Her Travels and Stories

I'll never forget the day that I first went on a trek in Sapa. I turned 30 a week before this trip and I had decided to tour Vietnam for 30 days. Sapa was my first destination.

On one cold and foggy November morning of 2012, I was preparing myself for the trek and I was all ready except I didn't have the proper boots. It had rained the night before so we expected for slippery trails. Thankfully enough, Tim found a pair and lent the purple boots which was very similar to what the local ladies would wear in the mountains.

The tour guide picked me up at 9 with his motorbike. It was a sweet surprise! It meant I didn't have to walk too much, which was a great idea as I would have a two-day trekking tour to the other villages in this area on the following day .

Tourists would first visit Cat Cat- the home of the Black Hmong- as it is the closest village to the center of the district. TIt is not difficult to get to this place as long as you have a map with you; some would even visit the village without a tour guide. The entrance fee was 40.000 VND. That's less than $2 and with that meager amount, you'd have the whole village to explore!

We rode down the green picturesque valley for about 10 minutes and parked the motorbike outside at one of the restaurants. Then my guide announced "We will now start the 'easy' trekking adventure''. I tell you,walking downhill was fine, but climbing up made me a dog sticking out my tongue I had to catch my breath every now and then. Oh well, I successfully did the epic hike to the site anyway and hey, it wasn’t EASY at all!

‘This is amazing’ I exclaimed as I stood on top of the hill.

The sun was streaming through puffy wispy clouds magnificently over the fully-terraced rice paddies, turning the mountains into gold. It was like Mother Earth showing off her best assets. I took photos of the scenes but few minutes later I decided to put down my camera. I just wanted to make that moment personal and intimate. The movement of the clouds, the wind blowing my hair, the sun glaring everything under it- this, this moment would stay in my memory and no photo could be better. I stood there, completely mystified!

Then we continued with our excursion, we went down to see the local houses, handmade products, the water falls and cultural show that they have prepared for us.

No doubt this was one of the most memorable travels for me!