Sapa trails

Day 2 in Sapa (northern Vietnam). A long 12-kilometre trek. This one was more of a slow, long descent and along the wider Muong Hoa Valley bottom as we careened our way down uneven, ankle-twisting hills and glens.

Trekking view

We passed through 3 villages with the last being the most beautiful in the area. The Dzay minorities of the Ta Van Village exhibit a strong Chinese culture.

Riveting rice paddies

Working in the paddies

Along the pathway, we were afforded the privilege of taking this lady's photo by buying her beautifully embroidered cloth bracelets. Even at this late stage in her life, she is still happily either selling, or making and selling, wares.

A gentle geriatric

We never found any boys selling product. Only girls. We were told that boys stay home with, or go to work with, their fathers.

Fortunately on this trek, a bus picked us up for a lazy return. While we waited for the bus at a hillside store, there were many young girls with their mothers all trying to sell their stuff. They obviously knew tourists would be there waiting for a bus. The store owner had a good setup as all the tourists were needing cold sodas after a hot trek and the young sellers were also busily buying candy and sodas!

That afternoon, we departed for the train station for our overnight return to Hanoi. We had a few minutes before boarding so we jumped in a taxi for a 5 minute ride to see the border to China, another first for us!

China in the background (maybe another day!)