Spectacular views of ricefields, misty mountains and colourful tribes, that's what you get from trekking in Sapa! (and sore muscles)
We took a bus from Hanoi to Sapa, located in the north west of Vietnam. We arrived in the afternoon and were immediately approached by various women from the local tribes, offering us to go trekking with them. We held them off and first checked in to our hostel.
Sapa is a small village with a nice lake in the middle, a church and lots of hotels and restaurants. Other than that the city is not very spectacular. But most people, like us, come here for trekking. We went to the local tourist information Centre and booked our 3day - 2night trek there. They told us that it's actually illegal to go with the local people that offered the trekking on the streets as they are not licensed guides. We were happy we booked the official one and got a good price for it too! (55 dollar pp for the whole package incl food and homestay).
The next morning we started our trek with our guide, Si from the Mong tribe. We went through ricefields, bamboo forests, muddy paths, colourful villages and misty mountains. It was a lot of up and down, and not exactly paved roads. But it was absolutely beautiful, the group was fun and the guide gave us lots of info about the tribes.
In the evenings we stayed in homestays, basically you stay in the homes of the local people. They cook amazing food for you and there is plenty of happy water (rice wine). It's was great to meet the locals and socialize with the other travellers.
Night 1 above. Night 2 below!
It's was amazing to do the trekking! Tired, with very sore muscles but happy and satisfied we returned to Sapa. The next morning we took the bus to Ha Giang to do the famous Ha giang loop (on motorbike). More about that in the next blog.
Xoxo Yvette and Alex!
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