Travel Blog Chapter 11: Sapa Town, Mountain life.

After checking into a creaky small hotel called Son Ha Hotel, I did a short exploration around my vicinity and explored the Hmong market where they were selling all kinds of food commodities including apparel that would appeal to foreigners. It was a Saturday and the entire vicinity was quite crowded with Asian and Caucasian faces. As it was still drizzling and the mountain air was freezing, I headed back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel, I inquired about available treks to the surrounding Hmong villages and also the climb up Fansipan Mountain. At 3143 metres, it was known as the "Roof of Indochina" and was the highest mountain in the region. Looking at pictures before this trip of the mountain, this was one of the main objective in visiting Sapa. I visited a few adventure, hiking companies regarding available tours on the same day and the next and compared prices. Eventually I settled on a particular company with a trekking tour to the surrounding Lao Chai Village the next day. This would be the same company eventually that I booked the trek up Fansipan Mountain with as well.

Our unofficial Hmong Guides

Shops in Cat Cat Village

Miracle sculptor...amazing handicraft skills

Waterfall in Cat Cat Village

Misty Mountains

Our "Tour group" with our Hmong guides

Hmong children playing in the rain

As the day was still early, I got a map from one of the tour companies and went on a hike on my own to Cat Cat Village which was just outside Sapa Town. I was met with Hmong Girls trying to sell me handcrafted souvenirs. Their English was surprising good. It would be a norm to be confronted with..."Buy from me Sir...You promise you will buy from me..." every time you meet the Hmong girls. Anyway along the trek to Cat Cat Village I met a few travelers and one of them was a Dutch couple. Giving up on me, the Hmong girls decided to trail this couple hoping that their "service" to be unofficial tour guides around Cat Cat Village would evoke enough sympathy and I had the pleasure of being in the "tour group." We hiked through Village homes and waterfalls and I must say the scenery was really breathtaking. At one point, we saw a boy who was sculpting little figurines. It was quite amazing to see uneven shapeless stones take on human forms in his little hands. It was amazing and magical to say the least as the boy was not more than 10 years old.

A foggy day

Amazing chess set hand chiseled by the Hmong boy genius

Our Hmong guide

Posing in front of waterfall in Cat Cat Village

Talking to the Dutch couple I found out that they had just graduated from Senior High School and were taking a year off to travel before going to University. Eventually our Hmong guides were so persistent and I must say endearing that we bought some souvenirs from them. Apart from being good business women, they believe in communalism as well as they wanted me to buy from both of them.

I had my dinner in a small cozy cafe and being the habitual eater that I was, I would be going back there for a few days. That night I had trouble sleeping as it was really very cold and the flush in my toilet was not working well and the heater was abit off as well. It was going to be a difficult stay. I made a wrong decision to reserved 2 days in a row and on the first day already I was looking forward to checking out.

I woke up very early the next morning as I could not get back to sleep and to my annoyance I had a very big swelling on upper lip. It was swollen and I looked like I had a bee-sting. It must have been an insect bite. Hopefully it would go down soon. I had my breakfast in a small eatery and prepared to go for my trek that day. My Hmong guide was waiting for me in my hotel punctually and I was brought around to other trekkers in their hotels as I followed my guide to pick them up. That day my perception and stereotype of Hmong culture was going to be shattered.

Raining and seeking shelter before trek to Lao Chai Village

Chi and her friend

Trekking through the mountains

Trekking down

My trusty but inappropriate footwear

Clearing mist..beautiful greenery

Rice Padi fields that stretch for miles

Our Hmong company

My Hmong guide was called "Chi" and was a pretty and petite 17 years old girl. With her colored hair, she would look like any cosmopolitan girl without the traditional garb she was in. I found out later on that their homes have computers and internet access as well. Our trekking group was made up of a Canadian and French Couple. It was not a very good day for trekking as it was drizzling in the begging and started to pour with rain after awhile. But it was a blessing in disguise as the rain cleared the fog surrounding the mountainside and we could see miles and miles of rice fields after the fog was cleared. The sight was amazing and as far as your eyes could see, there were rolling hills and endless fresh greenery. From the point of view of someone who grew up in a city, this was gorgeous. We hiked for a few hours and Chi was one of the best tour guides that I have had on the trip. Her English was perfect and there was a slight American accent. It was amazing as here in an obscure town far away from the city, you have people speaking even better English than Vietnamese in the City. She explained that it was the many interactions with tourists.

The hike continues

Amazing sights

Lots of hikers that day

Nearing our pit stop

More photos...

Stopping for lunch

Like a scene out of smallville..

Lush greenery

Pit stop

Another view

Eventually we had our lunch with very delicious Hmong food in one of the pit stops and met a few trekkers who were actually doing the treks alone. I thought that was a good idea if I had time and if I were travelling in a group but as I only had a few days in Sapa, a tour would bring me to the main places I wanted to see. During the treks I realized I had on the wrong footwear and I fell down a few times and it was an interesting experience trying not to fell down the rest of the way while Chi and some of her Hmong friends who have tagged along to sell us the souvenirs were skipping effortlessly like deers along the mountainside. It was an awesome trek and I met a school friend where we took a photo together. It was the weirdest coincidence to meet in Sapa in the mountains when I have never met her in Singapore. Chi offered her service for  personalized tour the next day if I want to see more of the mountains and villages. The priority for me ws to arrange a hike up Fansipan mounatain the next few days but it seemed that all the tour comapnies that I went to have no one that wanted to go up the mountain leaving no option of a combined tour.

Our trek continues

Hmong weaving apparatus

Tilling the land

Another nice view

Returning fog

Boars

Chi educating us trekkers

That night I had my dinner at the same cafe again and met an Austrian couple. Phillip was a doctor while the girlfriend was an Architect. More people taking a gap year. I'm starting to think that Singaporeans are missing out alot by not embarking on such things. I decided to go for a hike to the rest of the Sapa villages the next day.