Sapa and the Animals
Sapa is a village in the mountains of the Hoàng Liên Son. In 1880 it was founded as a resort for the French soldiers, who colonized Vietnam and wanted a retreat for hot summers. Nowadays it's a peak touristic place with about 1500 travel buses a day coming from Hanoi which is a 6h travel. We were astonished by all the (vietnamese)tourists, hotels, restaurants and massage salon's. For us this was the starting point of our trekking tour.
One of the most harsh impressions in Sapa were young girls dancing and begging for money. The region is home of many ethnic minorities, one of them totally adapted to the tourism. Seeing children beg for money really breaks your heart.
The Vietnamese tourists visiting Sapa are not leaving the village and are there to eat and drink. Eating is all about meat. You could find meat restaurants all over partly run by children.
3-Day Trekking Tour
Day 1
We stayed there for one night and headed into the mountains. Soon the hustle and bustle was left behind and we started into the Mountains of Vietnam.
The hiking paths were either super well or almost not visible. Being a little lost in the mountains we met a farmer who could not help us, because he was probably speaking a dialect not supported by our translator. But he was happy to show us his cows.
In Vietnam you can see animals much more common than in Germany, like chickens, dogs, cats, cows, buffalos or horses. The relationship between the people and the animals feels more natural in Vietnam. Street dogs are super chill and play with children, chicken run around in the gras, cows walk in the mountains without any fence. But every rose has its thorn, I will tell this sometime later.
In the end we had to take a "taxi" to get to our destination before it got dark. 3 person's on a motorbike is possible, even we doubted.
Day 2
On day 2 we went for a hike through the Bambus forests and through the rice fields.
We met a lot of chickens with cuuute little baby chickens. Also cuuute little goat babys and quite a lot of buffalos walking through the rice fields.
Day 3
On day 3 we were ultimately lucky. It was the last day of new year's holiday and the biggest festival of the minority's living in the area. We jointed the festival, enjoyed the good mood and participated in the festival games.
Clarissa was one head, and me two heads above the crowd.
After spending the morning on the festival we started our way back to Sapa with beautiful views and some more animals.
In this shop next to the school all the children bough an ice cream...
