Topas Ecolodge Sapa

... had a large living area with a wood fire in the centre where they did their cooking. The area was divided into different areas such as a place for their foodstuffs, a place for their maize and another for fodder for cattle.. <br><br>As we walked down the path each one of us was accompanied by a couple of girls who asked about our ages, family and where we were going after Sapa. All this was to to soften us up for the sell that came later. Each carried a ...

... br>What was really fun was running into the people working in the rice<br>fields and literally almost running into a water buffalo (check the<br>pics).<br> <br><br>Although we have<br>our own private tour with Chinh, we are not the only tourists who are<br>trekking to the villages &#8211; this is a fully organized operation and<br>there are about another 50 or so tourists who will be staying<br>somewhere in the villages with other H'mong or Red Dao guides. When<br ...

... black leggings &amp; dress, big silver earrings that give them huge earlobes &amp; black hats. There are many different hilltribe people around Sapa &amp; they all speak their own dialect.<br><br> <br><br>We set off to trek 15 km today following lots of other small groups with ther guides &amp; 2 stalkers per group. ( soon all get separated which was ...

... ne parlent pas meme le vietnamien mais bien seulement leur dialecte et comprennet seulement certains mots de l'ethnie voisine, qui cultive pourtant la riziere d'a cote!<br> Deux demoiselles nous precedent dans les chemins de CatCat, semblant indifferentesa notre presence. Toutes deux des petites H'mongs noirs.Cheveux au vent et arpentant les cheminsde rizieres de leur pays de montagnes. Un bon bout de chemin plus loin, elles se retournent pour se diriger vers moi, impassibles avec ...

... br><br><br> The guys asked me run to the kitchen to watch the pig be slaughtered. I made it just in time to see a knife enter just above the pig&#8217;s chest bone and sink into his heart. That&#8217;s all that I&#8217;ll say about that scene. Dinner was good but trying. The greatest opposition came in the form of slightly, and I mean slightly, coagulated pig&#8217;s blood. It was still pretty runny, there was some meat and some green veggies in it as well. It was served with ...

The next day we walked another 15kms up and down the mountains. Whilst we were drenched in sweat in the 30 -35 degree temperatures and over 90% humidity, the views were well worth the walk. Some light rain had left some muddy patches and the local ladies that were walking with us were great at pointing out where i should walk. On one occasion i slid down a muddy hill to have the tiny lady in sandals stop me in my tracks and stop me from being covered in mud ...