Sapa and the Northern Hill Tribes
I had heard so many good things about this cute little mountain town at the very top of Vietnam. The town overlooks the beautiful valley below with rice paddies all the way down, a river snaking at through the bottom and small villages nestled in between. Here is one of the places in Vietnam where there is still ethnic villages such as the Black Hmoung, Flower Hmoung, and Red Dzao.
I thought we would "rough it" for a few days and decided to take the night train there and back. I was quite surprised to find some very nice sleeper trains with private rooms as this once off the beaten track destination has awoken to the tourism industry. The town is packed with hotels, restaurants, and tour agencies. And the streets are packed with people from the local villages greeting you with "Buy from me!" They make beautiful embroidered fabrics but I thought I left the constant badgering in the city and was completely taken by surprise.
This brings me to what I call "the tourist barrier". It is hard to get past and actually see the beauty of a place when the locals see you only as a money pot. You can't even have a real conversation with one of them or trust them in anything they do. Worst of all, I am contributing to this. But for them, I suppose tourism has brought them some better things in life although it hasn't quite made them rich. But despite the touristy feel to Sapa and its tourism barrier, once you get out of the town for a few day trek the scenery is wonderful and it is very peaceful.
We walked through small villages taking in the rice paddies that climb the mountains like stairs to the sky. It was rice planting season so there were a lot of water buffalo plowing the fields with men, women, and children all working along side planting by hand. They were all very hard workers. Lunch was at a local house and after giving half of it away to the hungry children all lingering about (I would have given them the whole thing if I would have known), we were back out for some more.
We also visited the famous Bac Ha markets, where all the local villages come on Sunday. As with every thing, it is "same same but different"...meaning the same as all other markets that we have seen across Cambodia and Vietnam but with something different. For Bac Ha, this was the livestock market...buffalo, chicken, puppies, and even baby owls. Poor things don't know that they are going to be someone's lunch. I tried not to think about it.
I just hope that they can preserve as much of this life and beautiful country in the years to come.
I thought we would "rough it" for a few days and decided to take the night train there and back. I was quite surprised to find some very nice sleeper trains with private rooms as this once off the beaten track destination has awoken to the tourism industry. The town is packed with hotels, restaurants, and tour agencies. And the streets are packed with people from the local villages greeting you with "Buy from me!" They make beautiful embroidered fabrics but I thought I left the constant badgering in the city and was completely taken by surprise.
This brings me to what I call "the tourist barrier". It is hard to get past and actually see the beauty of a place when the locals see you only as a money pot. You can't even have a real conversation with one of them or trust them in anything they do. Worst of all, I am contributing to this. But for them, I suppose tourism has brought them some better things in life although it hasn't quite made them rich. But despite the touristy feel to Sapa and its tourism barrier, once you get out of the town for a few day trek the scenery is wonderful and it is very peaceful.
We walked through small villages taking in the rice paddies that climb the mountains like stairs to the sky. It was rice planting season so there were a lot of water buffalo plowing the fields with men, women, and children all working along side planting by hand. They were all very hard workers. Lunch was at a local house and after giving half of it away to the hungry children all lingering about (I would have given them the whole thing if I would have known), we were back out for some more.
We also visited the famous Bac Ha markets, where all the local villages come on Sunday. As with every thing, it is "same same but different"...meaning the same as all other markets that we have seen across Cambodia and Vietnam but with something different. For Bac Ha, this was the livestock market...buffalo, chicken, puppies, and even baby owls. Poor things don't know that they are going to be someone's lunch. I tried not to think about it.
I just hope that they can preserve as much of this life and beautiful country in the years to come.
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