Sa Pa and the mountainous region in the north

About 300 km northwest of Hanoi and 1,600 meters above sea level is Sa Pa. 

We started the night bus journey, which was supposed to take about 6 hours. We will not quickly forget this ride, as Coline had significant gastrointestinal discomfort (unfortunately, the exact description is censored by the Vietnamese government 🤬)

Fortunately, we arrived in Sa Pa at 3:30 AM. We could not stay at our original place (a little outside the city), as it was about a 50-minute drive away, which was not reasonable for Coline!

There we were at 3:30 AM at the bus station in the northern Vietnamese province. Luckily, there are many hotels here. We just had to find one where we could check-in at this hour. We quickly found the VIP Hotel and woke up three people from their deep sleep. But "VIP" was only the name 🤪

We finally could sleep at 4 AM and woke up again at 1 PM - due to the continuing discomfort, all we can say about April 5th is "Netflix & Chill."

On April 6th, thanks to medication, we felt better and took a walk to a breakfast place. We quickly noticed that Sa Pa is much quieter than the capital.

In the afternoon, we set off to our destination for the day: the Hàm Rông Mountain. We hiked up the mountain and enjoyed a lot of time for ourselves since there were surprisingly few people here. Although the music played at some places was somewhat unusual, this resort promised us a beautiful day. The weather was also good. 27 degrees, a gentle wind, and lots of sunshine made it even better. It was the first time we had proper sunshine ☀️ 

From some viewpoints, we could look out over the city. However, the view of the country's highest mountain was almost denied to us. The 3,143-meter-high Phan Xi Pang 🏞 and the beautiful rice terraces were hidden behind low-hanging clouds. Nevertheless, it was very impressive how quickly the clouds moved around us. Therefore, we could not take any great mountain panoramas today.

After the descent, we treated ourselves to a relaxed coffee and a cola and went to an Italian restaurant in the evening. Coline had a light meal, and Jeff indulged in a king-size pizza. 

While walking back to the hotel, we were suddenly surprised by crowds of people in the streets and alleys. Many people come to the city in the evening, especially on weekends. At the central square, Cho Tinh, many artists performed, people danced, and there were countless merchants: the Black H'mong.

These are women in colorful costumes who come from the surrounding villages to offer their handcrafted goods. You can buy hats, clothes, scarves, and various jewelry. "Where are you from? What is your name? How old are you?" are the opening questions in a very charming sales conversation. And they speak very good English, by the way - Fun fact: the H'mong speak better English than many people in the city. One downside is the many children who also have to contribute to the family's income. We are talking about small children who sometimes still carry babies on their backs and conduct sales until late in the evening. So the tourist directly supports child labor 😕 Personally, we were deeply touched by the many sad looks of the children despite that we remained consistent. 

On the next day, we visited the village of Cát Cát and met the lovely Lan, one of the H'mong women. Lan is 35 years old. We bought some bracelets and a bracelet from her. She was happy that we wanted to visit her village.

We were probably the only people who walked down the path on foot. For this, we had an excellent view of the village and the surrounding landscape.

We descended many stairs and quickly realized that the whole village is very touristy. Although we could see the simple houses of the H'mong families from time to time, there was also one stall after another. This took away a little from the village's authenticity and beauty. There were also some free-roaming animals to see🐕🐈🐓🐗...

We passed many rice fields and came to the Thác Tīên Sa, a waterfall. It already looked good, but last year we saw much more impressive waterfalls 🇮🇸 😉 

At the waterfall, Jeff noticed that he also had gastrointestinal discomfort. However, we still had to walk a bit more. 

At the very end, there was another highlight to see - the Câu Cát Cát, a suspension bridge. This was also a personal challenge for Coline, which she mastered. 

Due to the mentioned discomfort, we treated ourselves to a taxi back to the hotel and let the day end in relaxation. 

Tomorrow, we will take the bus back to Hanoi, where we will plan our onward journey to Cát Bà Island.

Sa Pa - we didn't become best friends. And that's not your fault because you are not responsible for the clouds or our health. We simply had hoped for more: for example, to visit the famous Sunday markets. However, we underestimated the distances and the infrastructure. In the end, we still say: Tam biết Sa Pa.