Let's continue this motorcycle journey through the mountains of northern Vietnam . We're still in Sapa, and on this misty morning, we were going to take a stroll through the Sapa market before hitting the road again towards our next stop, Bac Ha , a short leg of just 100 km.
Sapa Ethnic Market
We woke up to a morning fog in Sapa that morning. Although the market starts at 6am (and lasts until early afternoon around 14pm), it was only after our leisurely breakfast around 9am that we decided to go for a stroll around the Sapa market.
Early in the morning, in addition to meeting trekkers already leaving with their Hmong guide for the day, we were able to see a procession that morning for what we thought was a funeral... a nice way to start the day!
My friend Wikipedia, who knows everything, even tells me that the covered market in the town was set up by the colonial administration to promote trade between the mountain people , who then came once a week to exchange products in Sapa; the colony, for its part, profited by taxing the goods.
Although we won't be going into the covered section, but will stay outside wandering through the misty streets, the market remains a melting pot of mountain ethnicities including the Black Hmong, the Red Hmong (called Dao or Dzao) and others whose names I don't necessarily know (I'm not an expert…)
We spent a good hour strolling through the streets surrounding the church of Sapa . The atmosphere was quite relaxed, the contact with the locals was mostly based on smiles, some were even having a good laugh together.
The difference with Vietnamese people from, for example, Hanoi, who come here for the weekend to get some fresh air, is striking. This is evident both in their clothing and their behavior. It's the "city" Vietnamese women you'll hear bickering about who knows what when you arrive at the ticket booth for visiting the Sapa gardens (this had already happened in Sapa during our previous trip to Vietnam, see here , at the end of the article).
Incidentally, the gardens are located high up and overlooking the city, personally, we won't visit them, due to lack of time and the price seemed too high anyway.
On the way to Bac Ha
After this morning stroll through the Sapa market, we returned to the hotel for brunch before hitting the road shortly before noon, heading towards Bac Ha.
The idea is to arrive the day before the famous ethnic market of Bac Ha, which takes place every Sunday. In total, a journey of approximately 100 km.
First, we had to go back down from Sapa to Lao Cai , stopping a few times to admire the scenery and take photo breaks.
We also came across some work in a valley between two mountains... A dam... I think the landscape is going to change a lot in the years to come...
Once back in Lao Cai, we had our lunch break in a restaurant facing a square, not far from the station where we had arrived the day before.
Then we still had about sixty kilometers to go before reaching the small mountain town of Bac Ha.
We were going along the border with China, which was just there on our left. It always does something to me to think that there, because the history of humanity is made like that, borders exist, and while I am walking along this great road in Vietnam, there, right next to it, is a foreign land…
For 40 km, it's a fairly easy road as it follows the valley, then there's only a climb in the last 25 km.
It is on this last portion that we will begin to get a glimpse of what the mountains of northern Vietnam can offer in terms of landscape.
Arrived in Bac Ha, without electricity
Yes, we didn't know it yet, but the city regularly suffers from power outages that can last several hours.
When we arrived, we went straight to one of the hotels listed in the guide. We went up to see the room and given the price, we decided to stay there, at the Sunday Hotel (300 Dong per night, but apparently it no longer exists...)
It was there, once we had landed and wanted to recharge the batteries (of the devices, not ourselves 😉 ) that we realized that there was no more electricity.
Night was beginning to fall and our stomachs were demanding their due for the evening. We were walking just opposite the sort of square next to the hotel, and we were heading towards a restaurant, where we could see light coming from candles , and where there were quite a few people (mostly tourists).
It was okay but not exceptional. We stayed a little while to enjoy this soft light while a heavy downpour started, dripping down the walls that were clearly poorly insulated... (despite everything, the restaurant looks clean and even seems to have benefited from a facelift recently, so go there without fear!)
When we returned to the hotel, there was still no electricity, but as is usual here, there were candles available in our room.
Shortly after we put them in place, the electricity would come back , then cut out again and come back, twice more playing "will it, won't it" and finally it would come back for good, when it was time for us to go to bed, because the next day we had to get up early to go to the market.
