Hanoi - SaPa Day 4 (Part I)

Arrived at Lao Cai station after 9hrs... didn't sleep well, coz we were sharing with another male passenger. Kind of worried too much : D

Driver was arranged to pick us up at the station, it took us another 1hr to the mountain, Sapa. The road was smooth, sky was clear : ) Good day to start our next adventure.

Was welcomed by a group of ladies in black, traditional costume (Culture Shock!) They started to follow us all the way up to the Hotel. They were the Black Muong, belongs to one of the enthic group from the village. They would follow tourist though some arduous trek, trying to sell their handicrafts and sometime offer to help on the way. You might find them irritating, but they were harmless, they just trying to earn some income. Ofcoz if you tell them off, and not buy anything, they would just go away after "awhile" haha... Personally, I find them quite interesting : ) they could speak good English (they are illiterate tho.), good with handicrafts, and very helpful too : )

The Black Muong ladies

Simple & nice bkf at the Hotel

Pho again : )

It's cold up in the mountain! Especially in the morning, the weather would change drastically in the afternoon. We took a walk to the town before our afternoon trekking.

A small and only church in Sapa

Men playing Chinese Chess along the street. 

See how the Black Muong pestering tourist. 

The young Muong with her baby. 

Down to Cat Cat Village in the afternoon. Cat Cat is a village with Black Muong, abt 5km west of Sapa Town. Surprisingly this place was not too rural as what I thought. There's Spa, foot massage and cafe along the way to Village.

Beautiful Paddies

Pig, pig, pig..everywhere.. lazy around

We saw some kids playing along the road and paddies field. The kids don't like to attend school despite there's school in the Village. Unfortunately, to them going to school can't bring them income : ( and they would still ended up in this small village, doing handicrafts and farming. They would rather sell stuffs to tourist; be a village guide or even work in the field.

I felt sad and disappointed hearing these. Reminded me of Nepal which I came across the Nepalese kids from the mountain, either with no school or have to walk a long distance to school. They were poor and lack of nutrients yet they like to go to school, happy to receive reading materials...sad. But these kids here were so much fortunate yet they do not know how to appreciate it. sad sad...Hope our Singaporean kids would be more appreciative too.

Little girls from the village playing along the road. 

Home of the villagers. 

Little boy without pant running and playing around the house.

Little boy was sick so he got to stay at home : )

While walking down the valley, we saw a van capsized. It was not due to accident but a gang fight with gun shot the night before, luckily no injuries. 

Van down the valley.

The Waterfall at Cat Cat 

A simple meal at a local cafe. 

Passed by a crafting shop along the way. We stayed at the shop for awhile, mesmerized by few pieces of interesting, impressive art and admiring the young artist. : D A pleasant, decent and modest guy, earning a living for his family by selling his piece of art. We bought a few pieces at the end : )

Nice piece of art, craft from rock/stone

Opps..shld have took his front view : D Crafting on my little stone box upon request. : )

My little box, craft from stone

End of Cat Cat village, time to go for a good rest & massage : P Btw, the weather was extremely hot in the late afternoon.... we have to remove our warm clothing layer by layer as we walked back to Hotel. Perspired and almost sun burnt.