Sa Pa

Wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi, Lauren, John, and I boarded a night train to Lao Cai, with Sa Pa in our sights.  Lao Cai is located along the Vietnam-China border, and it was our meeting point with our Sa Pa guide, Hao.

Lauren and John wait patiently for the night train

A bumpy van ride out into the middle of nowhere, a few moments to slather on sunscreen, and a wave from the driver, and we set off on a three-day adventure into the depths (and heights!) of our Sa Pa Trek! 

Follow the yellow brick road

As we hiked through the mountains and rice fields of the sparsely populated region, our faithful guide Hao offered some ‘short cuts’ to save time.  After only an hour of hiking, we were covered in sweat, so short cuts could not be refused.  But these were no ordinary short cuts.  While the paths we took certainly shortened our horizontal distance, the vertical distance could not be avoided, and was in fact forced upon us in mere minutes.  I swear to god we climbed 1,000 feet in two minutes.  Ok, maybe not quite, but the short cuts left me sucking air and covered in mud.

But then we got to see this!

Mountaintop views

Bamboo fence post

Sa Pa region terraced rice fields

Safety rail

Red Dzao woman taking a break

One of our trusty porters

Uhhhh, yeah... that's for real

Our first day of the trek, we did not see another foreigner even once after leaving the Lao Cai city limits.  We hardly saw any people at all, to be honest.  It was just us and the Vietnam mountains.  And occasionally a surprised villager or two.

Along the way, we passed through a couple of villages of local people.  There are several hill tribes that live in the Sa Pa highlands.  When we encountered a Red Dzao settlement, Hao asked permission for us to enter one of their homes.  Hardly any furniture, but they had satellite TV!

Red Dzao woman and her son outside their home

Red Dzao women and children

Hao lends a hand to a Red Dzao couple building a roadside retaining wall

When we stopped (collapsed) for lunch, we were spied by a group of children from the local village.  They wouldn’t come very close to us at first, hiding around the corner of the old schoolhouse porch where we had sat for our picnic lunch.  But after a few rounds of chase, lots of laughter, and the promise of candy, the kids warmed to us.

Pit stop for lunch

Village kids peaking around the corner at us

New friends

We also got up close and personal with some interesting wildlife.

Roaming horses

Moo

Ox

Albino water buffalo

Animal kingdom in action -- billy goat gruff fight

Before the first day was over, we hiked back down the mountain, across a river, and straight back up the other side of the mountain through a bamboo forest.  I’m gonna be honest -- I was not a happy hiker at this point.  I made feeble attempts to mask my need for frequent breathing stops as we scaled hundreds of feet in less than an hour by pretending to stop to look out at the views.  I really did look at the views, but mostly I was just trying to take in adequate amounts of oxygen.

We hiked down to that river and back up the other side!

We arrived to our homestay in an odd mix of complete exhaustion and total exhilaration.  The overnight stay was scheduled in a Red Dzao village, in a home of a local family.  They offered us access to their shower (a bucket inside a wooden shack), toilet (a squatter outhouse that “flushed” out over the ridge), and their home (a large lofted home -- with satellite TV!). 

Our home for the night.  We bunked upstairs in the loft.

Homestay driveway

Guard dog

Water tank, "shower", and the outhouse down the hill

Grandkids at the homestay
The little guy in front cried nonstop

Our gracious host
(little guy still crying)

Hao and our porters helped cook us a delicious dinner with far too much food.  And of course, our Red Dzao host grandpa came around with the rice wine to top off the night.  Then it was off to bed early, to sleep in the loft beneath a mosquito net.

Next morning we set off in a light rain that turned into a fairly constant drizzle throughout the day.  Aside from the obvious drawbacks of a rainy mountain hike, the precipitation also provided me with several monster blisters.  Good thing we got to see all this to make up for it!!

Mountain village

Halfway through day 2.... still so far to go!

Breathtaking
(and not just because we hiked all the way up there)

Rice fields 

Sa Pa pals!

Stilt house

Should have asked for a ride

Hao negotiated us another invitation inside a minority home, this time the house of a Sapho family.  The husband told us the village was so remote that they often went hungry due to lack of supplies.  He also reported that their most valuable possession was a scrawny ox tied up out back.

Sapho woman outside her home

Sapho village house

Before our trekking adventure came to an end, we spent a couple hours hiking through the terraced rice fields.  And I truly mean we hiked through them.  Of course we didn’t want to walk in the pools of water, damaging the rice, so we teetered along the built-up edges of the terraces, using our best balancing skills (and my best foul language skills).  I’m not very coordinated.  And I don’t like getting dirty.  Ha, should have thought about that before signing up for this trip!

Hiking through the terraces

After Hao guided us across the most terrifying bridge ever half-way built over a gushing river, we wandered into a local Tay village, where we stopped for lunch, followed by a ride to the EcoLodge.  A well-deserved indulgence, the EcoLodge provided hot showers and super-fluffy beds.  And air conditioning!! 

A most delicious lunch of beef noodle soup

Pathway to our cabins at the EcoLodge

EcoLodge

View from our back porch

More back porch views

Much-needed relaxation

Red Dzao women outside the EcoLodge
Very aggressive salespeople! 

The next day, well-rested, freshly scrubbed, and feet covered in Band Aids, we took a shuttle into town to explore Sa Pa proper.  The town is overrun with tourists, and it made me so happy we’d opted for the private trek through remote areas.  While it’s convenient to have English menus at coffee shops, not encountering other non-Vietnamese people for 48 hours was a welcome escape.

Roadside market, Sa Pa

Minority women selling wares in Sa Pa

Outside the market

Black Dzao women

Sa Pa

Black Dzao woman and baby

And I can’t end this tale without one more food pic.  This scrumptious meal was served to us from a street stand in Lao Cai before we boarded the night train back to Hanoi.  

'Mini' ban xeo and nem chua dinner