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Arriving at Sa Pa station (and a rather swish station it is!), we boarded our bus for the 36kms journey up the mountain roads to the hill station of Sa Pa. The French had built here for much the same reasons that the British built hill stations in India; to get away from the summer's heat and humidity on the coast. It's now a tourist area for those wishing to trek in the mountains and a local centre for the hill tribes that live in the area. Most of Sa Pa is above 1500m (~5000') and seems to be built for the pleasure of mountain goats.
Our hotel was delightful, with magnificent views when the clouds took pity on us and rolled away.
Looking down from our hotel room into the valley
Our hotel garden - road level is top right
Sa Pa in Winter. Not my photo but a poster in a local restaurant.
After lunch, we had opted for a walk through a couple of the H'mong villages. The plan was to get the bus to take us to the top of the valley, then we'd walk down through the villages and the bus would meet us at the bottom to bring us back up to Sa Pa.
Start by walking down a very steep set of stairs to get to the bus
Our hotel from below
Road works in the clouds. Very sheer drop-offs into the valley.
Rice paddy terraces
H'mong women selling handicrafts
About to be overwhelmed by a group of H'mong ladies trying to sell handicrafts
This lady is only just taller than Zen is sitting down
I think Zen said she was 93 - still working
We walked all the way down to and across the river, then up to the school at top left
Sue with new best friend
Andy meets a H'mong lady in traditional dress
Good to see that there's a micro-hydro plant supplying power to the village
We're being followed across the bridge!
We stopped by the village school to donate some pens and notepads
About this stage the heavens opened and photography came to a full stop!
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