I took the overnight train to Sapa, where I had arranged two days of trekking and a homestay in a nearby minority village. There was a lot of walking, some quite hilly and slippery due to mud, and I was glad that the last section was on the back of a motorbike.
The church in Sapa is the main meeting point, and where I met my guide.The fabulous views over the terraced rice fields are what makes Sapa a big tourist attraction.
This is the village where I stayedMy bedroom – simple but very comfortableHome cooked mealWe had a good selection of food to try – there was a dipping sauce of lemon, salt and chilli which was amazing.This is a water powered rice hulling machine – when the right side fills with water, it lifts the left side where the rice is, and then it empties and the left side falls hitting the rice. The hulls can then be separated.My guide, Su Linh, shows us how to grind corn.Girl working in the rice fieldTrue free range chicken. There were chickens running around everywhere. Ducks however have to be contained as it is planting time and they can ruin the crop.These women are gathering the young rice plants into bundles ready to be planted out into other fields.Traditional plowing with water buffalo. There are also some petrol driven cultivators in use here.Let sleeping dogs lie… There are a lot of dogs around the village, who don’t really belong to anyone and just live their own lives. Mostly they seemed to spend a lot of time sleeping, just like my guys at home.Herding goats – children here are expected to work from a very young age.This was my view at lunch on the second day.
