Today the rain let up, and we decided to head out on a trekking tour of the local villages to see how the various different ethnic groups have maintained their way of life, weaving beautiful textiles and wearing the traditional clothes and colours of their heritage.
We had decided to join a group tour from our hotel. This quickly proved to be a terrible mistake. A group of 14 people, we spent the first hour just walking from hotel to hotel to pick up the group. Alex, a nice Italian man staying at our hotel, and I were not impressed. When we got close to the Sa Pa Sisters office that we had scouted out the day before when searching for trekking tours, we ditched the group and made a break for Sa Pa Sisters.
Sa Pa Sisters is a popular trekking company that is owned by local women. They only employ local women as guides, and so you are guaranteed a truly local experience while also helping support the women of the surrounding villages. They were able to find the three of us, (Shawn, Alex and I), a guide on short notice and off we went. A late start, but we knew we would make up this time with a quicker group.
Sure enough within two hours we had caught up with and passed all the other tours on our route, including the group we ditched. We were also able to choose the type of route we wanted. Easy (paved road), medium (muddy, steep dirt track), or the buffalo trail. We chose medium and it was perfect. The trail was slippery and treacherous at times, but the trek was interesting, not crowded and we learned a lot on the way. Pie, our guide, was from the Black H’Mong group. She wore the traditional black leg wraps with green ties. Her rainbow coloured skirt was from the Flower H’Mong group. Our “follower”, Sue, was also Black H’Mong but she wore the traditional black with green embroidery on the collar.
The Followers. Along the trekking routes local women will tag along with each tour group. They may ask a few questions, “where are you from? what is your name?”, but mostly keep a small distance between the group. At lunch, it’s their work time. Opening the bamboo baskets they carry on their backs, they each present one person from the group with their wares. Purses, pillow cases, table runners and fabrics are presented. Each person is expected to buy one article from their follower. I liked Sue, my follower. She held my hand on steep slopes, was young and wasn’t as pushy as the other women. So we bought a wall hanging from her. Shawn’s follower was not happy. She felt she also deserved our business. Shawn was polite and declined many, many times before lunch was served and they took off in search of an afternoon trekking party to join.
Lunch was in the home of a Black H’Mong family. A little boy slept in his bed while his mother cooked us ginger pork, chayote, spinach and soup over open charcoals set into the floor of the home. The two daughters were at school. A dog roamed around but never begged. It was wonderful to be invited into the home of a local family for lunch.
After lunch we continued our trek to Ta Phin village, the home of the Red Dao and H’Mong. Here we walked across a wooden bridge that resembled a ships plank. One misstep and you were in for quite a plunge into the river. For some reason Shawn and I were the only two tourists to try it.
After this a bus took us the 12 km back to Sapa where we had started our trek 5.5 hrs earlier.
All in all a wonderful day. We finally got to enjoy the views that has made Sa Pa a popular tourist destination for trekkers and motorcyclists.
Dinner at The Hill Station. A Frenchman owned restaurant that features the best in local Sapa fares, including customary dishes from the local groups. Water buffalo, rainbow trout, banana leaf salad and a rice wine tasting. Plum, green chilli, pineapple and honey / cinnamon rice wine. Delicious! I mean really really good. Then off to Le Petite Gecko for dessert and wifi.
Footnote: Last night was Saturday night. There was a dance in the main square. We thought nothing of it. Today we learned that every Saturday night there is a dance in preparation for Sunday’s Love Market, where children come from the surrounding villages to meet one another and express their affection in hopes of finding their future spouse. The origins of speed dating!
We also learned the origins of the popular pain relief therapy of cupping. While walking we came upon a young girl with a horrid, purple bruise dead centre of her forehead. Pie explained that for pain relief, the local people will use heated water buffalo horns. They make a small fire in a water buffalo horn and then place the warmed horn on the affected area. In our young girls case, she had a headache. They placed the horn on her forehead and “sucked” the pain out of her.
Live Life Epic 