Sa Pa: trekking through north of Vietnam

If you liked my first contact with Vietnam, you will love this second part of the trip. For me, it was the most anticipated. To go to Sa Pa, the rural region of northern Vietnam, it takes 8 hours by train. To take advantage of the time, it’s usual to go on a wooden night train. It moves more than a tractor on a dirt road and the beds are a little uncomfortable. To give you an idea, even motorcycles can overtake the train for the first few kilometers.

In the morning, we arrived in Lao Cai, the capital of the region, and drove to Sa Pa. It's almost an hour's drive up the mountain. If you go to Sa Pa, whatever happens, DO NOT STAY IN DOUBTFUL QUALITY HOTELS. You don't know what you can find (furry moving things, in example...).

We reached the point where the trekking route begins, a path of just over 3 hours, with a break, through nature. At first it was very foggy because the day was cloudy and we were high up on the mountain. It was a pity because the scenery was so beautiful with the rice fields on the side of the mountain. It's often rainy, so wear a raincoat, and rain will not prevent you from advancing.

Along the way, we passed a village with a Catholic church, a somewhat larger village, Linh Ho, and finally, Ta Van, a small village where there is not much to do, other than visiting the locals.

We stayed at a Ta Van family home. They live in the countryside and hosting tourists allows them to subsist better and have extra income. The houses are very comfortable, made of wood and plywood. It's important that you carry some product to prevent mosquito bites because you are in the middle of the field and although there are mosquito nets, they are likely to rid you with bites.

Dinner is all based on products grown by them. They tell us about their way of life, the dialect they speak, how the rice fields work and the culture of this rural area. One of the vegetables for dinner, susu, is something that is only there and is delicious.

At night, there is likely to be a storm. Ours, it was exaggerated, I thought the house was coming down.

Important tip: always wear wipes or handkerchiefs, because you don't know what could be wrong for you, or when!

Second Day Of Trekking: The Girls With The Bracelets

The next day, breakfast was delicious, all made from products grown by themselves: pancakes with banana and honey. After regaining strength, we continue with the second part of the trekking route. We toured a couple of other villages, from Ma Tra to Ta Phin.

This area is very poor and they subsist on handicrafts that they sell to tourists. Here a lot of girls appear selling cloth bracelets, who harass you saying the only phrase they know in English: “money for me”. If you stop by, buy them something. We, tourists cost us just a couple of dollars and it will make them infinitely happy.

The landscape of this area is more clay and there is a mixture of colors: the green of the rice fields with the red of the land. This time, the rain did stop us precisely because of how slippery the ground was.

After a couple of hours of trekking, we returned to Sa Pa and were able to go for a walk seeing their sports shops. The sale of very cheap North Face brand products is typical.

Without a doubt it was one of the most exciting experience of the trip. To do it, you have to go with a backpacker mentality, without scruples, because it's not suitable for prissy people.

If you like to know new cultures and live different experiences, don't hesitate to make your stop in Sa Pa if you travel through Vietnam.