Vietnam sapa discovery

Rice Fields Sapa Valley


Taking advantage of the recent heavy rainfalls, locals in the Sapa Highlands (Lao Cai Province) are hard at work to prepare for a new rice season.

Unlike other places, this is the only rice growing season for the northwestern highland's in general and Sapa in particular, so it is very important for the local farmers to do all the proper preparations following the traditions and instructions from the agricultural expansion encouragement staff in order to achieve the highest rice yield.
Rice cultivating season is also the most beautiful season in the Sapa Highland's and because of this, Sapa has always attracted a large number of photographers and young tourists from other cities to visit the region and take pictures of it during this time of year, especially since these terrace rice fields have been voted as one of the 7 most beautiful rice terraces in Asia and in the world by a U.S. travel magazine.

When visiting the Sapa Valley in North Vietnam, the rice fields stretch across the landscape to the horizon with people scattered around wearing their hats and working hard each day in the fields. The fields are divided into sections, some areas remain dry while others are filled with water, all requiring hours of tedious work.
Since the twentieth century, a majority of the rice grown is on the flooded sections of land, also known as paddy fields. Constructed next to rivers/marshes or on steep hillsides, these fields require large amounts of water for irrigation.

While looking across these rice fields in the Sapa Valley, one would think there would be enough rice for years to come, but in reality, each plant only produces an average of 20 or less grains. Twenty years ago, rice was imported from Vietnam, but today, Vietnam is an exporter of the rice.

Rice is served with many meals in North Vietnam, used in a variety of ways such as rice noodle, white rice, rice liquor, rice salads and rice desserts. A favorite food for the majority of the people living in North Vietnam.

Bars in Sapa


Considering the number of travellers to Sapa, organised entertainment is relatively scarce and the bar scene slow. For most, an evening out is the guesthouse balcony, particularly if the fog rolls in.

Bamboo Bar (Green Bamboo Hotel; Cau May street)

The first Western-style watering hole to open in Sapa and it's still going strong in the basement of a grand building. The biggest bar in Sapa, offering traditional minority music, dancing and festivals from 5 different ethnic groups in Sapa. The very hill tribal boys & girls from villages throughout Sapa perform all shows. That's why Bamboo Bar is the only place where you can have chance to enjoy the real minority cultural colors.
- Opening: on every Friday and Saturday night from 8:30 PM to 10:00 PM
(on other days if there is a request)
- Free entrance fee.
- You can take part in traditional dancing (in Bamboo dancing) with young minority people

Red Dragon Pub (Tel: 872 085; 23 Muong Hoa street)

They knock out a serious range of beers, as any good pub should, including ginseng flavour. Don't be put off by the quaint tearoom downstairs, as upstairs is a little drinking den of a Brit-style pub that fills up most evenings. Befitting a respectable pub, there is a serious range of beers and some good pub grub. The tearoom downstairs is a good stop for bangers and mash or herbal teas during the day.

Tau Bar (Tel: 871 322; 42 Cau May street)

Claiming to be 'slightly lounge', Tau brings a different kind of cool to the mountains of the north. A lengthy bar to lean on, great tunes and a pool table suggest this place will prosper.Tau Bar is the great place to hang out with friends and have some drinks while travelling to Sapa in Vietnam. There is a game corner where you can have fun. Customers also can enjoy playing pool for free. Tau Ba is a great place to chat with local people as well as enjoy local beer, wine, fruit juice. Tau Bar offer wide range of drinks for your choice. 

Victoria Sapa Hotel (Tel: 871 522)

Offers two bars or a terrace for a sundowner in style. Drinks cost more than elsewhere in town, but the ambience is alluring on a cold night.
Ta Fin bar: This bar is open in the evening, enjoy a glass of hot red wine by the fireplace. In here you can relax and unwind with a fine drink after a tiring day.
Cat Cat pool bar: enjoy refreshing drinks and light snacks by the swimming pool or savour barbecued dishes in our gardens all while taking in the magnificent panoramic views of Sapa and of its surrounding mountains.

Homestay in Sapa


Sapa sceneries are very spectacular, with hill tribe villages are scattered among the mountains and forests. Most travellers visiting Sapa would take long walk (trekking or hiking) to surrounding villages. One of the highlights of Sapa is homestay where local Montagnards host foreign tourists.

