Sapa

Sapa was a highlight 

Map of the Sapa region. Lao Cai, shown at the top of the
map, is right on the border with China.

Northern Vietnam is the oldest settled part of the country, and Sapa, is a frontier town and capital of Sa Pa District in the Lao Cai province in northwest Vietnam. The area was first inhabited by people who left hundreds of rock engravings, which experts think date from the 15th century. Today, it is one of the main market towns in an area where several diverse ethnic minority groups such as Hmong (52%), Dao(25%), Tay (5%), Giay (2%), and Pho Lu/Xa Pho live. The total population of 36,000 also includes native Kinh (Viet (15%). Approximately 7,000 live in Sapa, the others are scattered in small communes throughout the district.

Paul tries to relax on the train to Lao Cai

For Paul and I, Sapa was a highlight of our Tet holiday. Travel to the region is by overnight train to Lao Cai, a border town with not much to recommend itself other than the termination of the train trip. We left Hanoi at 8:30 pm and arrived Lao Cai at 4:30 am. We paid extra for a 2 person cabin - most accommodate 4 people. There are two washrooms, one on either end of the car. On the way to Lao Cai, one of the toilets was clogged - imagine, 40 people and one toilet!! Luckily, Paul can sleep anywhere and I enjoy the rocking motion of a train, so we both managed to get some sleep!

Sapa!

Located in a beautiful valley close to the Chinese border, Sapa is a former hill station built in 1922. The French military had come to the area in the late 1800’s in order to control Chinese incursions and political resistance in the area. Sapa’s appealing climate was seen to have health benefits, and by 1912, a military sanatorium for ailing officers had been erected along with a fully-fledged military garrison.

Black Hmong ladies in Sapa town.

Jesuit priests first arrived in 1918 and they sent word to Hanoi, already established as a French colonial town, of the breathtaking views and pleasant climate. By 1922, Sapa was established as a hill station where the French built villas, hotels and tennis courts and Sapa became a summer retreat. The French enjoyed this idyllic setting until the Japanese invasion of 1941.

Our guide, Van

Our Red Dao guide, Van, is 25 and married with a 5 year-old son. She and her son live in Lao Cai and she pays $25 US a month to send him to a private kindergarten. Her English was excellent and when we asked about it she said she learned it from tourists - she did not stay in school past about grade 8, which is very common for the women of the hill tribes. She married very young, an arranged marriage. She told us her husband did not work, but 'sat around her village, drinking'. She wanted a better life for her son so she took the initiative to learn English and become a tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and provided many insights into the lives of the people in the area.

We spent a day trekking through the region.  As you can see, the views were spectacular!

Terrace field for wet rice cultivation

Rice cultivation: A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing semiaquatic rice. Paddies are built into the steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such as rivers or marshes. They require a great deal of labor and materials to create, and need large quantities of water for irrigation. Oxen and water buffalo, adapted for life in wetlands, are important working animals used extensively in paddy field farming. In Vietnamese literature, a rice field is described as wide enough for a flock of storks to span their wings across and the sway of rice plants in the wind is compared to waves of the sea. 

Black Hmong ladies

Ethnic Minority Peoples:

Most of the ethnic minority people work their land on the sloping terraces. Their staple foods are rice, corn and rye. Hemp and cotton are grown for cloth. Rice is a labour intensive crop and subsistence farming is their main source of survival. The unique climate in Sapa has a major influence on the ethnic minorities who live in the area. With sub-tropical summers, temperate winters and 160 days of mist annually, the influence on agricultural yields and health related issues are significant. Many ethnic women have turned to tourism as an additional means of support for their families, selling appliqué, embroidery, jewelry and other handicrafts.

Van leads us through a rice paddy

From WWII, successive wars against the French, the US and China in 1979, took their toll of the Sapa region. Nearly all of the 200 or so colonial buildings in and around Sapa were destroyed. The old hotels built by the French were allowed to fall into disrepair and the vast majority of the Viet population fled for their lives. Sapa was forgotten by all but a handful of residents and the former town lapsed into poverty and obscurity.

Paul and Van

In the early 1960s, a migration scheme set up by the new Socialist regime saw the migration of new inhabitants from the lowlands to the region. Later, with the implementation of Doi Moi in the ‘90’s (economic reforms and the move by Vietnam to a ‘socialist-oriented’ market economy) and the gradual opening of the country to tourism, Sapa has begun to regain the distinction it realized during colonial times. The town is in full economic boom, thanks mainly to the thousands of tourists who come every year to walk the hundreds of miles of trekking trails.

Black Hmong

Hmong
One of the largest ethnic minority groups in Vietnam, the Hmong emigrated from China to Vietnam in the early 19th century. The Hmong (including Flower, Black, Red) live in houses of mud, wattle (a frame of rods or stakes interwoven with twigs, branches, etc.) bamboo and thatch. The Black Hmong hill tribe are the largest ethnic minority group in and around Sapa. They are called Black Hmong because of the deep, indigo-coloured, hemp dress they wear. The dye is hand-made from indigenous plants. As a result, most of the women have darker than usual hands! They wrap their legs, from ankle to knee, in black velvet which is held in place by a colourful band. They decorate themselves with many silver bracelets and large silver hoop earrings. On their head they often wear a tall round black hat or colourful plaid scarf.

Van is of the Red Dao tribe. She chooses not to shave her eyebrows
and does not wear the traditional red head-dress.

The Dao:

The Dao (pronounced Yao) are believed to have started migrating from China in the 13th century. The women wear some of the most colourful and diverse costumes of all ethnic groups but can be identified by their black trousers richly embroidered with flower or small star patterns. Their jackets can be red or black usually with embroidered borders. The ensemble is topped by a black or red turban together with chunky silver jewelry. In addition most Dao women shave off their eyebrows and foreheads as this is traditionally regarded as a sign beauty.

The main lodge and dining hall.

After our day long trek, (and don't forget, we were up at 4:30 after an overnight train ride), we were taken high up a mountain to the Topas Ecolodge. Topas Ecolodge is based on sustainable principles to ensure that the lodge has a minimum impact on the surrounding environment. Local people are employed and local products and goods are used.

the view from our bungalow

 It started around 1993 when Topas Travel from Denmark arranged tours to the area in corporation with a local Vietnamese family. The building project was launched in June 2003. Topas Ecolodge is situated 18 km outside Sapa town and the bus ride is approximately 45 min. It was an adventurous bus ride because the road is narrow, conditions were poor and we were traveling up the side of a mountain. I didn’t look out the window for most of the trip!

Paul on the balcony of our bungalow

The bungalows have no TV or other entertainment and there is no swimming pool or spa facilities. The employees are young people from local minorities and not all are equally proficient in English. However, the location was very unusual with spectacular views and lots of unique trekking and mountain biking trails in the backyard. Great place to stay!

Our bungalow was spacious and authentic, with a thatched 

roof and complete privacy.