Post 23 - Sa Pa

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to join Ted and a visiting group from Concordia NY for a trip to Sa Pa. We took the night train Saturday evening and arrived in Sa Pa at 7 a.m. Sunday morning. After breakfast at the hotel, we set off on a walking tour of local villages inhabited by Hmong and Dao, a couple of the ethnic minority groups in Viet Nam. The region has become more and more touristy over the years, and many of the local women and girls walked with us to trying to sell to us.



It was raining during the first part of our walk, but it cleared up as we walked to the Dao village where we stopped to eat lunch. The fog of the morning gave the area a mysterious quality that created a mystical ambiance, but I was glad the rain gave way to sun by the end of the afternoon so we could see the beautiful scenery.





After lunch we returned to the hotel and split into different groups to explore the town of Sa Pa before dinner. I joined a group that explored the market place. I was proud of myself for only buying two scarves despite how ubiquitous they were and my weakness for colorful shawls.

The next morning it was pouring rain, but about half the group refused to be daunted by something as paltry as the weather and set out on a hike to see Cat Cat village, the waterfall and a demonstration of the traditional dancers. Some of the students even joined in the dancing at the end of the show.



We left Sa Pa that afternoon and traveled to another village for another hike in the rain before driving to Lao Cai to see the Chinese boarder and eating dinner. After dinner we boarded the train to return to Hanoi. We were scheduled to arrive in Hanoi at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, but due to some problems with the tracks, we were delayed and didn’t get back until 11:30. But as one of my students said today when I told them this story, “that’s so Vietnam.”