Date: Apr 1 - Apr 9, 2012
Nationality: Britain - United Kingdom
We booked the Sapa Long Trek with Active Travel Vietnam with an
additional 2 days visiting the markets at Can Cau and Bac Ha. The whole trip
was excellent and I would definitely recommend it.
We stayed at 4 different homestays
which were like camping barns - comfortable mattresses, clean and warm bedding,
and mosquito nets. All homestays had showers with hot water. The food was
brilliant and abundant, with non-meat options provided for my partner, and
quantities of homemade rice wine at 3 of them.
Our guide, Mr Loi, was excellent
and, being from the Tay ethnic minority group
himself, very informative about local customs and traditional.
The walking was through lovely
scenery and interesting villages, covering a good cross-section of the local
ethnic groups. The distances were definitely shorter than in the brochure - I
would guesstimate 15km maximum as opposed to the 23km advertised.
It was a long drive between Sapa
and Can Cau so that we arrived towards the end of the market but still in
plenty of time to people-watch. This and Bac Ha market the following day are
principally for the local themselves with only a minority of stalls selling
tourist trinkets. They are mainly used by the Flower Hmong ethnic group who are
beautifully dressed and take being photographed with a good humor.
Visit Apr, 2012
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