Sapa Trekking: Day Two
After having such an exciting first day of adventures in Sapa, we were excited to get our second day of trekking started. We woke up well rested and grabbed a big breakfast from the hotel restaurant buffet before meeting our guide. We started our journey walking south of Sapa towards the village of Cat Cat. The morning fog was pretty thick but luckily it cleared up about an hour into our trek.
We made our way through breathtaking valleys that surrounded the village of Y Linh Ho. The views were indescribable and these photos, yet very beautiful, just don’t do justice.
The route we took for our trek was on a narrow dirt path that became very steep at times. The slips and falls here and there were definitely worth it to be able to explore these less-traversed areas.
We made our way through rice paddy fields where we passed a beautiful lady of the Black H’mong tribe. If only we had more time to sit with the people of the tribe; oh, the stories they must have.
The path continued above a deep river gorge before eventually arriving to a river bank with a bridge that took us across the river and deeper into the villages of the Black H’mong tribe.
We passed several animals along the way and took way too many photos.
We also passed children that would look at us with shy smiles, give us a quick wave and then run away.
Our lunch break was at a local village restaurant in a two-story wooden structure. The food was pretty good and it was definitely nice to have a break from hiking the rough terrain.
After our tummies were satisfied we continued our adventure towards the village of Lao Chai.
We stopped to learn the art of Batik painting from a lady of the Black H’mong tribe. She didn’t speak English but was wonderful to be around. She began teaching us the technique but quickly shooed me away to drink coffee while she fixed my mistakes. Whoops!
Batik is a traditional part of the Black H’mong culture where wax and dye are used to make patterns on a cloth. We were very lucky to learn this art from an expert and take the piece home to remember our wonderful experience.
We just had a short walk after our coffee and Batik break before arriving in Ta Van village where we were picked up by our driver and taken back to our hotel in Sapa. We had trekked about 15 km; 6-7 hours of walking in the heat and were completely exhausted.
We were able to clean up and grab dinner before we boarded the train back in Lao Cai en route to to Hanoi. The next day we were meeting up with our previous tour guide, TinTin, and were heading to Halong Bay for an overnight cruise. We were definitely looking forward to some rest and relaxation after two days of trekking. Be sure to check back soon for a new post on our time in Halong Bay!
-Elaine
