Sa Pa

For the last few days of our around-the-world trip we decided to head up to Sa Pa in Northern Vietnam near the Chinese border.

Best known for the ethnic minority groups that live here we booked up for a two day trekking tour across the sloping rice terraces, forests and waterfalls that the locals call their home. 


Our first evening entailed getting the overnight train from Hanoi to Sa Pa (about a 12 hour journey). On the train we met Becca and Nicole who were to be on our trek as well.

Arriving at Lao Cai station at 7.00am we jumped on a minibus and met the rest of our tour group and headed through the Hoang Lien Son mountain range (the eastern extremity of the Himalayas) to Sa Pa town.

After a quick shower and breakfast we headed out on day one of our trek, 12km through the hills and villages of the Black H'mong people to our overnight home stay accommodation.

We were accompanied all morning by the women of the Black H'mong tribe. Most of the ethnic groups in the region are believed to have migrated to the area from China during the long occupation of the Chinese in Vietnam. As a result they have their own local dialect but many can also speak English, having learnt by accompanying tourists on their hill-treks which is pretty incredible as most of the children only go to primary school, if that.

The purpose of their accompaniment is of course to sell their goods at the end. With tourism only coming to the area fairly recently, the local people have experienced a rise in living conditions through the extra income they can make. With that in mind we didn't really mind that we were going to get ambushed at the end of the walk as their company was great, they helped us through a couple of the tough climbs and were really sweet to get to know. Mike and I spent most of our time with Su and Yi and when they left us at lunchtime we of course bought some bracelets from them.

After lunch we continued on our trek towards our home stay which was based in the village of the Giay people. On the way we met more of the H'mong people who showed us some of their traditions including how they grind rice and weave and die natural cloth indigo - which makes up their traditional costumes.

As we arrived at our home stay, very hot and sweaty, we were relieved to find that we were only five minutes away from the river and so headed down for a quick dip to cool off.

As the sun began to set we relaxed over a couple of well-earned beers and got to know our home stay family a bit better - namely the family's mischievous little boy and their plethora of pets. I quickly discovered that I am a sucker when it comes to puppies!

Very soon we were all ready for dinner. Yum.

The next morning after breakfast we continued on our trek towards a third ethnic village of the red dzao people via a bamboo forest and waterfall.

On the way we met lots of animals ... Mike went a bit animal photo crazy!!

Across the whole trip we also met lots of local children who often accompanied us on part of our walks. As most of their parents are working the land, harvesting the rice or at Sa Pa market these children are left during the day to fend for themselves and in many cases look after their younger siblings.

At the end of our second day trek it was time to head back to Lao Cai station for our train back to Hanoi for our last day before flying back to Bangkok and home. Our experience in Sa Pa was truly wonderful, made even better by the people we met (on our trek and locals) and the experience of the difference cultures set against the magnificent backdrop.