Sapa town, Vietnam

The second leg of our Vietnam trip was to Sapa, a northern mountain town. To get there, we took the overnight train from Hanoi. I hadn't taken an overnight train since my junior year study abroad in Italy, and I was not looking forward to a rocky night's sleep. Though the accommodations were quite basic and very narrow, I was able to sleep a bit, though I don't believe OD slept much at all.

        

We arrived early in the morning to Lao Cai and after a long grumpy wait at a restaurant, we were shuttled onto a bus to Sapa. Upon arrival, we quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then we were off to Cat Cat Village (see separate post).

Our guide in Red Dao wear

Our guide, a cheerful young woman from the Red Dao tribe, took us trekking through the villages and countryside and put up with our prying questions. We were interested to learn that she was around 21, married and had a baby in daycare. Though she was reserved about her feelings towards her own arranged marriage, she spoke somewhat judgingly of another local tribe who forcefully kidnap their brides (we have no confirmed knowledge of this practice in the area, but interesting nonetheless). She shared with us that she could not read; OD then launched into a diatribe of encouragement to learn, but she did not seem convinced. She also had never left the Sapa area, not even venturing into Hanoi. I couldn't help project my own feelings of travel envy and wondered if she harbored her own wanderlust. The hills around Sapa, however, are beautiful things to be bounded by.

During our time in town, we avoided the hawkers roaming the streets, but of course we still needed souvenirs. Our guide had introduced us to her mother and sister on our way through the market, so we thought it would be nice to do our purchasing from them. When we showed up and asked for our guide's mother with the clear intention to buy, all the market ladies became quite animated, jealous of the looming sale. Once we had made our picks from the guide's mother and sister, their fellow neighbors tried to get our attention as well but we managed to extricate ourselves.

Chickens at market

Main drag of Sapa town

We stayed at Chau Long Sapa Hotel, and it was nice to come back after a day of trekking to a fireplace in the lobby. We discovered the second morning, when the mist had somewhat cleared, that we could actually see the hills of the surrounding valley.

View from our room balcony

Breakfast with a view 

The hotel also had a miniature version of Sapa town, which even lit up at night. The real Sapa at night was quite misty. The town is a touristy mix of shops, Italian restaurants, and French bakeries, making you feel a bit like you are in European town that just happens to be nestled in the mountains of Vietnam.

Part of the draw of going to Vietnam in December was a break from the constant hot and humid Singapore weather. Sapa promised us cool, if not cold temperatures. That first chill night, OD was very happy to see his breath again!