Sapa - Beautiful Mountain Peoples

On March 4th, at 6pm, I boarded a bus to Sapa (a town in northern Vietnam, close to the border of China). I had paid for a tour to go see the breathtaking rice paddies, and to spend a couple days with the local villagers.
After a 12 hour overnight bus ride, we got off the bus, quickly layering up. I put on shoes for the first time in over a month... we were led to a hotel where we ate breakfast and then met our tour guides - local women who lived in the small minority villages.
We set off walking through Sapa and then along a path leading us up and down, through and around unimaginable rice paddies. The mountains all around us had completely been transformed into picturesque terraced ledges with specific water level control ridges. Water buffalo and pigs wandered the paddies all around us, seemingly free to go where released and eat all in their path.
Along the way the group of small, colorfully dressed, energetic women, used whatever English they had to chat with us and build a connection (seemingly innocently...but later we saw the real reason they walked all those Km with us, babies or big baskets strapped to their backs, without receiving any pay).
About 7 Km in we crossed a big suspension bridge and came into a small village (where some of our small guides live, along with all the rice farmers), where we were to have lunch. As we were getting ready to sit down to eat, we were completely attacked by the locals trying to sell us all sorts of handmade things: small and large colorful bags, blankets, rings, bracelets, wallets...all of which they had supposedly stitched and embroidered by hand. The women who had walked all that was with us, digging their way into our hearts were now pleading with us, accompanied by a swarm of 5 - 10 year old girls, looking at us with the saddest eyes and repeating things like "Buy from me! 2 for 5! 5 for 10!" and shoving colorful bracelets at us. Both were very difficult to refuse at first due to feelings of guilt, and a wish to contribute something to try to better their poor lifestyle. But, after some time, we didn't even bother trying to make excuses about why we didn't want to buy, and simply tried to ignore their, now irritating, insists.
***we were later enlightened on the situation by our main "guide". She explained that the women were the ones who earned the money for the household while the men built houses, and any and all hands, men and women alike, worked the rice and corn fields. Those selling things,the young children included, depended too much on their sales to tourists which took them away from their necessary daily activities - work, school, etc.- which was changing the villages a lot, especially in that they were becoming more and more dependent on outside resources versus being mostly self-serving and providing for themselves all that was needed - as was the way since...... She suggested that by buying into it, we were supporting it.
We ate lunch and then walked another 5Km along the beautiful trail until we reached our homestay (a local house that had been turned into a dorm with a large dining area. We explored a bit around the small village, ate dinner - which had been prepared for us by the locals -, and then were given shot after shot of a stronggg rice liquor, made there in the village! We soon retired to our beds,tired from the days excitement!
The next day we trekked some more through the mountains and past a dry waterfall, but the visibility wasn't so great due to large clouds which engulfed us. Again, we had lunch at another village, and again were attacked again by the persist sale attempts... We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together, and then were brought back to Sapa to catch or night bus back to Hanoi.
The entire trip was wonderful and filled with beautiful sights and people, but for me it was especially a deep cultural eye-opener. The complete separation between the Vietnamese city people and the minority tripe peoples, and even more so we westerners, is absolutely unbelievable and striking to learn about. It makes ones life seem so small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

I'm falling a little behind on my posts (which is a good thing because it means I'm not spending hours on my tablet and am making better use of my time) but will they my sweetest to catch you all up!

~Iolani

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