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Sapa mountains
Despite its commercialization during the last seven years,
Sapa is still a must-see on any northern Vietnam
itinerary. On a clear day you will treated to
views of steeply terraced rice fields, towering
verdant ridgelines, primitive mud-thatched
villages, raging rivers and astounding
waterfalls.
 Nestled
high in the Tonkinese Alps near the Chinese
border, Sapa was built as a hill station during
French colonial days, to serve as a respite from
stifling Hanoi summers. These days, weekends are
still the biggest draw in this crumbling
hill-tribe center. Visitors from the capital
flock to Sapa for a glimpse of the famed "Love
Market," a trek to local hill tribe villages, or
an ascent of Vietnam's highest peak, Fan Si Pan.
Some
eight ethnic groups inhabit Lao Cai province:
Hmong, Dao, White Thai, Giay, Tay, Muong, Hao
and Xa Pho. The most prominent in town are the
Red Dao, easily identified by the coin-dangling
red headdresses and intricately embroidered
waistcoats worn by the women, and the Hmong,
distinguished by their somewhat less elaborately
embroidered royal blue attire. Groups of ethnic
Hmong youngsters and women can be seen hauling
impossibly heavy, awkward baskets of wood,
stakes, bamboo, bricks, mud and produce. Deep in
the valleys surrounding Sapa, the Muong Hoa
River sluices a wild, jagged course among Giay,
Red Dao and White Thai settlements, their tiny
dwellings poking out of the neon rice fields
like diamonds on a putting green. One- to
four-day treks are offered by a handful of
outfitters. Guests sleep in tents or in the
homes of villagers, their gear hauled by Hmong
porters. Be warned: Despite what the local
innkeepers will tell you, both the Hmong and the
Dao really do not enjoy having their photographs
taken unless they're paid for it. It's a
certainty that any brochure you see of smiling,
care-free ethnic hill people was shot under a
Screen Actors Guild contract.
Sapa
is famed for its "Love Market" – sort of a cross
between a peacock mating ritual, a Middle
Eastern arms bazaar, an Amish square dance, a
bad Pavarotti concert and Bangkok's Patpong
(except here the people wear clothes). On
Saturday nights, Red Dao hill tribe youths of
both sexes congregate in a weekly courting rite,
singing tribal versions of Loretta Lynn love
songs to woo the opposite sex. The songs are
highly personalized and boast of the composer's
physical attributes, domestic abilities and
strong work ethic. While Dao women are indeed
highly industrious, the men, it seems, prefer to
spend most of their time drinking, smoking opium
or sleeping, only occasionally slapping the rump
of a lethargic bovine moving more slowly than
they are. Few of their songs, though, are about
drinking, smoking opium, sleeping or slapping
rumps.
Topping
out at 3,143 meters, Fan Si Pan has become the
Mount Everest of Vietnam, with queues of yuppie
trekkers in their latest Travel Smith
"totally-pack able" rainwear forming
mountaineering traffic jams at base camps. Eco
Travel can arrange guided ascents.
Sapa
itself is a somewhat bedraggled village meshing
crumbling, mildewed French colonial architecture
with the pencil-thin, brick-and-concrete
mini-hotels that have become so ubiquitous in
recent years all across Vietnam. This neglected,
cultural mishmash would be an eyesore in any
place less spectacularly scenic than Sapa.
Because of its Shangri-la-like setting, Sapa
actually seems quaint – a tranquil, restful
village. Which is, of course, what the French
originally intended the place to be. Amenities
are limited unless you choose to stay at the
Four Star Victoria Sapa, a sprawling alpine
campus nestled discreetly into a hillside in the
center of town.
The
best times of the year to visit Sapa are in the
spring and fall. Summers tend to be rainy and
muddy, while winter temperatures can drop to the
freezing mark (Sapa ushered in 2000 with snow!).
Weather really does make a difference here,
because the spectacular scenery is all but
blotted out when there is cloud cover and rain.
Ignore the other Nikon-toting tourists in the
villages and get out into the countryside, where
you just may still catch a glimpse into
hill-tribe life of a couple of centuries ago.
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