Monday, March 12, 2012

An Overdue Report: Part 4, Sapa

Sapa is in far northern Vietnam not too far from the Chinese boarder. To get there from Hanoi we took an overnight train to Lao Cai and then took a van the last hour to the village of Sapa. Sapa is a hub for hiking and home stay treks with the local Hmong and Dao hill tribes. We stayed at a local guest house and did a couple of day trips based out of Sapa.

We stayed at the Cat Cat Hotel, named after a nearby Hmong village.
The village of Sapa is quite picturesque.
While the village was nice, the hiking was even better. The first day we hiked down into the valley to a waterfall, enjoying the views along the way.
Before heading back we had lunch cooked over a wood fire in a village along the trail. It was delicious.
That evening our guest host owner had a Christmas Eve party for his staff and guests. We enjoyed some local delicacies including kebobs, grilled pigs intestine, and home made rice wine.
On Christmas day we enjoyed breakfast at the guest house before heading off with local guides for the day.
Late that night we hopped back on the overnight train to Hanoi so we could catch a morning flight to Bangkok. We're happy we had one last chance to explore south east Asia!

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