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Published: April 10th 2015
Should we trust the weather forecast in Vietnam...maybe not! After Halong, we waited few hours with a good meal in Hanoi before boarding our night train to Lao Cai. The weather forecast was pretty clear for the coming days in Sapa...it was going to rain...a lot!
To reach Sapa, you take a tourist night train to Lao Cai, than jump on a mini-bus for 40km...up...up to the 1600 meters of altitude of Sapa. For info, Fansipan, the tallest mountain is continental South-East Asia has his summit at around 3100 meters...and is just past the corner from Sapa.
And that weather forecast...well, it was bad. Mountain, spring and rain plus cold...do not make me, or the kids...happy people. I was ready for the worst...but this was it, we had planned to come. It is afirst visit for three of us to Sapa, the highlands of Vietnam! And guess what, the weather was beautiful once we arrived. I knew it may not last, so we booked straight on a full day to go discovering two minorities of Vietnam, the H'Mongs and the Dao. We took a 4-5 hours walk including lunch for a "trek" to few villages.
I love when people call these treks...but guess....that's make us trekkers! Smile!
The sun was out, the weather was warm, and we entered the human zoo of the Vietnamese minorities. I tend to love to visit remote places in the world...especially if this includes animals that you will see only in those places. I name the gorillas, the polar bears or the whales. But when it comes to visit ethnic minorities, I'm suddenly not at ease anymore. Specially when these minorities are used by the people of a country to simply run a business, let it be tourism. So this is said, I'm not at ease doing this!
Still, as in a safari, I'm not the only one getting my camera out. So this is the result of my little day "trekking" with a camera equipped with a nice lens. You know my feelings now! The landscape was pretty cool, if it was not for the two huge hotels currently built next to Sapa....and who are too, a full eyesore non-sense... We could have venture way further, as many of my friends have done on motorbikes to the border with China...truly not far away...but
we are here two days, and a motorbike ride is not yet on the calendar for Leslie and Tiffany.
Than came the second day...we woke up...with our gorgeous view from the room of our mini-hotel....except that this time, it was all wet ad white, or to be more precise, truly foggy! The day would be cold....foggy...and if not foggy...fully rainy. Don't ask me to trek in the fog or in the rain...we are not equipped for this, and I'm an epicurean, I enjoy... enjoyable experiences in life! Still, we made our way to the market at the other side of the little town. We wondered the streets...when it was not raining....and we enjoyed some quiet time while waiting our ride back to Lao Cai. Another night train...would I say another nice train ride, to reach Hanoi by 5am next morning...for more adventures...and a seriously full day!
So I can tell you that Sapa is truly touristy...but that it is also really beautiful while under the sun! We were pretty lucky to have one of those days...as in spring, it does rain a lot here!
Next...100km south of Hanoi...coming soon!
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Bonne Mamy
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Petits canards, rizièreset tissus...
t'es pas cool pour les petits canards en disant qu'on va bientôt les manger... Il est vrai que c'est drôlement bon ! Pour les roses bonbon... je comprends maintenant pourquoi j'ai vu des œufs roses à Bangkok !!!! (blague bien entendu...) Quant aux rizières que vous sembles avoir vu en masse, j'espère que vous n'en avez pas eu d'indigestion.... Pour les vêtements locaux, heureusement que je n'étais pas là... J'aurais encore fait des stocks de tissus ! Très beau blog.... Suis contente pour vous d'un si beau voyage !