Sapa and Halong Bay

If you have the opportunity to visit northern Vietnam, you definitely need to visit Sapa and Halong Bay.

Sapa is a small city in the mountains about 375 km northwest of Hanoi. Sapa was a former hill station of the French and is home to many of the Vietnam's indigenous cultures - Red Dao, Hmong and Tay people.

We were greated with blue skies and warm weather upon our arrival into Sapa. After checking into our room which cost $9 a night, we rented a couple of motorscooters to tour the area surrounding the town of Sapa. We attempted to find a waterfall but we got lost twice (Seems to be a recurring event for me), crashed the motorbike (no harm no foul) and our motorbike was backfiring because we put a higher grade of gas in it, pretty funny. But after all this, we bumped into another person that we knew from Hanoi and we decided to venture down into the valley below Sapa. The road down into the valley is a gravel road with sheer drops down the side. (I don't like cliffs, the last one that I got near, I fell off, but that's another story) As you descend down the road you see the valley below that is filled with farming steppes, green hills and a river that runs through it. A breathtaking sight. The day consisted of a visit to a local village called Ho Bien village, playing frisbee in Sapa's town square and eating all sorts of food at a local food stand.

Our second day in Sapa we trekked down into the valley. Our group consisted of a local guide, Tom, myself and two friends and two women from Korea - Su and Sa. During our two-day, one night trek, we learned about the three main indigenous cultures living in the valley of Sapa - the Red Dao, Hmong and Tay people. At the beginning our trek, we visited the Hmong people. The Hmong people are the poorest of the three indiginous people and can be recognized by their blue dyed clothes. They live in small sparse houses and live a very simple life. After visting the Hmong people, we trekked down to the Taven village which is home to the Tay people. The Tay people are the wealthiest of the three indigenous people. The Tay people are good entrepreneurs and value education very much.

In the Tavan village, we stayed in a local house and slept on the second floor of the house. The night we sleep there it rained and it was cold because bamboo ain't insulated. The highlight of our stay in Tavan was our dinner. Our group ate dinner around a small table with the hostess of the house. After we ate, she brought out some rice wine and made everyone take something like 15 shots (Reminds of my days in college), even the two Korean women. (They tried to dump their shots out but the hostess wouldn't have it, she kept giving them bigger shots) [ Halfway through the night, the Korean women decorated the house with the rice wine]

Our last day in Sapa, we hiked out of the valley. On our way out we visited the Red Zhao. The Red Zhao people came from China and can be recognized by their colorful scarfs. Farming is their primary skill along with making wicked yet smooth rice wine.

As we left Sapa, the weather turned cold [ Snow was forecasted the next day ] and our overnight train ride home was highlighted by a drunk local Vietnamese man who was awake our entire 9 hour train home. I can say that I didn't get a lick of sleep. Good times, good times.

Halong Bay

Halong Bay is about 170 km east of Hanoi and it consists of limestone islands that protrode from below the water with jungle vegetation growing atop them. And some of the islands have large caves inside. Although the weather was overcast during my visit it didn't take away from the beauty. My tour of Halong Bay was a two day-one night episode on a Junk Boat. My trip highlights included jumping from the top of the boat (about 15 feet) into the water below, touring a massive cave and meeting people from all over the world. I met a couple from Holland who were biking through Asia, an American living in Israel, a guy from Australia and a girl from New Zealand who drank a case of beer by themselves, a Japanese guy who was biking through China and Vietnam and a Vietnamese-American who bought fresh crab both days and let me have some. If you have a chance to visit Halong bay it's picturesque scenery will not disappoint.