Vietnam Nov 2013 - Sa Pa

Whilst I was very keen to visit Vietnam and experience the different people and culture, I was not wanting to spend all my time in the cities. Predominantly I wanted the out of the way places... which seems to be what I mostly yearn. Less tourists = more real experiences.

We took the overnight train, north west, out of Hanoi to Lao Cai, which is on the Chinese border. It was tricky to find which of the 7 odd trains was ours. The correct platform was tricky to spot as we had to drag our cases over train tracks and for the most the lighting wasn't great. The station was far from the ones we have experienced in other Asian cities or Europe!. Fortunately our hotel sent a porter with us. Even with his help there was a hiccup that had us standing outside the carriage for nearly half an hr while the porter ran off and validated our tickets at another hotel. We were encouraged to book a whole cabin to ourselves. A little indulgent but meant we had some privacy and more chance of sleeping. Though the beds were short and narrow and we were dubious as to whether the sheets were clean, we managed to get some sleep arriving into Lao Cai about 6am. We were met by a driver who then took us the 1 hr drive to Sa Pa, our next port of call.

We stayed at Cha pa Gardens. Its just off the main street and is an old French Colonial house that is now a 4 room hotel. Big rooms and very comfortable. Sa Pa is often in clouds in photos and we found this as well. At times you could not see across the square and then the wisps of clouds would pass for a few moments of clear view.

Sa Pa is quite touristy and the main ethnic minority group of the area are the Black H'mong. There are alot of women on the streets hawking their wares. Mostly jewelry and embroidery. This lovely young woman (who seemed only about 16 yrs old) stopped to chat and was more than happy for me to take a picture of her and her baby.

A mistly street. It is perched on the side of a mountain so lots of stairs between streets.

This lady was Mau (as in Maureen she told me)! She was very cheeky. 26 yrs old with 3 children. She certainly stood out among a group of quieter women. I bought a bracelet from her that her husband had made from old coins.

Tina doing some shopping and haggling.

This fabulous town square suddenly cleared enough for me to get this shot. The morning we left there were dozens of kids there practicing marching and dancing for an upcoming festival.