Rachelle's South East Asian Adventures: Day 3: Trekking in Sa Pa

Sa Pa is in the north east of Vietnam and consists of many hill tribes. We took an overnight train which was a little rocky but comfy enough and our Vietnam coach mates even bought us corn!

Amber sitting on her bed eating the corn we were given :)

We arrived into a town at the bottom of the mountain around 5am where we then had to take a bus up to the town of SaPa. We arrived to drizzly and foggy weather which is normal that time of year and well we were told it doesnt change a whole lot in the summer but is warmer then the 2 degrees we were experiencing! The first hotel we asked about tours at ended up being the best deal (we did check at others). You need a guide in order to navigate your way and gum boots were luckily included in the deal as without them you would end up knee deep in mud!

After a nice breakfast at the hotel we met our 18 year old guide who lives in one of the towns we were hiking to. Along with our guide were 4 or 5 other village women who helped us along the hike. Yes they were there to sell us their crafts but they ended up helping us immensely! The rain made the trail very slippery which they were used to be even I found difficult to hike it. There were 6 of us total on the hike (not including the locals) and it took around 6 hours round trip.

The scenery was spectacular.... when you could see it, I tried to think of the fog as adding to the picturesque setting instead of hindering it. The rice patties made such interesting patterns on the hillsides and have been around for hundreds of years.

We hiked through many small towns where we would see their houses and farm animals just roaming around us. We also passed by many contraptions that were transferring water down the hill. We are not sure what exactly they are used for...

One of the village women who helped us along the trail.

The contraption that we couldnt figure out what exactly it was used for but the ladle to the right would fill up with water then tip down.

Lunch was also included. We had a nice lunch of chicken, veggies, and rice in one of the small towns near the end of the hike.

We ended in a small village that had a road so we could be picked up by a van to take us back to Sa Pa. The ride was only 30-40min so not far but was nice to have after our long hike. We were warm and even hot sometimes while hiking but once you stopped we froze!