It was a long night train with sleeper bed from Hanoi to Lao Kai, the border town of Vietnam China in the North of Vietnam. Upon arriving on the cool December morning, we took another 1-2 hour van ride to the foot hill of Sapa, the trekking heaven of Vietnam.
I remember vividly, the start of the trek in the middle of rice paddy fields. It was December, and some of the fields were empty or had only short paddy grass.
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| Start of awesome trek |
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| Lower landscape |
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| The higher we went, the prettier the landscape |
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| Midway through the trek |
Along the trek, there were young hill tribe kids following us around, trying very hard to sell us the local ornaments by speaking in perfect English. They learnt English purely from tourism.
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| Future English teachers as they spoke perfect English |
The trek was a roller coaster walk, with ups and downs along the mountain ridges. The scenery was awesome, mountains and valleys near and far away. We passed by local villages, waving hands to the local black Hmong and red Dao hill tribes in their intricate and beautiful costumes with elaborate ornaments.
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| The Red Dao Hill Tribe |
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| Sewing in open air |
Finally, we reached the village guesthouse in the afternoon. We were greeted unofficially ceremoniously by the local hill tribes who wore colorful headsets and dresses.
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| Traditional rice grinding machine |
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| Dried corn |
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| Cooking with firewood in the house |
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| Our guest beds |
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| A village view |
Later, we explored the village. There was a small stream with bridge that formed part of a washing area for the villagers. There was even a mini waterfall after the stream for a refreshing cool down.
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| Crossing a stream in the backyard |
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| Mini Waterfall |
It was a cold winter night, where we had a nice warm dinner on a little table with low cute chairs.
The next morning, we had a warm breakfast on the porch of the guesthouse, overlooking the mountain valley on a blessed Christmas Day.
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| Porch for breakfast |
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| A western breakfast in an eastern home |
It was time to leave the peaceful nature. As we trekked out from the village, my mind was blown away with the awesome scenery of the mountain and valley in bright sunshine. Wow, a Swiss Alps in Vietnam!
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| A local school in the mountain |
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Approaching the finale of the trek
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Sapa Valley is indeed a beautiful place with beautiful people . We only managed to spend a few hours there with very minimal trekking. Your blog is great as it took me into their homes and showed me a little bit about their lifestyles. Among other things , the one fact I remember clearly is that the female population are the bread winners in the family and they start as early as childhood.
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