Journey to the North, SAPA (Part IV)

On the second day in Sapa, we visited the local market early in the morning. Sapa market is located right at the center of the city. There are various things being sold inside the market such as cloths, souvenir, bags, vegetables, fish, food, etc.

A lot ethnic minority people are selling their products, mostly handmade in the market as well as on the pavement along the streets in Sapa's center.

After the market, we continued our trekking to the last village which was the Cat Cat Village, the home of the Black H'mong. It is roughly 2km from Sapa town. Basically, we were walking around visiting people in the village and meet with locals to learn more about their daily life.

At the end of the Cat Cat Village, we walk further down the hill to visit Cat Cat beautiful waterfall and the water power station built by the French in early 20th century.

That's the end of our second day of trekking. We then went back hotel for lunch.

After the lunch, there was some free time before the transfer to the Lao Cai train station. We walked around the Sapa town at the same time looking for some local souvenirs. We then went to the Sapa Catholic church that was built in stone in 1930. The Sapa Church is a famous landmark at Sapa and also a popular meeting place for both locals and tourists.

We were transferred back to the train station in Lao Cai town at around 5 PM to avoid the traffic and also the foggy weather. The road down the hill becomes foggy in the evening. Here ends our journey to the north, SAPA. This place is highly recommended for those who like trekking, beautiful scenery and perhaps nice weather in Vietnam.

Here we go, the next stop... Hanoi ! Stay tune for my next post, Hanoi.

Journey to the North, SAPA (Part III)

In this post, I'm sharing more on the villages and the people in Sapa. During the trekking, there were a tribe of people guiding us along the way especially those muddy rough terrain which are quite challenging to walk (well, at least for beginners). They are quite friendly and helpful and seriously without them, some paths are impossible to get through.

Most of them are carrying a basket at their back storing food and water. That's probably part of the survivor's skills. They are wearing big earrings and some conveniently use their comb as a hair decor too if you notice on my next few photos below.

Let me show you some of their friendly faces...

During our tour, we actually trekked to 4 villages. The first village we visited was the YlinhHo village of the Black H’mong people. That was where we had our lunch also.

We were being served with the local home cook village food. They were very delicious maybe partly because we were too exhausted and hungry after the trekking.

After that, we proceeded over to the suspension bridges to Ta Van village.

We were then picked up by the tour vehicle at Ta Van village and transferred back to hotel after 6 hours of trekking. Here ends my first day of trekking. Below is the photo taken from the vehicle when we were on the way back to hotel.

Bandung, Indonesia (Part II)

I always like to start my post with a photo of sunrise that shows the new beginning of a day. Below is the sunrise photo of the City of Bandung.

I was staying somewhere near to Cihampelas Walk which is located in the center of the city. It's surrounded by shopping malls, factory outlets, food outlets, bar, etc.

Besides all the shopping, I went for the popular Indonesian traditional musical instrument performance, the Angklung located at Saung Angklung Udjo. The music instruments used are made of bamboos.

Other than music performance, there are also traditional dances such as Tari Topeng (Mask Dances), Wayang Golek demonstration (puppet show) and much more.

You will be able to get some souvenirs here also.

As for the food, nothing much to mention about as they are quite similar to any other surrounding countries like Malaysia and Singapore. I'll just show you a few photos of the food that I think you may not be able to find it in your country.

Lastly, I would like to end this with a few photos of the people in Bandung, Indonesia.

And of course... the sunset of the city of Bandung.

Previously posted... Bandung, Indonesia (Part I).