SaPa - mountain retreat

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Hello all:
I'm on my last three days in Vietnam. My friend Denis helped me arrange an overnight train to SaPa which is in the northeastern highlands. It is the location of the highest peak in Vietnam and the terrain is a little like the Kootney Valley in BC. The area is especially well known for a number of hill tribe people who live in small villages in the area. Many of them travel into the town to sell home made crafts, in particular hand embroidered wares. I spent the morning just wandering around town and in the afternoon booked a motorcycle driver to take me to a neighboring village. I wandered around the village accompanied by 4 women who showed me their homes and told me a bit about their life in the village. Two of them spoke a bit of English and all the English they knew, they had learned from tourists. The tribal group in this particular village are the Red Dzao people who you know by their bright red head dresses. The other group in town are the Black H'mong people. I visited one of their villages which is only a couple of kilometers from town in the afternoon. They are recognizable by their black headgear. Tomorrow I have a full daytrip planned to another village outside of the city which will include a lunch. In the evening, I'm back on the night train to return to Hanoi. I will have a full day in Hanoi, as the train arrives about 5:30 a.m. Denis plans to give me the rapid fire tour of the city and then Tuesday I catch my plane to Beijing.

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Photos

My tour guides
These ladies were of the Red Dzao people. They are in their mid twenties and most have two or more kids. Most of the families in this village are related to each other.

Woman stitching
Very fine detailed work which would tax my eyesight.

Woman's Day flowers
Today is Women's Day in Vietnam - a day for males to honor the females in their lives by giving gifts and being especially nice. Even I received a flower while warming up with a coffee in a beautiful little coffee shop.

Little cow herder in Cat Cat
Cat Cat is a village about 1 km. from SaPa and home to H'mong people. Lots of kids playing in the area

Little one playing in the water
Everywhere were children playing with whatever was available.

View of Cat Cat Village
It was difficult to capture the beauty of the terraced fields in this area as it was very foggy and overcast the whole day. I'm guessing temperatures are about +12 and I have to admit that I've been freezing for the last 4 days. I've lost my Canadian hardiness already!