We left Hanoi with our fantastic Vietnamese Dynamite towards Sapa !! in the extreme north of Vietnam, a mountainous region inhabited by numerous ethnic groups. Sapa is a town that had already warned us that it is very touristy, they had even recommended us to avoid it, skip it and go directly to Ha Giang … but it is also a mandatory stop on all tourist routes … for something it will be .. On this trip we were accompanied by Liam and Pepa, with their scooter.
We started the route and after half an hour we passed a crossroads with police officers directing traffic. We passed through the middle of the cars to turn right, and we had no problems, but Pepa and Liam did not have the same luck … they had stopped at the intersection … go!
Luckily we had already explained what they told us … to take the minimum money … they paid 90,000 Dongs, what they said they had, but they asked for 1 million … and if it strains, sneaks !!! The cause of the fine, obviously was not very clear … For our part, we have not stopped even once, we have crossed many times with police, and have always turned to ignore … The luck of the beginner. .. Even if they had stopped us we would have a story to explain … everything has its two faces …
On the way to Sapa is Bac Ha, a town where on Sundays there is a market where all the local people will sell their products, and we took advantage of the fact that it was Sunday to make a stop.
The market was quite large, with all kinds of products, local, agricultural, industrial. It is impressive the amount of different ethnic groups that gather there from different villages, with varied clothes, faces, hairstyles, handkerchiefs, as if a band were all the same, especially women, with shaved eyebrows … spectacle of cultures, races and customs … how beautiful …
As a market, we were impressed by the sale of water buffalo. In a field above the market was the area selling animals, but above all water buffalo … but what monkeys are!
Some 500 kg beasts, with powerful horns, scary and with tender eyes … Well there we had about 100 animals gathered, each with its owner waiting for someone to take an interest in their animal and start bargaining. We ask and an animal costs about 2-3 million Dongs.
The most spectacular thing is when suddenly you saw people running agitated towards the side of the esplanade, that meant that two of the harmless buffaloes were measuring themselves, with those huge horns … better not to be in the middle … And once regained control people returned to theirs … A beautiful image, an ancient practice, with some animals that we found precious …
Moving away from the prices for tourists, we ate at a local restaurant, consisting of a rusty wooden table and two benches, serving rice and chicken with sauce, not bad at a very good price. And we continued our trip to Sapa.
The town of Sapa is basically an agglomeration of hotels, restaurants, works of more macrofanic hotels and North Face article stores … We stayed at the Asiana Sapa Hotel, booked by Booking.com, for 227,000 Dongs ($ 10) per night . Everything very correct, except breakfast, which was not the best …
Around Sapa there are several villages where different ethnic groups live, such as the Hmong, Dao Do, Tay and Giay. We, by time and recommendation, made an excursion to Lau Chai, 6 km from Sapa.
People usually hire a tour with a guide, usually from an ethnic group, that takes you between the rice fields. But we do not, as you may have guessed, we are quite grasradetes … so we look for the people in the browser and start the route …
Following the road we found that there was a check point where we had to pay an entrance … to continue to the next town … there were 100,000 Dongs per head … But just before, a road was diverted to the right … that we try our luck …
Following this road, we asked the campesinos how to get to Lau Chai, and thus we were finding the way, until we came to a very clear and marked path, that should be the way …
The path went between the rice fields, cut in the mountains, like steps of a very lively green, with the image of the peasants dressed in the classic outfits of each ethnic group, a beautiful image, all the way …
Suddenly the road continued inside the dense forest, another beautiful image, in such a varied landscape … Beyond the rice fields, 2 km from the village the road was passable by vehicle, mainly motorcycles carrying immense sacks, harvests, up and down without stopping …
In the distance you could see groups of children, between 5 and 11 years old with bundles of bracelets, with well-learned history, repeating the same without stopping, without reasoning, with a sad tone, almost bringing it to tears … at times in that something distracted them they continued but attending to the distraction, so that was the signal, we began to imitate their sobs, until the child broke laughing … hehehe … Ui!
A group of Koreans !!! The group of children considered us impossible and ran out to the next walkers. Once in the town, it was time to get hydrated and eat something, with the price somewhat swollen and surrounded by tourists … The town itself has nothing, or we did not know how to see …
Another option is to find a Homestay and spend the night at home with local, ethnic people, and learn more about the place and its people. This option is great, only that the prices did not seem fair … more than $ 50 per day both, considering that now we spend less than $ 20 per day both … you have to save …
We went back to Sapa on the road. Liam and Pepa took a transport, but we wanted to walk again, we wanted to finish what we had started … And the truth is that we were not disappointed …
The fields were a spectacular landscape, but people are organized from the roads, so we could see people of different ethnicities, carrying heavy loads somewhere, children carrying water buffaloes to their stables, curious shops, and restaurants Mountain limit with incredible views …
Once in Sapa … we were busted … so shower, dinner, a little walk and to sleep !!!
The next day we went to Ha Giang, but before we had to find a mechanic to repair the puncture of Liam and Pepa’s scooter, changing the camera for 70,000 Dongs.
And once ready … towards Ha Giang !!! We follow the route through the north Vietnamese!
