Sapa

I think it's fair to say that my trip to Sapa has been the highlight of my trip so far. The scenery was absolutely amazing, our dinner and evening at the homestay a local family will be a night to remember forever - and perhaps most importantly, I had awesome company with a great group of fellow travelers.

Sapa is a hill town in the far northwest of Vietnam with stunning natural beauty. All around us were green hills and mountains shrouded in a layer of fog. The hills have been painstakingly carved with rice terraces, with an intricate irrigation system to flood the terraces and bring water down the fields. Over the course of two days, we hiked about 10 miles through some very muddy but always gorgeous terrain.

Sapa is home to a diverse group of hill tribes, including the Black Hmong. The Hmong are very poor and look to the influx of tourists to their home as a way to help their livelihoods. From the moment we arrived in Sapa and on our hike, we were accompanied by a group of enterprising Hmong women eager to chat us up and help us along the trail. The trails were sometimes very steep and usually very muddy and slippery but the Hmong women, this being their home, seemed to deftly crawl over the trails in flip-flops even while carrying large baskets on their backs. We were not so skilled, and so we ended up taking advantage of their help. What they asked in return - quite persistently we learned - was that we buy some of their wares. I bought a little bracelet and a woven case for my passport.

As we trekked through rice fields, we walked through rice farms and local villages and were treated to a glimpse of local life. The Hmong are very poor and we encountered more than a few children walking around with no underwear. (Our host sang a song about this later that night)

After about 7 miles of hiking on the first day, we checked into our homestay, with Mr. Chin in the Bac Ho Village. Mr. Chin was quite the host. He didn't speak a word of English but was quite amused to host us. During dinner, he brought out a few bottles of "happy water" (distilled rice liquor) and fed us rounds and rounds of shots all night. Of course it would've been rude to refuse, so we demurred, and I think we were 10+ deep by the time it was all over. It was a great night - things got more and more fun as the night went on. I had great travel companions - a group of English and two Canadians - and we all had a fun time.
After we were all a little tipsy, our tour guide proposed first a toast to Vietnam, then to Canada, then to the UK, and then to the US - each of which was followed by a drunken rendition of the national anthem performed by the respective nationals ("Vietnam song! Canada song! England song! USA song!"). Of course I represented our country quite well - and a good time was had by all.

I think you will enjoy our host's performance of Vietnam's national anthem ("Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh! Vietnam! Ho Chi Minh!"). See video below.

All in all, an awesome last few days here as my time in Vietnam comes to a close. On Monday I fly back to Thailand where I plan to chill out on the beach and dive with the fishies.