Sapa Vietnam

Sapa
A small town with a very large haphazard cluster of hotels, cafes, restaurants and pubs. All these packed in a very tight arrangements along all streets in the town centre. It is quaint and moves back time to Singapore half a century before. Old in structure but modern in function and facilities. Wi-Fi and Internet is everywhere. Even the H'mong itinerant pedlars are in contact with each other wirelessly. Armed with your, 3G SIM on your fone, you should have no problem being connected 24x7 throughout your hikes in the hills and mountains. And Google Map becomes a very useful companion in the rolling terrain of the town and surrounds.


We stayed in a small boutique establishment, the Sapa Luxury Hotel. Name can be misleading. It's more of a two star hotel in facilities with the wanna-be-trimmings of a four-star establishment.
However, the comfort and the feel of care and warmth is definitely 5-star. The staff from the Manager all the way to the general staff at the hotel and its cafe was fantastic. This is one hotel that gives you the feel of home. 



We were upgraded into the VIP Suite from our originally booked deluxe room. We paid a grand sum of $US200 for the entire 6D5N stay, including a breakfast to start each day. The VIP suite is absolutely great. It's huge and has it's own balcony and much privacy. 

Our arrival we had breakfast at the local market.  We had beef pho which cost VND30,000 each and we shared a piece of fried tofu at VND20,000.  The meal came with pickled chilly padi and bamboo shoots - YUMMY! 

We had lunch of pho again. This time it costs  40,000 VND per pax. I prefer the one we ate at the market. 

In Sapa town, food is everywhere, reminiscent of Phuket or Bali. Range can be from gourmet to local pho. Prices are reasonable compared with our own in Singapore. The first dinner in Sapa we had was at the Red Camellia situated on the main food-street at the centre of town. It was a set meal of soup (pumpkin or vegetable), an appetizer of two varieties of fried spring rolls, a stir-fried local vegetable. There was a choice of a meat dish. We chose the chicken and the duck in a bed of nicely done onions on two sizzling hot plates. Nicely done and each served in the order of a western meal. There was sapa or apple wine for aperitif and mixed fruits and pan-cake for desserts. The entire meal was for VND210,000, a princely SGD14 in equivalent.

Of course, there were also street food at the market. This one sell what looked like steam pau and deep fried flour ball

There's also a stall that sold pig trotters 

Glutinous rice in bamboo 

And an assortment of meat and tofu.  

The Black H'mongs are the predominant locals. They peddle their wares of embroidered bags, purses, vests, pants and wristbands. They will lock on you and stay with you.

Be prepared for their rehearsed script of the following questions:
1. Where you come from?
2. What is your name?
3. How old are you?
4. Do you have any children?

After that, it was serious business. Accompanied by stories of themselves: How they make their goods for sale, their family and how much they need your purchasing-support. You will be their saviour if you make purchases from them, according to them.

A pack of 3-4 of them will walk with you throughout your walks, until you buy something from them. And will that be the end of your experience with them? No!  If you had fancied something they are offering and bought if after aggressive haggling be prepared for the next adventure that follows with them. Buying from one, without buying from the others become an issue of concern. Find your own way of responding to that.



The Hmong women are hard working lot. Their hands are always busy and no matter how young or old, they are frequently seen working.

The women strip off the fibrous outer layer, known as baste fibre. These short pieces of fibre have to be joined to make a continuous length for weaving. Young through to very old women are involved in this activity and as the work is easily transported, they carry it with them, joining fibres as they walk to market or sit on the pavement in town. The material is wound in a figure eight ball held in the hand.

The Hmong women are known for their embroidery and fit this work between other daily chores. The main stitches used here are chain stitch and cross stitch.

Sapa town has kind locals who are of great help. After a morning walk, we stumble into a cafe for quiet drip-coffee. We headed into a cafe with the owner on his internet while listening to the news on TV. We had two hot drip-coffee. It was like a double espresso in a shot-glass, only slightly larger.  It was eye-poppingly strong. Each cup cost VND20,000


What was memorable of that coffee-break was that when we asked him if we could find cobblers. (He speaks no English and we speak no Vietnamese). Gesticulating and pointing to shoes and signing that the sole has come off, he understood the message. He popped out of his cafe. Went across the road to a shop selling bags and shoes (of course) and he returned. In his hand was a bottle of transparent liquid.

Our initial silent but common response was, "Does he know what he is doing?".  But he asked for the shoe and he got on to work on it. We could see that he is also not familiar with the magic of the glue. It was magic glue. It sticks instantly on contact and his fingers received a sting from it. But after 15 minutes of working on the shoe, letting it set and checking that it can take the trails and slopes of Sapa, we gestured that all will be fine.

When we offered to pay him for the coffee and his time with the shoe, he just smiled and charged us only for the coffee. There is still heart in a touristy-commercialized place, where haggling with service providers is needed to ensure a fair deal. That made our day.