A Sapa day tour with the hill tribes

We arrived at Lao Cai Station at 4.30 am after having not much sleep on train as the berths were quite narrow for us. Then we transferred to Sapa by car. It took us approximately one hour to reach Sapa – a fanciful town in fog. Sleeplessness caused me a horrible headache for all day. We were really in confusion at that time! Luckily, we were finally able to check in our room at the Sapa View Hotel and we decided to stay at the room for one hour and a half before refreshing and going out for the “local ethnic breakfast”.

Located on Muong Hoa Road of Sapa center, Sapa View Hotel is one of the ideal accommodations for Sapa holidays. Providing us with the special balance of luxurious amenities in combination with the local architecture, the hotel we stayed contributed to make our holidays more memorable and fascinating. Since Sapa town is located over 1,000 meter high above the sea level and blessed with the cool air, each room in all Sapa hotels has no air-conditioner but a little fire place for the cold winter months. Our Sapa View Hotel is not an exception!

An elegant room with little fire place at Sapa View Hotel

From our room, we could see the rice paddy fields and the Fansipan Mountain, which can be regarded as the highest mountain in South East Asia and the last major peak in the Himalayan chain.

Additionally, we had great chance to see the ethnic villages nestled in the valleys below and rice terraces everywhere in Sapa and its surroundings. We were surprised when we were told about the generations of the hill tribes, who have labored to create the terraced rice fields that we can admire today.

We started exploring the Sapa town by a visit to a local market. There we met lots of local ethnic minorities who were so beautiful in their colorful traditional dress. So did our tour guide, Cha. Cha enthusiastically helped us to understand more the customs of various minorities including the Red Dao, Black H’mong, Flower H’mong and Tay. Cha explained that the amazing intricate embroidery makes their outfits, which consists of leggings, jackets, waistcoats pants, skirts, headdress and purses. We could see many of the ethnic women’s hands were stained with color from the fabric dyes they use to make their customs. They were selling their wares while chatting with each other and embroidering.

Flower H'Mong Ethnic People in Sapa

Red Dao Ethnic People in Sapa

When we finished lunch time, we continued to explore the two local villages, each of the Black H’Mong and the other belonged to the Dao. We could watch the local in their daily activities like tending the rice terraces and drying corn. We also observed the ethnic young children herding water buffalos which are used to plough the rice fields. Our afternoon Sapa tour ends when the sun went down over the mountain ranges.

Normail working life of local ethnic in Sapa villages

Sapa love market amaze many tourists

Returning to the hotel, we said goodbye to Cha and had free time to enjoy dinner by ourselves. After dinner, we met our tour guide again and we together visit the local “Sapa love market” where young men dance around in hope of giving impression to the young ladies. We had great night at the love market with lots of fun and excitements.

(Source mytripjournal.com)