Sapa Scenes

After the trek we wanted to see a bit more of Sapa itself...

My most abiding impression of Sapa...the construction everywhere; here, another
giant hotel going up behind the barrier next to the older stately Sun Plaza

Not free range

Four boys on a scooter...

"Amazing Hotel" next to ours; almost any English will sell

Still processing this

German tourist (I was hoping he'd be Dutch) carrying his own group-size hand
sanitizer; a symbol of our times...

City square

Outside Sapa's cathedral

Downtown scenes

Sapa Lake; smack in the middle of the city

Alas, do not change colors

Most of the seafood restaurants featured catfish or some variant

But here are trout!

Beautiful wood carving/sculpture everywhere

Even as we were walking around the lake in the afternoon, dense clouds came
over the mountains

And the city was enveloped in one of the worst white-outs I've ever seen

Sapa Trek #2, The Valley

We continued on, generally downhill, to pass through a couple villages...

Water...water buffalo

Nearly all in a row (there's always one)

Spring

Hydroelectric

Vlad the Impaler haystack...haven't seen one of those in a while

Irrigation via bamboo trunk

Selling tubs off the motor scooter; which was equipped with a PA system

"Traditional clothes for rent"

Mail delivery

Here Vicki stimulated the local economy

Dogs in the villages...all impressively well-behaved

Half traditional, half modern house

Don't look too close...here, a pig has been sacrificed to the ancestors, informing
them of an impending wedding...and more ancestors to join them, eventually

Preparations for the wedding, to occur next day

Cinnamon/cardamon incense sticks, drying

We took the low road

Middle school (partly residential), closed until end of February in view of the
coronavirus threat (as we left, Vietnam had had 16 occurrences, all
recovered); May said her 11-year-old son was beyond boredom and looking
forward to school as never before

People's Assembly Hall...not full capitalism (!) yet, but well on its way

Interesting home/restaurant/water feature

Our lunch that day was at a home-stay; a simple bowl of rice with pork and
chicken and veggies; after the culinary extravaganzas of the past few days, it
was a welcome relief

In the home stay

A French couple was checking in..."where's the ice machine?" I asked

Us, there, at the conclusion of trek #2

Sapa Trek #2, The Heights

After a luxurious private breakfast at the hotel, May met us for our second Sapa trek, a downhill walk of 10k (more like 10 miles) to see a couple of the valley villages. The walk took the better part of the day, and so I'll divide it between the heights and the villages.

Not in English, too

 

Our trail, below

Sights along the way

Note bridge at left

The valley we are headed for

Looking back to the outskirts of Sapa

Vicki and May by a wall of ferns

Increasing farm-stays and home-stays along the way

Fork in the road; we took the low road

On the bridge: motorcyclistes carrying bricks across the bridge 

Into the valley now