Around 9:30am we set off for the first day of trekking...9 miles of walking among the amazing local trails, villages and rice terraces of the Hmong minority. I'm not going to be able to do this justice with words, so I'm going to try to share this with some pictures and captions. Essentially, I felt like I was living in a National Geographic magazine for 3 days with amazing, remote beauty and experiencing a culture I could have only imagined. Below are some highlights from day 1, I'll do another post soon for days 2-3. And yes, all of these pictures are just from my iPhone with no filters or anything - it was that ridiculous.
 | |||||
| First view of the trip |
 |
| A little water fall in a semi touristy area before we set off into the country side.... |
 |
| Water buffalo! See more on them below....they were everywhere!! |
 |
| Me with the view. I'm holding this little woven flower heart that our guides made us while we were walking. |
 | |
| Fried rice with egg and chicken and spring rolls for a much needed lunch! Despite the incredibly basic and to be honest, quite grungy looking kitchen, the food was amazing and I had no problems in terms of my stomach! |
 |
| More views - so great!! |
 | ||
| Me and two of the Hmong women who walked with us for the first day - the Hmong women are incredibly small but very strong - they carry around baskets of food or babies on their back in sweltering heat all day long! |
 |
| All of the homes were in and around the rice terraces - most places were simple shacks that were open to the air on at least one side. Most also had rudimentary electricity for a few lights, a radio and an old school TV. Only a few had running water, none of it was hot... |
 |
| Heyo! You can't tell here, I'm soaked with sweat at this point...Sapa is the same latitude as Key West or so, so its quite balmy right now... |
 |
| We were descending into the valley, so at times, it got quite foggy and a bit mystical looking... |
 | ||
My walking partner, Tre, and her 4 month old baby that she carried on her back all day. It was an interested culture with these women. They would follow you all day, help you along the tough parts if you needed it (no, I didn't need it) and then ask you to buy some of their hand crafts at the end of the day. They were incredibly cheap ($5 for a beautifully woven purse) so I bought something small everyday. At first this was fine but by the end our guide would tell them "No follow, no shopping" because it got a little obnoxious. All of the other trekkers that we met at the homestays at night agreed with us...
|
 |
| A farmer and his water buffalo. Water buffalo were all over the place and we saw a ton of them. I'd say probably half of the families have water buffalo - these animals pull the machinery used to sow and plow the rice paddies. If families don't have water buffalo, they have to do it all manually be stomping around the paddies which is an incredibly intensive labor if you can imagine. The water buffalo would also just lay around in the mud all day to stay cool in the heat. Du called this "buffalo sunscreen!" |
 |
| People washing their clothes in the river. I was actually really surprised but the water in Sapa is incredibly clean because it comes down from the mountain top where there is "no animal or buffalo shit," according to Du. I was most surprised that I didn't get sick from any of the food, vegetables or dish ware but it must have been due to the cleanliness of their water. |
 |
| Up close and personal with some water buffalo - casual - also not even zoomed in - literally 2 feet away! |
 |
| Hmong girl friends walking hand in hand... |
 |
| Another view of the rice terraces - they are currently being seeded, so that's why there's so much brown. When they're ready to be harvested, everything will be the vibrant green you see. |
 |
| View from the Homestay night 1 - this overlooks the family's rice paddies and the great view |
 |
| Walking up to the home stay - very rudimentary...they had running water, but that's about it. See the peak of the roof? We slept up there on a pad in the attic, but we had great mosquito nets! This was definitely the most eye opening part of the trip... |
 |
| The outdoor space of the homestay with two of our fellow trekkers for the night. We arrived at the homestay around 5, had a cold shower to refresh ourselves, and then sat around drinking beers, eating and then having homemade rice wine before we turned in early at 9pm because we were so tired from the day's hike. |
 |
| View from the other wide of the homestay- the neighbors were right there! |
 |
| The son of the owner helping to prepare our dinner in the kitchen. As soon as we had arrived, they owner and his wife started cooking and didn't stop for 2.5 hours. After which they all joined us for dinner and some of their homemade rice wine. This is their kitchen - very simple as you can see with 2 lights in the whole room. Each homestay owner receives $12 per person per night to cover the accommodations and all of our food. The meal we had for dinner was amazing - everything was fresh from the local market or from their own rice fields the previous season. We had chicken stir fried with pineapple, spring rolls, fresh fruit, sauteed cabbage (this was actually amazing), rice, and some sort of combination of chicken brain and liver that I was too sheepish to try. |
 |
| At night - most families, even those who are poorer, have at least one dog. These dogs are more like guardians of the house and will awaken you many times throughout the night with their barks as they ward off any noises or things they hear approaching the home. |
That's all for now - will post the rest of the pics and stories when I get wifi again in 48 hours!!
