WaffleJungle

Another day of trekking! This time further then the rest. *excited* Did I mention I like trekking? Yep! Lao Cai is perhaps the biggest village near Sapa Town. It’s 12km if you take the roads but since we choose the scenic route (and also more difficult), that adds another 5km to the journey. We’ll be trekking the 17km to the village but will take a car ride back.

Trekking to Lao Cai + TaVan Village

Along the way, two Black H’mong women followed us. That’s what the villagers do. They will accompany the tourists on the walk back to their village, weaving little trinkets from the plants along the way. Once at the village, they will then pester the tourist to buy something from them! Therefore, if you do not intend to buy anything, a firm “No” to them when they follow you will suffice.

The two Black H'mong women who accompanied us

I’m pretty thankful these two women came along with us because they really helped alot when I fumbled along the paths beside the padi fields, up and down the uneven terrain. They were wonderful company too. Their english is so much better than most of the Vietnamese I came across in Hanoi. Chatting to them, I learnt alot about her family as well as their lifestyle. She’s 35 this year and has two children, a girl 15 and a boy 12. Both of them are in school which starts at around 7am to 12pm. Most of the H’mong girls get married from 16 to 20 years of age. On days that she does not travel to Sapa Town selling her crafts, she tends to the crop fields her family owns. Little children are left to play on their own freely around town at the age of 3.

Along the trek, we keep hearing shrieks and screams behind us. Thats what happens when tourists slip and get themselves smashed. The H’mong women just laughed at our clumsiness. I was going on quite ok till I came to the stream where I took a wrong step. Aww. The H’mong lady laughed, pointed and said “No step here! Here no good.” Aw woman, I know ‘cos I just stepped there ok? haha

Our shoes. Smashed.

Its a huge sense of satisfaction when we completed the trek. Its strangely apt that the path less taken is the more beautiful one. Today’s lunch is cooked by our guide and it could be, the best meal I had in the whole Vietnam trip. In fact, it looked so good, we overheard other tourists asking their guide if they could order it from the menu.

Lunch by our Guide-cum-Chef, Mr Viet!

We met our Japanese Train-cabin mate again during lunch! After a wonderful meal, we took a stroll into Lao Cai Village and TaVan village. We came to the primary school where lessons are still being conducted. H’mong children do not speak Vietnamese traditionally. Here in school, they learn how. The vocab phrase of the day is “Kem” (Ice-cream). School materials are sponsored by Unicef. The little children that do not have classes at the moment roam freely around the classrooms.

Lao Cai Village Primary School

We went back to Sapa Town after the trek and village tour. Bought slippers to wear instead because our shoes are so very smashed with mud. We’re taking the 730pm night train back to Hanoi and straight to a 2D1N adventure in Halong Bay.

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.

We got off the train, met up with our guide and headed for the weekly Bac Ha Market a short distance from Lao Cai. Our guide, named Viet is really good. So should anyone intend to plan a trip up Sapa, you can get his contact from me. Bac Ha and Sapa are really beautiful places with breath taking scenery and vast padi fields. It was unfortunate that we are visiting Sapa during its raining season, however, intermittent rainfall aside, we still had loads of fun and would certainly like to go back!

Bac Ha is the home of the Flower H’mong people. The differentiating element for the Ethnic tribes lies in their dressing. Flower H’mong got their name from the brightly colored garb they don. Flower H’mongs live in Bac Ha, whereas the Black H’mong resides at Sapa.

Once a week, the Flower H’mong make their way to Bac Ha market, some walking up to 2 days. Along the ride up the hill, we came across little girls herding their cattle to Bac Ha and groups of Flower H’mong carrying their crops to the market. The market place is bustling with people. There are 5 main sections of the market – Eating Area, Wet Market, Dry goods market, Arts & Crafts and Livestock.

Eating Area – Selling Pho, Horse Meat Stew, Homemade Rice Wine (50 – 55% Alcohol!)

Flower H'mong having a hearty lunch

Wet Market – Fresh Fish and Meat.

Dry Goods Market – Dried goods, Vegetables and fruits, Herbs etc.

Home-made Incense - ingredients include corn, sticky rice etc

Arts & Crafts Market – Craft materials like yarn, ribbons and cloth, and intricate crafts made by the Flower H’mong

Flower H'mong style soft-toys

Livestock – Trading of small farm animals like ducks, chickens, piglets to larger livestock like cows and horses.

Trading Horses and Ox

We walked around Bac Ha after lunch, visiting the old colonial government building, a nearby Bac Ha village and their village school before heading to Lao Cai, Border Gate and off to Sapa.