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Sapa is
famous for
Love Market, it's a festival, a weekend activity
for young hill tribe people live in Sapa, on Saturday nights
youngsters from surrounding villages gather in town for
dancing, playing flute and court each other, they are from
Red Dzao, Black Hmong, Dzay, Tay and Nung
Today, with throngs of tourists coming to Sapa the original
activity has changed a lot, local authorities are planning
to recover the activity as one of the
attractions of Sapa
Budget and independent travellers take
Sapa tours through
their
hotels in Sapa, as Internet access is easily available
in Sapa most hotels offer online booking, other services can
also be arranged by the hotels like Sapa trains,
transfer
from and to Lao Cai train station, many adventurous travellers go to Sapa by motorbikes, it takes about 1 day
ride from Hanoi, or 2 days with an overnight stop in Yen Bai
To local tourists, Sapa is an ideal place for honeymoons,
there are many young couple chose Sapa as their honeymoons,
especially in Spring, the whole area is just like a big
flower garden, local tourists tend to visit
Ham Rong
mountain, located in the heart of town, there is a big
flower yard on top of the mountain, young people are always
seen taking pictures in the spot
Young Vietnamese are also interested in Sapa trekking,
especially school children from Hanoi, they come in big
groups, most use trains, others go by motorbike, they choose
the cheap hotels away from tourist centre, cheap and
convenient, they visit Lao Chai and Cat Cat villages, visit
hilltribe villages in the area.
A place very favourite with domestic travellers is
Thac Bac
or Silver Waterfall, about 15 km from
Sapa town, near
Tram
Ton pass on the way from Sapa to Lai Chau, in June or July,
rainy season, the waterfall looks like a white silver
curtain falling down from mountain.
Ta Phin village with the
old church is also an attractive
site for tourists, in recent years more and more people
choose to stay overnight at Ta Phin village as it has become
a bit too touristy at Ta Van village, there are some
villages in are chosen as
Sapa homestay sites, beside Ta
Van, Ban Ho is a good place for long trekkers, and now Ta Phin of Red Dzao people has emerged as an intersting spot
for Sapa homestay.
With an increasing number of tourists to Sapa, local
children have learnt English from tourists, many young girls
selling souvenirs to tourists have become tour guide, with
their fluent English, deep knowledge of traditions and
people, Hmong or Red Dzao girls have become professional
tour guides for foreign travellers to Sapa. |
