When I first arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, I had about a week by myself before two of my friends from NYC came to visit. I didn’t want to go sightseeing before they got here, so I decided to book a short trip to Sa Pa, located northwest of Hanoi in the Lao Cai province.
I didn’t know that much about Sa Pa before arriving there, only that it was a popular trekking town in the mountains that was adorned with many rice fields. I was excited to do a bit of trekking and also spend the night at a local village in a homestay.My hostel booked my trip for me, and since I still wasn’t feeling well from getting food poisoning, I decided on a quick three day trip.
I travelled to Sa Pa the next day on a sleeper bus early in the morning. My hostel was kind enough to pack me a breakfast, but I could only stomach eating a banana. The bus was actually really comfortable, as the seats reclined almost all the way back. I slept for most of the six hours and gazed excitedly out the window as we climbed the mountain to Sa Pa for the last hour of the trip.
I was shocked at what I saw. I mean, I knew Vietnam had mountains, but the views were breathtaking. Sweeping mountain tops as far as the eye could see with lush green rice fields scattered throughout.
Once in Sa Pa, I was picked up by one of the hotel staff on a motorbike and was taken to my hotel. The staff helped me plan out my stay and I decided I would stay the first night in a homestay. My group was already on their way to the local village, having started trekking in the morning, so the hotel arranged for a motorbike to take me down to the village.
What a ride that was. The road down the mountain was in much need of a good pavement job, so we were weaving in between the potholes and rocks. We zoomed down, stopping along the way so I could take pictures. After 30 minutes, I was happy we had arrived and that I was still in one piece.
Mid September is when the rice started getting harvested. While I would have loved to have seen the rice stalks before they were cut, it was actually really interesting to see the process of harvesting.
I was greeted by my guide, Lag, and immediately joined them on the rest of their trek to our homestay. Our evening was spent relaxing in the nearby river, helping prepare dinner, drinking rice wine and playing cards.
We got to sleep in the next morning until 8:30am and prepared for a 9am breakfast. I was finally starting to feel better, so I happily ate the banana crepes we were served. We started our day of trekking at 10am out of the village. The villagers in this area have to trek 6km to upwards of 14km a day to go to school, the market, etc. They don’t travel on the roads, but on paths carved out from the mountains.
It had rained at night and during breakfast but luckily stopped before our hike. Knowing I had fallen on my hike in Thailand, I really didn’t want to get a matching scar on my other leg. Thankfully, a local villager that was hiking with us practically held my hand the entire way, ensuring me I wouldn’t fall. When walking through the rice fields, we had to balance on the edges as some of the fields were still flooded.
After our day of hiking, we grabbed a bus to take us back to Sa Pa where we would stay the night in our hotel. The next morning we met up with our guide and started our morning trek. We walked out of the town of Sa Pa and started making our way down the mountain to the Cat Cat Village where we could see the customs and traditions of the H’Mong villagers.
As we walked around the village, I saw some H’Mong women practicing the art of Batik. Batik is a technique that uses wax and dye to create patterned fabric. Hemp is woven into fabric and then beeswax is used to make patterns. Once the desired pattern is achieved, the fabric is dipped into the indigo. Once dry, the beeswax is removed to reveal the patterns underneath. This is a traditional handicraft of the H’Mong people in Vietnam and they still wear these indigo dyed garments.
After we trekked back up the mountain into town we said goodbye to Lag and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on our own. I roamed about the town for a bit and definitely felt like I was in a little European mountain town.
That night we hopped on a bus that took us down the mountain to the town of Lao Cai where we would catch our night train back to Hanoi. I shared a cabin with three other girls and we each had our own bed. The journey was about 8 hours and we arrived back in Hanoi at 5:30am.
I absolutely recommend everyone to come visit Sa Pa and see the mountains and rice terraces for yourself. It’s a great short trip to take from Hanoi and you’ll leave feeling enchanted by the villagers and landscape!
Once again I am completely amazed with your pictures Monika. You can really see the feeling and the essence of being there!
So interesting really, and so happy to see you learning and sharing new things every day 🙂
Thank you, Ander! You would love it there- awesome hiking and people! I had a few people from Spain in my group and I really got to practice my Spanish. You would have been so proud! haha