Sleeping with the locals and walking the goat trails. Sapa

I was on over night train with a couple from the US, the train was identical to the ones I had ridden in China, all the way down to the nuts and bolts in the train.  We were on our way to northern Vietnam to a remote town called Sapa.

We arrived at the destination at 6am and got shuffled into a mini bus, it was a further 1 hour on a narrow dirt road on a hill side till we hit the town of Sapa.

It was very cold and the building architecture looked like something out of a old Swiss movie but all the locals were dressed in dark blue cloths with very colorful patterns on it.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and packed our smaller backpacks with enough cloths and items for 3 days. There was 2 groups of 5 people in our tour, with 2 tour guides. Local girls from the villages in the valley. Our guide was called “Chi” and the other group’s guide was called “Lan”.

We set off out the door and immediately got greeted by more villages, dressed in traditional cloths. They wanted to befriend us and asked us all where we were from, how old, and so forth. They all ranged from 12 years old to 50+.

We started down the mountain along the road for 5km and the view over the valley was immediately amazing and breathtaking. The rice fields had been etched in to the side of the mountain and gave it a look I could not describe in words.

After the first 5km we took a small trail, that only the locals used and we headed down a steep hill. 


The locals that had joined us in the town seemed to stay with us the entire afternoon.

We took a small break after climbing a steep hill in a shack, it was about 1pm and the local school had just finished for the day. 


Needless to say a bunch of happy tourists walking on there tracks made a bit of commotion, some were trying to sell us things they had made by hand. 


Others just seemed to look in through the window and laugh or have a shock and aw on there face.

It took another 30 min of walking but we hit the lunch shop, the locals that had followed us the 10 odd km now turned vicious, they had followed us the whole way so we MUST buy something. I didn’t really mind I bought 2 items off them for people at home and my “friend” went on here way…  We had a nice lunch and packed up to continue.

There was a new pack of “friends” waiting outside the lunch stop for us. “Hello sir, I be your afternoon friend, where you from?” this old lady said to me… at this point our guide Chi stopped the group and told us all in front of the new people. 
“If you don’t want to buy anything later tonight when we get to the homestay, do not talk to them now.. they will follow you the rest of the way and we have problems later. 
Just tell them you don’t want to buy anything and they will go away.” So I turned to the older lady, and politely told here, “Sorry don’t want to buy anything I already have all I need”. As quickly as she appeared she vanished.

After lunch we passed through several small villages and through more rice terraces.

We started up a steep hill side that was extremely slippery, it was pure clay and wet, the guide powered on and we followed every step.


 Her shoes would sink 2mm and our shoes would go under to the socks… it was worth it though the view from this new height over the valley was breath taking. We could see all the rice fields, all the small village houses and the river.

After another fight with the mud we came to a waterfall, and had a brief rest before we descended the hill and arrived at our first nights homestay.

We stayed with a family who lived in a small village in the valley; it happened that this was also the village that our guide was from so she took the opportunity to head home and say hi to the family.

The homestay was nice, it was a large barn like structure with living and lounge like room in one area, with the kitchen in a attached outside area and the bathroom in a separate building. The kitchen was a open fire with a water tank in one corner and bench to prepare food in the other. 
Out the back door was the pig and chicken houses.

That night the homeowner prepared a nice dinner, with rice, chicken, beef, tofu and cabbage. We all had so much to eat we were about to burst, the family and the guides also joined us for dinner so it was nice.

The next morning the roosters crowed and I was up at the crack of dawn. I started a small fire in the kitchen (fireplace) and was soon joined by the homeowners wife who started to make breakfast. 

"Lan" the other groups guide.

I went for a small walk down to the river and back while I waited for the group to wake up.

Local School house

We lost 2 members of our group that morning as the lady was sick so my group was now down to 3 people.

We headed up the hills again and through small villages, there was a small school in the village and we stopped to say hello to the kids. The school was only for primary children as if you want to go to high school you have to pay and most can not afford it. So they go to primary school and then start working when they leave.

We continued up the hill and past a small farm, we hit a snag at one point when the water buffalo were camped out on the trail, it was quite funny when our guide who is only 1 meter and a bit high stood in front of this monster that was even higher than her ;) we ended up walking around the buffalo and continuing on our trip.

As we continued along we past a few of the local mill's. They were small buildings with a spoon like plank coming out of the side, this would collet water and tip. The other end would be pounding on corn to make flower.

From here we walked along a ridge past the local blacksmith, where they make tools and knifes for the locals and the view seemed to get better and better.

Then we had to descend, the path was so slippery and muddy, it was all clay and wet from a burst pipe that was underneath the trail. It was hard work but we made it.

We climbed over the river and up the other side then through another bamboo forest and came out at the edge of a massive rice paddock. The rice terraces seemed to keep going forever.  A bunch of old goats had camped out on the rocks overlooking the rice fields and watched as we struggled to navigate the fields.

Eventually we hit the lunch stop and had some tomato and egg noodle soup. It was soo nice. After lunch the Swiss couple said there good byes, they had only booked the 2 day trekking tour and headed back to sapa. This only left me and Chi to complete the next 2 days. 

Local petrol station

We headed through the small village and past the local petrol station, down past the school and through the fields.

We came to what seemed to be a cliff but it was a very steep slope down. The view from this height you could see for miles. The next home-stay was just down the hill and we descended quite quickly. It only took us 2 hours from the lunch spot to the homestay, the other group took a lot longer.

While we were waiting for the other group, we decided to head to the local village. 
This village was very different from the others that we had passed in the valley, it was obvious that they had more money than the rest of the people, the houses were multi story timber, and large. 



They also had a large school and shops in the village selling mobiles and things (old ones compared to Aus). The reason was there is a lot of homestays in this village, 20+ which can hold 18+ people each. There is also a large power plant being built near buy which would bring workers to stay in the village. However the power plant is destroying the country side and the rice fields.

We also take a look at a waterfall and pond near by. It was a small 5 min walk to this waterfall and Chi explained that it was good swimming and you could jump off the rocks here into the water. I was about to jump when she yelled out that it was the other side not where I was standing I should jump from. If I jumped from there I would get hurt…

We headed back to the homestay and played some cards while we waited for the other group to arrive.

Me, Home-stay owner and Chi

The next day was a lazy one, the other group headed to a small village on the hill side. But Chi and I headed back to the waterfall and spend a hour there. I had a swim and relaxed. We headed back, had some lunch and then the car came to pick us up to go back to Sapa.

From Sapa we had a few hours to kill before the car came to take us back to the train to Hanoi. So I walked around the town and had a look at the local market place.

There was all types of fruit and vegies and meats on sale. Also there was so many “The North Face” brand shops in the town it was silly, every 2^nd cloths and shoe shop was North Face.

Eventually the car came at 5pm and we headed back.

Not much happened from here on in, we had dinner and boarded a train. I ended up having a private cabin on the train which was nice and I arrived back in Hanoi at 5am in the morning. Ready to go to Ha Long and Bai tu long Bay at 7am.

My time in Sapa was a blast, I could see the other tour groups walking on the road but it seemed to only be our group that walked to local trails on the other side of the river. It was much more enjoyable than following a umbrella leading tour guide, and I had a blast! So if you come to Vietnam look up Ethnic Travels in Hanoi. They run a great tour in Sapa.

Till next time, HAVE FUN!

Steffen