sapa, vietnam

I met up with a friend I had made in Maylasia, Stuart, in Hanoi, Vietnam and we decided to head north to Sapa (we heard was an amazing town!) We took the overnight train and when we got to Sapa, the temperature was about 10degree cooler...what a relief from the hotness of Hanoi. We found an amazing hotel with the best view $6 could buy and man, what a view! Sapa is set right in the middle of the tallest mountain range in Viet Nam and rice terraces are carved into the sides of all the mountains. It is truely an amazing sight and def something I have never seen before. Throughout Sapa there are tons of minority girls selling blankets, jewerly, purses and other stuff but the amazing thing about these girls was how good their english was! the best in vietnam! We met two lovely cousins Mee (13yrs old) and Pan (22yrs old) and spent three days chilling with them. They truely touched my heart and I wish I could do more for them bc they are so poor (mee sleeps in the market everynight) but yet they are soooo happy. It was such a great experience meeting them and hanging out with the locals. :) Of any place in vietnam, I think I would choose Sapa to go back to.

just two of the many girls that always bombarded me. they would literally cling on to me while i walked through town...i think stuart was a bit jealous bc they only did this to girls...haha!

i had no idea (until i got to vietnam) that people actually still use an ox and plow!

the awesome view from the hotel room!

a minority woman with her newborn baby, when the baby reaches about 3months, the mother makes one of her other daughters carry the baby each and everyday, basically becoming the "mother" for this child.

a local tuesday market....the villagers (ethnic minority people) are so colorful!

a vietnamese gas station....could this work in the states??

the tennis court in Sapa...kinda ironic that a ox is grazing grass right next to it. Mom- could this happen at the racket club?haha

Stuart being bombarded by the village girls....they all were so good at english we just couldnt get over it!

the chinese boarder

Sapa town

stuart and I drinking Bia Hoi- the cheapest homemade beer in asia (3000 vietnamese dong, about 20cents per mug)

our lovely girls....Pan and Mee. they were so sweet and happy even though they have so little. they agreed to be our guides for a day

rice terraces near pan's village

Pan's village

boys fishing in the stream

me and mee at Pan's village...what a beautiful place to live!

Pan directed us to the silver waterfall which took us an hour to get to bc we were driving half the time in a foot of mud but it was worth it! when we got to the waterfall it was pouring down rain so we parked our motorbikes and had some street food. Mmmmm delicious! bbq pork with chili sauce and sticky rice which was cooked in bamboo sticks

at the beautiful silver waterfall...pan was so happy to get to go bc it had been 7years since the last time she saw it.

"mee" on Stuarts motorbike. she decided that her cousin "pan" would be our guide for the day and she would be the tourist with us. She was such a character and her english (as well as all the village girls working in Sapa) was the best we have heard in Vietnam.

the best view ever! the last stop on our guided tour by "pan" we just sat here admiring the view while the girls made halo wreaths of flowers for me to wear on my head. they were pros!

they were such fun!

the rice terraces in Sapa

more rice terraces...I could only imagine what it would look like after the rainy season...so green and lush!