Sapa

Men at the water buffalo market

Just a night train (and a windy mini-bus) ride away from Hanoi lies the cozy, resort-style mountain town of Sapa.  This is the place to trek to meet Vietnam's ethnic minorities, eat Western versions of Vietnamese classics (and a few undiscovered delights), and to explore surrounding villages and markets.

We spent one day in Bac Ha, a small town known for its Sunday market.  This market was unlike anything we had ever seen before.  Every Sunday, villagers from the surrounding hill tribes make the trek into the "big city" to sell their wares, buy or sell livestock, and stock up on everyday items.  Aside from the typical offerings of hardware, clothes,

Bac Ha market in full swing

produce, freshly slaughtered meat, and the odd souvenir stall, this market also had an extensive livestock section with dogs, pigs (more than a few of which we saw unhappily tied to a motorbike), chickens, horses, and water buffalo.  What also set this market apart from so many others is the colorful presence of the beautifully dressed Flower H'Mong.  One young lady pinched Annette's arm and brushed it a few times with her index finger to make sure that her pale skin was real (we think).  Even as she did so, we wanted to pinch ourselves to make sure we weren't dreaming, as the vivid colors and swirling energy made the market feel wonderfully surreal.

A Flower H'Mong woman rubs Annette's arm, surprised by her white skin

Water buffalo at Bac Ha market

Most people who visit Sapa do so to go trekking to small minority mountain villages, all surrounded by lush forest and unbelievable rice terraces, so we jumped on the bandwagon and signed up for a trek.  There are two treks you can sign up for at Sapa's excellent information office, and we chose the route less traveled by tourists.  Good choice!  We saw less than ten Westerners all day and were treated to the attention of villagers who had not yet been desensitized to the sight of tourists.

The little girl in front was the leader of these three attention-lovers

Our guide Tze and her three friendly, sales-lady friends

In the town of Sapa H'Mong women follow tourists everywhere joking and pleading for them to "Buy something from me."  We had three lovely and smile-prone ladies follow us for the first three hours of our trek.  They didn't try to sell us one thing until we sat sown for lunch.  We bought a few items and they threw in a photo shoot, four woven bracelets, and three grass horses for free.

Some of our favorite moments on our journey have been the ones we don't expect.  We didn't expect, for example, to spend half an hour in a H'Mong house in a tiny village outside of Sapa.  But our guide, Tze, finished our five hour guided trek at her home, where we were entertained by her three beautiful children and six puppies.  The entire trek was memorable because of the playful and curious children, enchanting scenery, and our lovely guide.  But the opportunity to have a conversation with her in her home (while playing some version of tag that involved the children trying to run by Jeff without being touched) was truly special.

"Don't-get-touched-by-the-foreigner" tag

We and Tze make three