Sapa
Sapa is cold, wet, foggy, muddy, dirty, dreary and hands down the most amazing place I have ever been!
This needs to be brief, but I will write more later.
We went for a trek today, about 6 miles to two minority villages. Our guide was from one of these local villages, but spoke very good English. Many women and girls (including our guide) walk around in traditional clothes, jewelry, and accessories. Its a really neat sight. What is just as impressive if not more so are the rice terraces. It is so foggy here that we barely got to see them, but there were a few breaks in the fog (actually clouds I think) revealing absolutely amazing views.
After the terraces, however, the trek got very hard. All the wet in the air has made some very slippery mud on the trails that are very steep. Walking became an extremely physically demanding task requiring the utmost coordination. Even with a walking stick it was very rough going (our guide didn't seem to have any trouble at all though, she was very used to this). We both fell several times, got muddy, but that is about it. The trek led us down into a valley, along a river, and back up a mountain.
Many of the women milling around make a living selling goods to tourists. These goods are mostly traditional items (or replicas). We did our best to avoid them, but they will follow you anywhere, and keep up very well. Eventually we decided to buy from one of them, and this opened the flood gates. We had a group of women ages from about 8 to 70 trying to get us to by tunics, blankets, bags, jewelry, musical instruments, clothes, etc. Despite this, they were very, very friendly and seemed to enjoy trying to sell just as much as making a sale.
Today was really great. Really, really great.
that's all for now I should go.
-Tim
This needs to be brief, but I will write more later.
We went for a trek today, about 6 miles to two minority villages. Our guide was from one of these local villages, but spoke very good English. Many women and girls (including our guide) walk around in traditional clothes, jewelry, and accessories. Its a really neat sight. What is just as impressive if not more so are the rice terraces. It is so foggy here that we barely got to see them, but there were a few breaks in the fog (actually clouds I think) revealing absolutely amazing views.
After the terraces, however, the trek got very hard. All the wet in the air has made some very slippery mud on the trails that are very steep. Walking became an extremely physically demanding task requiring the utmost coordination. Even with a walking stick it was very rough going (our guide didn't seem to have any trouble at all though, she was very used to this). We both fell several times, got muddy, but that is about it. The trek led us down into a valley, along a river, and back up a mountain.
Many of the women milling around make a living selling goods to tourists. These goods are mostly traditional items (or replicas). We did our best to avoid them, but they will follow you anywhere, and keep up very well. Eventually we decided to buy from one of them, and this opened the flood gates. We had a group of women ages from about 8 to 70 trying to get us to by tunics, blankets, bags, jewelry, musical instruments, clothes, etc. Despite this, they were very, very friendly and seemed to enjoy trying to sell just as much as making a sale.
Today was really great. Really, really great.
that's all for now I should go.
-Tim
This entry was posted
on Friday, February 10, 2006 at 5:02 AM.
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11:55 AMSorry for the comment problems, but I think they are fixed now. Tim will still be previewing posts before they are actually posted.
Dad - H
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