Aug 15, 2010
Twenty Four: Vietnam Day 5, Sapa Cat Cat Village
We stayed at perhaps the what was best room of Royal View Hotel, Sapa. Hotels here do not have air-conditioning. Being 1,500+m above sea level has its benefits. The weather is cool, sometimes cold and each room has a heater, just in case. I loved sitting at the balcony, watching the clouds roll down the hill, towards us.
View from the Hotel Balcony (click for bigger image)
Cat Cat Village is a small village for the Black H’mong people just 2km from Sapa Town. A trek to and fro should be about 5km in total. (2km downslope, 3km up! Well one can always hire a motorbike ride is your legs fail you.) All visits to the villages require an inexpensive entrance fee. The money will go towards building and upgrading of facilities for the villagers and welfare.
Happy Cat Cat village children
The one tourist attraction in Cat Cat Village is its ‘famous’ Cat Cat Waterfall. Its not a huge one, but interesting enough. It rained once we got there though and so we rested in the shelter.
French Restaurant for lunch
After lunch, we went to the Ham Rong Mountain (Dragon Jaw). Its a huge park where there’s even an ostrich farm! There’s a really vantage viewpoint for you to view Sapa’s tallest peak, Fansipan. Also, there’s a place called Cloudy Bay where you can watch all the clouds at eye level. Amazing.
