Sapa, Sapa. SA PA

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Finally, a town without deadly heat. Sapa. A beautiful name and region, full of indigenous peoples and terraced farming. I arrived along a winding road in the early morning and was pleasantly surprised at the friendly faces awaiting my arrival. Hoards of Hmong women with smiling faces pointing at me as I stood on the bus. They basically picked me out of the crowd and decided I was theirs for the taking. I had 5 or 6 women following me within seconds. My biggest surprise was the quality of their English. The Vietnamese English speaking skills do no touch that of the Hmong women. It must be that their language is not tonal like many of the Asian languages. My two main followers, Sa and Gochi, lead me to a guesthouse area and demanded to wait for me to return from my room. I could have waited all day and they probably still would have been on the steps waiting for me. Sa was adament that I do a tour with her to her village and Gochi demanded that I only buy goods from her. They made me pinki swear that if I did a tour or bought anything, that it would be from them. "No Problem" I said. I thought this might get them to stop following me, but no. Sa kept on my heels until another friend of hers took over for another 30 minutes or so.

I felt like I was in a region that I could explore on my own and did not feel the need to do a tour. I went to the nearest tourist office to get information. They provided no information. What help is a tourist office where the helper doesnt speak English or have any maps of the region. He did turn out to be helpful a day later, but nevertheless he was of no use on day 1. I did, however, meet a new friend in the office. Marisol from Spain. A 48 year old mom of two traveling solo. After a quick chat we decided that we were envisioning the same type of experience in Sapa which was renting a motorbike and seeing the countryside in a private relaxed manner. She didnt know how to drive a motorbike, so I took the reigns, but confessed I had never driven one either. Thank God for automoatic transmission.

We got our bike and went on our way. Stop 1. Waterfall. It was a steep drive and when we arrived we were positive it was not the correct place because it was quite a weak waterfall. So we pushed on down a deep valley passing only locals. This was not right. 30 minutes later we turned around and went back up the hill. Surrounded by a vast valley of green we stopped for pictures along the way. We did stop at the small waterfall on the way back for a few pictures and continued on our way. Stop 2-30. Local villages and farms. We are not sure where we went, but we only came across one group of other tourists along the way. It was exactly what we were looking for. We met locals and their childen all along the way. Marisol was the queen of the local children. She brought balloons and blew them up for most of the children we passed. We had 360 degree views of lush terraced farming all loaded to the max with green rice shoots. It was a magnificent sight. We even got to watch a bunch of kids playing in a river with a water buffalo in tow. It was letting them jump all over him without even flinching. Just a daily activity for all to cool off. Stop 31. More local villages in a touristy area that did not capture our attention. We did not stay long. At night time, we enjoyed some Bia Hoi, dinner, and then went to bed.

Day 2, we met at 9 am to rent the motor bike again. This time we went north. The best decision yet. We did not see a single tourist the entire way. In fact, we seemed so far off the normal path that we were getting hellos from everyone and plenty of smiling faces. It was the best few hours of the trip so far. We had the entire green valley and views all to ourselves. Well, we did share it with locals, but I dont think they were taking in the views like we were. Many times we found ourselves getting off the bike every 100 yards to capture more pictures. It was just so gorgeous, we couldnt let the views pass us by. We attempted a little offroading and failed with our weak motorbike, but it didn't stop us from exploring. We did finally turn around to head back to Sapa for a nice meal. Hmmm. Maybe nice meal is not the correct words to use. Interesting meal is better. We stopped at a restaurant that offered horse on the menu. We declined and ordered beef. Our food came, it looked delishious and we dove in. Not so delishious. It was not beef. It had to be horse. Chewy as it comes. We could barely eat it. Part 2 of the meal. A horse was tied up outside. I put 2 and 2 together and asked if they were feeding us horse...they were, and then I asked if they were going to kill the horse tied up outside...they were. Can I watch? Of course! Can I take pictures? Of course! How about some video and while I am at it can I help you take the fur off the horse when its dead? Of course! Not only did I get to watch, the entire street got to watch as they killed the horse using a sledge hammer to its face in the middle of the road. I have a video of the entire thing. Are any of you still reading? This is a long post. After the hammer, the knife came out. They went to town on the horse. Eventually, the fur came off by dumping boiling water on the horse and using a spoon to scrape it off. I got my hands a bit dirty and helped a little bit. Now I can check that off my list of things to do. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. THe second half of the day brought our spirits back up as we toured through more beautiful views and villages. It was a bit more touristy, but wonderful to see. Sapa just seems magical. This is one place I would like to come back to and it was great to meet someone looking to explore the same way as me. It was sad to go, but I have more places to see. It has been hands down the best place I visited yet. Beautiful landscapes, wonderful people, and great food. Going to Vietnam? Go to Sapa.

I wish I had photos for everyone, but I will post them when I get back home.

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Photos

Another Beauty
We were stopping every few minutes because every view was worth stopping for

Horse Dish
Doesn't horse look tasty?

How about Now?
Not his lucky day