Sapa trekking

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Hello my dreamers,

I hope you are well.

Today I’m going to tell you how my short stay in the Vietnamese mountains near the Chinese border went in 2016, hoping to help you if Sapa trekking is on your bucket list. 

If you want to read or re-read my previous articles about Vietnam, here they are: “Tips for traveling to Vietnam“, “What to do in Hanoi?“.

“My cabin mates (…) were my best encounters during my entire stay in Vietnam.”

From the Tran Quy Cap train station in Hanoi, I took a night train called the King Express Train (there are several trains to go there, with different comfort and prices). It was a very old train like in the old movies. I was in a cabin with 4 beds (2 bunk beds) that I had to share with 3 strangers. My cabin mates were 3 adorable seniors with whom I had a great time and who were my best encounters during my entire stay in Vietnam. If I remember correctly, the train left at 10 pm and stopped at about 5-6 am at Lao Cai station (there is no stop in Sapa itself). The train moved a lot and made many stops, but I slept pretty well.

“There was a small group of Hmong women to greet me.”

Getting off the train, I traveled about an hour by shuttle to be dropped off at what seemed to be a meeting place for tourists and guides but also a place where you could shower and buy equipment. There was a small group of Hmong women to greet me. They were all cute, kind, and smiling. They were going to accompany my group of tourists for the day, in addition to our guide and of course they expected us to buy them very colorful and pretty souvenirs made by themselves.

“We had a delicious lunch at a local family’s”

The city was cute and high so the streets were very steep. Barely engulfed in the mountainous forest, we had to go down very difficult slopes and other times climb very steep climbs, but the Hmong women were there to help us. They wore small shoes, obviously not suitable for mountain roads but crossed all roads without any difficulty, even carrying a baby! We passed through Muong Hoa valley, Y Linh Ho village of Black Hmong, and Lao Chai village. We had a delicious lunch at a local family’s then we took the road through the rice fields and Ta Van village, belonging to the Dzay people, where we had a great dinner and spent the night. At night it was very cold, but we had very thick blankets. I didn’t sleep very well because the mattress was a bit too stiff, plus I heard a lot of noises outside and was woken up at 3 am by the rooster.

“An old lady who was selling souvenirs scammed one of the tourists in the group”

We had a good Western breakfast then we hit the road, less difficult than the day before I think. We walked through a bamboo forest and then paused at waterfalls where other groups of tourists had also stopped. Everywhere on the internet, I had read that Sapa was “too” touristy, but I found that we had seen relatively few tourists. Maybe it was a good season. Anyway, then we crossed the village of Giang Ta Chai, inhabited by the Red Zao, and finally the village of Supan. Before taking the bus back to Sapa, we had a very good soup lunch in a restaurant, where unfortunately an old lady who was selling souvenirs, scammed one of the tourists in the group and got chased away by the guide, so, be careful :/

“There were mountains as far as the eye could see, the scenery was breathtaking”

By taking the bus, we saw everything we had been through since the day before, but even better because we were high up and the view was completely unobstructed. There were mountains as far as the eye could see, the scenery was breathtaking, although the rice fields were not cultivated at this time. Sapa trekking remains one of my best memories of Vietnam, I would go on a trek there again and would highly recommend it.

And you, do you like trekking? Where was your best trek?

If you want to know the rest of my adventure, wait for the next article where I will take you to the northeast of Vietnam with its magnificent landscapes!

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