At last, the final chapter in the Sapa Saga. It ended with me scrambling to find another day trip or activity to do at the last minute with another tour company since the tour company I was using couldn’t seem to change the route on their motorbike trip, even if I had already been to some of the spots. I was picked up by a female driver, and we joined three other women from the US (Chicago) and their female drivers. It was a pair of seasoned Vietnamese tour guides, “biker chicks,” who knew how to traverse all kinds of terrain. Motorbikes here are a truly unisex item, as they are a very necessary part of daily life for everyone, especially in rural areas (even kids).

The itinerary for the day was the following: Hang Da and Soi Chua villages; Y Linh Ho; O Quy Ho; Ban Khoang; Ta Giang Phinh; Xuoi Thau; and Mot villages. There were plenty of big rolling hills filled with rice terraces, valleys, and peaks. I was happy to go off to someplace that was outside of the regular Sapa area. Two of my favorite things to see when traveling are mountains and beaches, so I’m glad I had a trip filled with at least one of them.

The day started off a bit cloudy and some familiar rolling fog.

After our first stop, we came upon a spot where we could see some water buffalo. We asked if we could get closer to see them, and they said, “OK.” This involved climbing up a rather steep and muddy wall.

After heading off to the next location, we arrived at an area outside of one of the small villages with a little river running through it.

Here we encountered our first round of locals holding lots of little bags, bracelets, and other items that I have seen pretty much everywhere. The ladies from back home did not seem as used to being exposed to this little ritual as much as I have, so they decided to buy some things from them.

After we got back on the motorcycles, we arrived at another village. We were invited in to see the inside of a traditional old house that was built by everyone in the village (as is customary to do so whenever people get married). We also learned that there are different Hmong people; some are known as the “red Hmong,” and others are the “black Hmong.” There are also many other minority villages around that all speak their own language. I didn’t realize that Vietnam also had many different ethnic minority groups, just like China does. Therefore, Vietnamese is taught as a common language, the same way that Mandarin functions in China.

It was also interesting to learn that everyone gets married and has babies in a village and that the men (sometimes very young men) choose their bride-to-be and the woman or girl has no choice in the matter. Our guide said that this can be a problem (obviously) and that some women have resorted to not staying in the village, but rather they get jobs further away, mainly in the Sapa town area, as guides and just stay there most of the time. She also said that as soon as the girl gets married, she stops going to school because she won’t have time since she’ll be so busy.

Then we said our goodbyes and scooted off to the next location, which had more water buffalo. We also saw many kids walking home from school during the lunch break.

After taking more pictures, it was off to the next village. This time we went inside a very large home that only housed five people. It was here that we met more of the local village women. They seemed friendly, and they smiled a lot.

Soon after, I realized why. It was because they, too, had things to sell. We were told that it was OK not to buy anything, but I feel like that is just a standard disclaimer, and the hope is that you buy something anyway. Suddenly, they seemed to descend like lionesses onto their prey; only they were friendlier than hungry lionesses, and no one was mauled to death. At first, I was willing to buy one or two things, but after being quoted the price and realizing I didn’t have enough money, I just decided I needed to get out of there. I just roamed outside for a bit to capture the surrounding sites.

After I walked back, I saw that they had finally finished their selling frenzy. I heard one of the ladies say, “That was intense.” If there is one thing I have learned how to do better since living abroad, it’s learning to say “no” without feeling guilty. It can be a much-needed skill sometimes.

We hopped back onto our motorbikes (I was the passenger, just in case that wasn’t already clear) and headed to one more scenic spot before going back the way we came for lunch.

When we arrived back for lunch, the sun had come out a bit more. This helped with taking photos with more blue skies available. The rolling clouds were still prevalent, though.

As a side note, the reason I didn’t take more photos of my food throughout my trip was because a lot of it ended up being French food and desserts. Most of it was quite good, but I didn’t think I needed to display it here since it wasn’t Vietnamese. Maybe next time I will photograph what their Vietnamese coffee set looks like. I was also hoping that I would lose a few pounds—not that I’m really overweight, but I have a bit of extra padding that I really don’t need. Anyway, moving on.

The next spot we went to was known by the locals for a large tree that they believe has been there for hundreds of years, though they don’t have anything else to go on other than the stories handed down by their ancestors.

Before the grand finale, we were taken to an area that had a river flowing down below. I think this was part of the Muong Hoa Valley area.

Then, after one more ride going up and down some rather steep hills and turns and trying not to get swiped by other big vehicles passing by, we made it to our final viewing area of the surrounding valley. It was impressive, although I wish the haze wasn’t so prevalent. When we arrived, we were greeted with yet more women hoping to sell things. The other ladies got swept up in it, but I just said “no” again and carried on toward the main viewing area.

It was nice to at least end with some rays of sun piercing through the clouds onto the valley.

We then got our group photos taken, and then we were escorted back to our hotels in Sapa town.

Overall, this experience was good (minus my knee hurting and my losing all the photos I took while at the very top of Mount Fansipan).

I also did some shopping, and I managed to find (among many shops claiming to sell locally made items) a higher-end store. I figured this was going to be more expensive, but I also thought things sold there were probably more likely to be authentic. It also looked like it had more variety. Anyway, after I selected something for my mother and sister, I then decided to grab something for myself. It’s a small ceramic piece that can be hung on the wall. I like to collect art pieces from places I’ve been.

I had to get up quite early the final morning in order to make the 7:00 a.m. bus back to Hanoi. While standing on the street hauling my suitcase, I got one last shot of the mountains overlooking the area.

When I got back to Hanoi, I met up with someone that I had done a one-on-one tour with the first time I visited, and we went out to dinner. On the way to finding a place, we walked past a church that was having some kind of special evening mass. People were lined up outside, watching a procession.

It was a hot, humid evening, but he managed to find us a good place with decent A/C. We ordered a dish that he likes, which is basically a stir-fried version of pho (phở). Of course, I also had to get some fried spring rolls. The dipping sauce for the spring rolls was simple but good, using water, fish sauce, sugar, and something else.

I will come back to Vietnam again, as there are still a number of areas yet to be explored.

I will leave you with another video I put together from my last day in Sapa.

So, until next time…