Trekking in Sa Pa

Sa Pa is a beautiful town set in the northern mountains of Vietnam, near the border with China. It takes an overnight train journey to get there from Hanoi. From the Lao Cai train station, it is a winding road up to Sa Pa town. I stayed there for 2 days, and trekked through terraced rice fields and villages of the ethnic minorities. My trekking guide, Maya (her real name is Gia, pronounced as Za) belonged to one of the ethnic minorities herself, and took me to visit her village and a local house.

Love Waterfall

By road from the Lao Cai train station up to Sa Pa

Hoang Lien National Park

Misty mountains

Trekking to the Love waterfall

My local guide, Maya, who belongs to the Black H'mong ethnic minority

The hill town of Sa Pa is chilly and beautiful in winter. The Town Square is a large empty area, where you could walk, sit and relax, or eat delicious Vietnamese food. I had all my meals at an excellent cafe called Gecko.

Sa Pa town

Town square

A village school

The rice terraces are brown, dry and misty in winter. In the summer months, they look beautiful in bright green and yellow. The trek took us through several villages, where we saw the inhabitants preparing food, children playing about and vendors selling local handicrafts.

Terraced rice fields, in the mountains of Sa Pa

Walking through local villages in the Muong Hoa valley

Dyed cloth used by the Black H'mong ethnic minority

Young girls from ethnic minority communities

Going to school

The Red Dao ethnic minority - according to an old custom, married women have to shave their heads and eyebrows