I Heart Sapa

Trip Start Oct 15, 2008

Trip End Ongoing

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Where I stayed

Sapa Summit Hotel

(Sapa hotels)

Flag of Vietnam Sapa, Vietnam
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I almost canceled my Sapa trip due to my knee injury, but at the very last minute I decided that I had to go. I definitely made the right decision. I know I've made wanton use of the following phrase, but Sapa is absolutely the most beautiful place I have visited thus far. The natural beauty takes on a form that I never knew existed nor could have imagined: Valleys spangled with waterfalls and rivers, foothills terraced with rice paddies, a hill town shrouded in mist, and mountains rising at dramatic angles to peak at startling heights. We stayed at the Sapa Summit Hotel which reminded me a bit too much of the hotel in The Shining. Luckily there were no elevators. The whole trip had the same feel as a weekend getaway to Vermont; it was a vacation from my vacation.

Tour groups are always a hit or miss - on my tour of Halong Bay two Swiss-German women explicitly requested not to sit with me at dinner, perhaps due in part to the bloodiness - but the Sapa tour group was a definite hit. I made quick friends with Jason who is a teacher from Toronto also trying to find himself in SE Asia, Calvin from Singapore who I will meet up with later in my trip when I visit his country, and Jordy who is a Dutch high fashion model (read: male model, sorry Alex). Calvin is a fellow ice cream freak and together we discovered our new favorite flavor: lemongrass.

On each day of the tour we trekked to nearby hill tribe villages. The interactions with the minority people - I know that language sounds a bit crass but it is actually the preferred term in Vietnam - felt much less forced and much more authentic than in my previous trekking experiences. I think I made some genuine connections; although each interaction was inevitably followed by solicitations to purchase some sort of hill tribe souvenir.