Infamous Sa Pa

What do you picture when someone says Vietnam? Hills and hills of perfectly layered rice terraces as far as the eye can see, the luminous green growing from them and ladies in the fields wearing the cone shaped hats. Well that image you have seen is probably a picture of Sa Pa. When on the bus on our way to our homestay, although misty, it was a spectacular view. Unfortunately the rice was harvested recently but that doesn't stop the the beautiful landscape of the rice terraces filled with reflecting water. However Sa Pa has, as with most beautiful and popular places, become a tourist spot. And with tourism comes destruction, so you do need to get high into the villages to see the true landscape. Luckily I decided to stay in a homestay away from the main town just for that very reason.

Today was a day of resting, taking in the scenery and doing a bit of planning. My main reason for coming to Sa Pa is to climb the tallest mainland mountain in South East Asia. We only have our walking trainers which will more than suffice however if the weather is bad it will be a treacherous journey, one which might just have to not do. Not much to report on really for today!

Oh my goodness... so as I mentioned we are staying in the mountains, but what I forgot to mention is that our homestay is just made from plywood on the inside and has a metal tin roof. The heavens absolutely opened. Their was a huge storm during the night and our tin roof sounded like a herd of cattle stampeding above us all night. No we did not sleep and I'm soo glad that was not when we were camping at Fansipan basecamp! I'm just lying awake in bed not really wanting to know what the destruction will be of the already horrific roads... I think the wet season has begun...

After a bit of a lie in and banana pancakes for breakfast and phở for early lunch we decided head out on a hike. The weather was a bit cloudy but not too bad. The walk passed through rice terraces, bamboo forests, small local villages (with the cutest and happiest baby I have seen for long time!), lots of beautiful multicoloured dragonflies, lots of piggies, no other tourists and by the afternoon we actually had sunshine and blue skies! On the way back we found a lovely little homestay that was still building its first floor and we asked if we could drink beer and use it as a roof terrace. They welcomed the business! So we sat in the sun, drinking beer and doing Vietnamese. For dinner we went back to the phở restaurant and ate tofu with tomatoes and pork with a mushroom and onion sauce. Yum!! The perfect day!Read more