Hill tribe villages of SaPa area
Sapa is a small city in northern-most Vietnam surrounded by many hill tribe villages. It is a 10 hour night-train ride from Hanoi and can be socked in by cloudy, wet weather much of the year. All the while I lived in Vietnam, I wanted to visit the area, but my time off and the seasons never agreed. When I visited in 2012, I made it a priority to make the trip.
This was one of my favorite travel adventures ever, so I am going to cover the highlights in the next 3 posts. Here’s my basic itinerary for the week I spent in the area:
- Took night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai at the Chinese border, arrived just before dawn.
- Found a local bus to Bac Ha, spent 2 nights.
- Hired motor bike guide to Can Lao for a remote, very local market day.
- Market in Bac Ha the next day.
- Bus to Sapa
- Left next day for 3 day trek with my guide Zao.
- Returned to Sapa, with sore throat and barely able to walk from achy muscles, but so very happy with my adventure.
- Train back to Hanoi to recuperate at my friend Linda’s lovely home.
I took a lot of photos and I will share them as the story unfolds.
Above are a few of my favorite faces from the hill tribe people. They are Flower H’mong, Black H’mong and Red Dzao ethnic minorities. I promise to tell you more about them in the upcoming posts.
Off The Map Travel 