The Northern Wonders of Sapa

After our sea adventures at Ha Long bay, Craig and I ventured to North Vietnam’s trekking center - Sapa.

Sapa has beautiful landscapes of cascading rice terraces surrounded by mountains inhabited by the Hmong, Dao, Xa Pho and several other hill tribes. We spent two days with our Hmong guide Mama Mao trekking (sometimes balancing on narrow rice terraces) to a few different villages and learning of their way of life, rice harvests, and the colorful handwoven textiles that differentiate the various hill tribes. On our final day in Sapa, we took a cable car up Mount Fansipan, the highest peak in Vietnam.

Our base was a homestay with a local Hmong family that was very generous with their traditional food and rice wine! Being born in the Mekong delta region of South Vietnam, It brought me great joy to meet such kind people and to learn a little about the Hmong culture that is historically older than the Vietnamese culture. Next - We head to Ninh Binh and begin our way south.Read more