Sa Pa day 2: Among the Hmong

Tags

coc ly market, lao cai, Sa Pa, sapa market, song chay, vietnam

One of the best (and most popular) things to do while in Sa Pa is to visit the day markets held by different ethnic groups. These are not in downtown Sa Pa but various locations some distance away depending on the day of the week. We were able to visit the Tuesday Cốc Ly market that is mainly populated by the H’Mông Hoa (Flower Hmong) tribe. (As mentioned in the previous post, Sa Pa is home to many ethnic minority groups such as H’Mông, Dao Đỏ, Tày, Giáy, and Xã Phó. Sylvie and I belong to the main and biggest tribe called Kinh.)

Apart from their ethnic tongue and traditions, you can distinguish a tribal man by his attires and head gears (or tribal woman to be exact, since all the men we saw seemed to have adopted modern clothing). It was a real pity we did not have more to time to spend in the area. I find the tribes very fascinating and would have love to photograph all the different colorful attires!

The men smoking tobacco the old fashioned way

Livestock were also being sold at this market

Our driver/tour guide (we have a different one for every city) then took us on a journey down the picturesque misty Chay river after showing us the China-Viet Nam border.

That’s China behind them

We made a stop at a nameless sleepy village on the riverside that seemed to be stuck in time. The quiet dirt paths were too narrow for cars but not for the buffalo-pulled carts. The only sounds that disturbed the peace were those of the cluster of chickens pecking, not a TV or radio. The water buffalo still roam the rice paddies and there is a certain tranquility in the air that cannot be found elsewhere.

We took a break at this little coffee shop and I wandered around taking pictures. When I came back 5 minutes later Brandon has somehow integrated himself into the owner’s family and was sharing a meal with them. How very typical of him.

Midnight train to Sa Pa

Tags

Sa Pa tour, sapa, victoria sapa

Leaving Hạ Long Bay behind we bussed back to Hà Nội to catch the night train to Sa Pa, a scenic mountainous town located in northwestern Vietnam, close to the border of China. It is a popular destination for tourists due to the great diversity of ethnic minority peoples.

With the exception of Matt & Sylvie’s swanky Hội An beach hotel, we always stayed at small motels with very basic amenities. In Sa Pa, however, we lodged at the superb Victoria Sa Pa (a family friend works for the chain so I got the hookup)! The hotel is situated atop a hill overlooking the town of Sa Pa. We spent our first day walking around and just taking in the scenery.

I could wake up to this every day

The quant hilly town

Victoria Sa Pa

A middle school

The women gathering in front of a tourist office waiting for “preys”

These two ladies followed us for about an hour before giving up

We hung out by the hillside enjoying the view. It was so peaceful.

Until I spotted this visitor heading our way. We almost freaked out thinking it was a wild boar!

But it was a domesticated sow and we followed it back to its field

We headed back to town…

… and got some snacks!

Just another item(s) being sold in the market

We visited a small village outside of town named Cát Cát. The living condition there is very limited so I felt bad walking around like a snooty tourist. However, most of the villagers earn extra income from tourism (our entrance fees). The village is located along a steep windy hill. Going down was fine but as the afternoon wore on we decided to pay these motorbikes for hire to take us back up. No, we didn’t hire the bikes, we got a ride with them. Two of us were riding on the back of a motorbike behind the driver! It was a very treacherous and hair-raising ride as I was afraid we’d either fall off or the bike would break down trying to climb the sharp uphill.

After roaming all over Sa Pa we got hungry again and went back to the night market for some black chicken!

Since Sa Pa is a small town, night time activities are quite lacking but we found a karaoke place and got a private room. We ended up singing ourselves silly for 5 hours and stumbling out of there at 1 am when Matt stepped in some buffalo poop in the road. (There is photographic evidence but I don’t think it’s very nice to post.)

We were all thinking how nice it would be to have some food now but everything was closed. Lo and behold, we found this lady on the side of the road selling grilled skewers of meats and we descended upon her like the pack of hungry and tipsy karaoke goers we were. She was very happy to see us as we bought probably half of her fares. I got to talk to her and her story was moving one. Her ex-husband had squandered their fortune on gambling and she lost parents’ house as a result. Unemployed and homeless, she had to stay with relatives while selling food at night (illegally too, since the local government refused to give her license to sell during the day). Her only consolation was her diligent and bright children doing well in school.

As we walked away, sated and content, I looked back to see her sitting alone in the dark with a single light, I felt so lucky that I live a much easier life. I realized later that I never even asked for her name. But I’ll never forget her story, and her face, one of the many faces of my country Việt Nam.