Cambodia & Vietnam Trip – Day 19
Arrived at Loc Chi, at 5am, found our guide and then got on a mini bus, changed buses and then we were on our way. Was lightly raining and cloud cover was low. It took us about 1 ½ hrs to get to Sapa.
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Sapa
Sapa is located at the foothills of Vietnam’s northern mountain range at an altitude of 1,600 metres. In the early 20th century, the French took advantage of Sapa’s cool climate, developing it into a summer retreat from the heat and humidity of Hanoi. At that time, there were more French people living in Sapa than Vietnamese.
Today, Sapa retains its European feel, largely because of the remnants of French buildings, gardens and roads that populate this alpine city.
Sapa was originally home to the Black Hmong ethnic minorities. With the arrival of the French and, more recently, the growth of tourism, many of the hill tribes have moved away from Sapa’s city centre into the surrounding hill country. Still, ethnic minorities often come to Sapa’s main market to sell weavings and artwork.
Brendan had another sleep and I felt sick, not sure if it was that I hadn’t had anything to eat or if it was going around and around all the bends on the bus.
The hotel, was quite nice, it had a French feel to it. Had a shower and met Tingh, our guide, for breakfast. We had to walk into town, as it was raining we took umbrellas, had pancakes and lemon juice – no orange juice for Brendan.
Came back to hotel for a rest, had a good sleep and up again for lunch at 1pm, at another restaurant. I had chicken with chilli and garlic – not very nice. David had chicken and cashews. Brendan had a cheeseburger.
After lunch we went for a walk to Cat Cat village (French for waterfall) went down a very winding road, through the rice fields, saw water buffalo and farmers. Stopped at the house of some Black H’mong people to see how they live. Continued down to the waterfalls and crossed over a rickety bridge. Very nice, had to then go back up, very unfit, hot but not sunny. Made it to where motorbikes can go on an actual road and hired them to take us to the top. Thank goodness. I think I would still be walking up now.
Had a quick look through the markets – felt very sweaty. Headed back to the hotel, we will meet Tingh at 6pm for tea. The clouds have now rolled in and the rain is starting again. Hopefully it won’t be like this tomorrow.
Saw some Red H’mong tribe people in markets
