Already high in the mountains, in the beginning of the Himalayas, thousands of people live from the cultivation of this nutritional seeds, our food for the last three months and the basis of all Asians meals.
The ground is ladder shaped to form terraces, just like Incas did in the high lands of Peru. This mixed with creeks, falls, charming tiny villages and hospitable villagers makes the beauty of the place.
The villagers go to Sapa to sell their handcrafts and invite tourist for a walk to their places.
Their manners might be too pushy so it’s hard to know which one is worth meeting. Thanks we had Camila to overcome this challenge... Camila is a friend of Betinha from Brazil that we first met in Chiang Mai and since Hanoi she joined us to travel around the north of Vietnam. She is really good in communication, you can leave her alone with a tree and she’ll make a conversation out of it.
So she met Chocho, a beautiful soul who lived some hours away from Sapa, in the mountains. We got an invitation to visit her place so there we headed.
Her daughter "Susy" was our guide across the rice fields.
Chocho's family gave us a warm welcome and invited us to stay over for lunch at their place.
Martin tryed some traditional clothes, not the right size!
It was a three days walk in the mountains. From Sapa to Lao Chai, then to Ta Van (Chocho's village) and next day continue to Ban Ho, I don’t think you can Google those places!... But the fact is that we walked almost 30 km in 2 days, in the mountains, a real challenge for some just wearing Havaianas! Overnights were in very simple guesthouses with a big room full of mattresses and homemade food.
In Ban Ho there’s a cascade, which is always the ultimate attraction in this kind of places. This was our final destination after the long walk, the perfect reward. Fresh water, jump from the rocks, swimming... For some it is always a temptation to swim right under the waterfall, see it from the back and why not getting a massage... so Martin did his trial. This was not a good idea. As soon as he got in the water the underpressure caused by the fall sucked him in and smashed him against a rock... Diego was with him and last thing he heard was: “Diegooooooo”. Then nothing, deep silence. After some seconds Martin appeared downstream, with a bleeding face and shouted: “Don’t try it!!!!”. So that’s a message that you should be aware of as well.
For the way back we took a Jeep that might have arrived to Vietnam by plane and dropped off with a parachute, back in ‘68. Tough machine.
Check the petrol tank in the front window!
Beautiful landscape, tasty food, nice people and some adventures lift up our impression of Vietnam. So Sapa, recommendable.
See you nextone!
