Sa Pa, Vietnam

The town of Sa Pa clings to the side of a mountain in northern Vietnam at the Chinese border. The French colonists journied up the mountain to the village of SaPa in the late 1800's to escape the summer heat of Ha Noi. The town is now a bustling mini-city chock full of tourists and all that caters to tourists.


Sapa sits in the middle of several dozen ethnic minority villages in the valley below. Rice patties step up the side of the mountains creating full scale topography contours.
(I included several pictures because this place is so beautiful. More blogging at the end)

















As you can see the scenery is spectacular. If you have a list of things to do before you die, I urge you to add Sa Pa to that list. I spent two days trecking through the rice patties and clinging to mud soaked cliffs. Everything is steep in Sa Pa. There were 172 steps to get from the hotel lobby to my room. On the first treck we went down 1500 vertical feet in mile. The second day we descended 4000 vertical feet in 9 miles.

It is also the start of the rainy season and while the temperture was 30 degrees cooler than Hanoi, it was also accompanied by rain. The constant rain turned all the paths to mud that is slick as ice.

The most enjoyable part of my trip so far was when I was sliding down the mointain in a river of mud laughing out loud. Woooohoooo!