Sapa hill tribe trek
(Unforgettable trek trip of Matt and his friends)
Based on the recommendations of many people we have met, after Halong Bay we decided to set off for the remote hill station of Sapa (near the border with China) to do some trekking up into the hill tribe areas. Sapa was an old French outpost 50+ years ago, and its outskirts are home to many tribes of people living in the mountains. Our itinerary was to do a full day of trekking, followed by a home stay with a hill tribe, another full day of trekking, and then a day and a half exploring the actual town of Sapa.
We took the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai (3km from China), arrived at 5:30am, and then grabbed a bus to Sapa. At 1600 meters, Sapa is literally quite cool. It was immediately refreshing to feel like we were back in the Bay Area. We found our guide and soon were off into a jeep which dropped us off out in the country-side where we started our trek. The hill area was beautiful. It actually reminded me a lot of what the lower-level regions of my Nepal trek looked like. Rice terraces were scattered among the hills, water buffalo aplenty, and villages dressed in various garb not common to the USA Throughout our time we came into contact with 3 tribes: Black H'Mong, Red Dao, and the Tay people. For the most part this was a great experience, but tourism has obviously had its effect on the people.
The people try to sell you things along the path, and some of the villages even have electricity and a TV. We sort of felt like we were somewhat intruding into their lives, tolerated at this stage in their history because of the prospect of the almighty dollar being transferred their way. This is surely a different place than it was 10 years ago from what we've heard. It would surely be a different trip if you took a sleeping bag and just headed off on your own, as long as the Vietnamese government didn't see you do so.
Never-the-less, we had a great homestay with a very nice family. The food was amazing, and it was great to have to bundle up with heavier blankets at night. The cicadas (sound like high-powered grasshoppers) were deafening at night, which was quite a sound to hear, and added to the experience, along with the two dead snakes we crossed at various points in the path.
After probably 15 miles of hiking in 2 days, we returned to Sapa to take in the sites. I hired a 23 year-old Vietnamese boy to take me on his motorbike up to a nearby waterfall and the highest pass in the area. At one point, we stopped at a point overlooking the massive valley below and sat down and talked. We began discussing the differences between Vietnam and the USA, then the effect of the Vietnamese-American war on both sets of people, and finally our spiritual beliefs. He told me about how he does not subscribe to a faith, and when it was my turn to share I said I was a Christian and asked if he had ever heard of Jesus, and he said he hadn't. I asked if he'd like to hear about him and he said he would. I did my best to explain, in simple and broken English, the gospel of the Bible, and how Jesus is different than Buddha for instance (of note, there is now a Christian church in Sapa, although he said that he only thinks people go there for weddings). While he was somewhat surprised at the reality of the gospel story, he was very curious, and I pray that God may have planted a seed of faith to be watered.
Now we are finally leaving on another overnight train back to Hanoi, from where we will head down to Hue and tour the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and see where my dad was stationed during the Vietnam war.
(Source: Matt's blog)
Based on the recommendations of many people we have met, after Halong Bay we decided to set off for the remote hill station of Sapa (near the border with China) to do some trekking up into the hill tribe areas. Sapa was an old French outpost 50+ years ago, and its outskirts are home to many tribes of people living in the mountains. Our itinerary was to do a full day of trekking, followed by a home stay with a hill tribe, another full day of trekking, and then a day and a half exploring the actual town of Sapa.
We took the night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai (3km from China), arrived at 5:30am, and then grabbed a bus to Sapa. At 1600 meters, Sapa is literally quite cool. It was immediately refreshing to feel like we were back in the Bay Area. We found our guide and soon were off into a jeep which dropped us off out in the country-side where we started our trek. The hill area was beautiful. It actually reminded me a lot of what the lower-level regions of my Nepal trek looked like. Rice terraces were scattered among the hills, water buffalo aplenty, and villages dressed in various garb not common to the USA Throughout our time we came into contact with 3 tribes: Black H'Mong, Red Dao, and the Tay people. For the most part this was a great experience, but tourism has obviously had its effect on the people.
The people try to sell you things along the path, and some of the villages even have electricity and a TV. We sort of felt like we were somewhat intruding into their lives, tolerated at this stage in their history because of the prospect of the almighty dollar being transferred their way. This is surely a different place than it was 10 years ago from what we've heard. It would surely be a different trip if you took a sleeping bag and just headed off on your own, as long as the Vietnamese government didn't see you do so.
Never-the-less, we had a great homestay with a very nice family. The food was amazing, and it was great to have to bundle up with heavier blankets at night. The cicadas (sound like high-powered grasshoppers) were deafening at night, which was quite a sound to hear, and added to the experience, along with the two dead snakes we crossed at various points in the path.
After probably 15 miles of hiking in 2 days, we returned to Sapa to take in the sites. I hired a 23 year-old Vietnamese boy to take me on his motorbike up to a nearby waterfall and the highest pass in the area. At one point, we stopped at a point overlooking the massive valley below and sat down and talked. We began discussing the differences between Vietnam and the USA, then the effect of the Vietnamese-American war on both sets of people, and finally our spiritual beliefs. He told me about how he does not subscribe to a faith, and when it was my turn to share I said I was a Christian and asked if he had ever heard of Jesus, and he said he hadn't. I asked if he'd like to hear about him and he said he would. I did my best to explain, in simple and broken English, the gospel of the Bible, and how Jesus is different than Buddha for instance (of note, there is now a Christian church in Sapa, although he said that he only thinks people go there for weddings). While he was somewhat surprised at the reality of the gospel story, he was very curious, and I pray that God may have planted a seed of faith to be watered.
Now we are finally leaving on another overnight train back to Hanoi, from where we will head down to Hue and tour the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and see where my dad was stationed during the Vietnam war.
(Source: Matt's blog)
