicken, ducks, dogs were busy
with their lives too. So were the children who
would regularly yell 'ello' at us.
Mr Buff from Sapa.
Our guide, Quy, was a local and was excellent at his job.
He had a real grip on the knowledge about local culture,
people, history of entire Vietnam, plants and crops in the
region. His English was also fluent. His guidance made a huge
difference to our trip in Sapa. All the thanks to him.
Occasionally we would take a break and sit down in a
local restaurant to have a drink or lunch. Locals were
friendly and inviting even we were not buying anything.
Went trekking to another village the next day, it was
again a similar out of our world experienced that we
will never forget and definitely come back one day just
to check how thing have changed.
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