Asia 2011

After a rather scary drive up into the mountains we arrived at Sapa, had a look around a local market, had lunch with a local family and booked into our hotel.
The markets were particularly interesting, as up to quite recently before we arrived they were used as a place to procure a wife! Single girls paraded around a square in an attempt to capture the eye of a suitor. An interesting quirk though was that it was quite acceptable to kidnap a girl from the square, and if the kidnapping family could hold onto her for one month the girl was obliged to marry into the family!Read more