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Mile-High Hill Tribes in Sapa

Posted by Stuart at 03:28 PM on April 17, 2006

Greetings from Mile-High Sapa in Northern Vietnam. Amazingly, even in this small town in the mountains a few kilometers from the Chinese border, there are Internet Cafes. And the connection is relatively speedy, considering where we are.

Rupert and I took the 9-hour overnight train from Hanoi last night. I love taking the train, and my favorite thing to do on the train is hang out in the dining car and chat with new friends. Last night was no exception. A Vietnamese tour guide and I chatted for a while about the Vietnamese tourism industry. Over a few Bia Ha Noi we brainstormed names for his future travel company. He said that he wanted to be a tour guide for a few years, then start his own company. I am sure that if Vietnam continues on its current path, there will be plenty of business for him in the future. It has truely been a fantastic place to visit.

This afternoon, we did a little hiking down the mountain to Cat Cat village, where some Black Hmong hiltribe people live. The mountains here are very steep and the valleys are quite small, yet hundreds of tiny rice field terraces have been carved into the hillsides. Unfortunately, being a mile high we are actually in the clouds today, so we can not see much of the view. But every now and then the sun peeks out and the mountains come into view.

We will be here a bit longer for some more trekking, then it's back to Hanoi and eventually home to Bangkok...