Sapa

Another of my favorite places for sure. Sapa is a hill station in northwestern Vietnam sought for its cooler weather and killer views. Hill tribes of H'mong and Dao reside in the valleys flanking the city, drawing the local women (fully adorned in their traditional garb) to the streets to sell locally made jewelry, purses and embroidery. The plan was to stay just a few days, but Sapa's instant charm, aided by the huge score on a cheap room with million dollar top-floor views, was enough to suck us in for a solid week of exploration. Once again the bikes served as an ideal mode for self made adventure. Like any tourist hot spot there are aspects of Sapa that are borderline "Disneyified." A few of the closest villages have been paved over with staircases to ease the conveyor belt of westerners curious to take a peek at local life and buy imported trinkets hawked as local goods. Luckily it took little effort to meander into less manicured surroundings. We strolled out to Sinchai village exploring random trails, dodging water buffalo on the munch and winding our way through terraced fields mid-plow. The place was buzzing with babies. Seemingly everything from chickens and goats, to pigs and people had just given birth to a gaggle of offspring. It was a grand tour of local life highlighted by the kiddies of course- nimbly scaling rocky staircases on stilts to show off, laughing wildly while flinging mud at each other (good game), and wee ones toddling up to us toothless and pantsless to give enthusiastic waves hello. Exploration near Sapa was all about the timing. The clouds rolled in and burned off with chaotic unpredictability. The freedom of the bikes let us take full advantage of the ideal weather pockets. With the exception of one very wet and stormy descent from the Golden Stream Love Waterfall (yep)/ Silver Falls excursion, we managed to ride through some of the most incredible scenery by jumping out the door at the first hint of clear skies. The descent from Sapa into the Tay valley wove along a slender one-lane road overlooking endless rice terraces etched into the hillsides. The view opened up like a Dr. Suessian jigsaw puzzle-concentric waves of green stacked from the base to tip of every basin in sight and spilling out as far as the eye can see. Needless to say this was an ideal place to tool around and increasingly peel away at the touristic veneer by striking out by foot, bike and moto.
For the first time on the trip we found ourselves in the company of other bike tourists and made the fortunate acquaintance of Felix, a German cyclist traveling in the opposite direction, who gifted us with a hard to find map of Laos. We spent a few last lively nights in the good company of other travelers before saying reluctant goodbyes to Sapa and finally setting off for Vietnam's highest pass and new adventures on the other side.