Homestay in Sapa is very basic, there are some villages offer homestay service, Ta Van, Ban Ho village, Su Pan...Ta Van village is best for guests, Ta Van belongs to Dzay people, how have pretty more civilized lives than other ethnic groups, the village is not too far from Sapa, about 20 km. Dzay people are very friendly, guests stay overnight in the villages are provided with food, drinks, bedding facilities are basic, but clean and comfortable, some host even have western toilets
To stay overnight at homestay in the villages, travellers must have permit from local authorities, which can be arranged in Sapa.
To enjoy the best of homestay, travellers are recommended to be escorted by a local ethnic guide, there are many of them in Sapa, most speak excellent English, picked from foreign tourists, at homestay guests are told about daily life of local people, join some activities....

Bike for rent in Sapa

For the people want to travel by themselves in Sapa and surounding areas, the best way to do it is renting a motorbike. These are the prices for motorbike and bicyle with good quality.  

We offers a number of affordable biking tours with great service, and fantastic routes. We are proud to be the biggest provider for biking equipments in Sapa. As a local tour operator, we fully understand the local minority and geography to make your trips fun, exciting, challenging and rewarding for experienced touring cyclists.

We generally use LA and TREK 4500 mountain bikes as they have high quality, durable pieces of equipment. However, we also use others kind of bike depending on the grade of the tours and places. Please be advised that a certain frame model is not guaranteed.

We prefer the Trek mountain bike as it has been special designed to deal with different types of road and riding. Even on a our road trips, the asphalt can often be broken or potholed, and there are usually unsurpassed sections included, so mountain bikes are the most suitable. The bike has 24 and 27 gears, which you can change easily when padding up hill or down trails.

As the case of soft cycling in the country side, where the road is paved and flat, we general use simple Japanese pushed bikes

Bike Sizes
We provide mountain bikes on all our tours (except Tibet). Available sizes are 15"(38cm), 17"(43cm), 19"(48cm), and 21"(53cm). If you normally ride a mountain bike you simply need to tell us its size. If you are not sure, have a look at the table below for our suggestions. If in doubt it may be a good idea to visit a bike shop and try a few mountain bikes to find a comfortable size.

 Height Bike Size

Height
Bike Sizes
Less than 1.62m (5'4")
15"
1.62m (5'4") - 1.80m (5'11")
17"
1.80m (5'11") - 1.88m (6'2")
19"
Over 1.88m (6'2")
21"
 Price List
Period of time
Prices
1 day
US$ 12
A half day
US$7

Cooking class in Sapa

Many people who visit Vietnam quickly learn to enjoy the delicious food. With our cooking classes, you’ll learn how to make it yourself as well as learn more about the ingredients and the traditions of Vietnamese cuisine.

Every day at 10:00am we start our cooking class with a tour to the local Sapa fruit and vegetable market located 10 meters from the front door of our cooking school. The Sapa fruit and vegetable market is very colourful with many wonderful organic fruits and vegetables to select from. The market is also frequented by the Ethnic Minority population in Sapa giving you a sense of being transported back to the 18th century as you mingle with the Ethnic minority people, purchasing some of the freshest vegetables you have ever seen. Sapa’s fresh mountain air, fertile soils and clean water make for some beautiful produce. As you walk through the market your chef will explain the ingredients you will be using in your cooking lesson. Once you have purchased your ingredients we take our transport 6km outside of Sapa to our beautiful Hmong Mountain Retreat where our cooking school is located, overlooking the beautiful Muong Hoa Valley and the terraced rice fields.

After looking about and conferring with your guide, you choose will choose what you want to cook. Then we return to our teaching kitchen to guide you through the steps of cooking your food. The lesson is very practical. By the time we’re finished cooking, you’ll be plenty hungry, so enjoy the fruits of your labor as you sit in our retreat surrounded by nature marvelling at what you have just managed to cook.

 As you leave, don’t forget to take the recipe with you. You can thrill your friends back home with your new cooking skills!
 
What’s included in the cooking class:
• Welcome drink
• English speaking
• Vietnamese Chef
• Tour of Sapa’s market
• All cooking ingredients
• Lunch
• Cooking demonstration
• Transport to retreat
• All recipes and notes

Minimum of 2 persons are required for each class to commence
Contact Evivatour for reservations

Best Restaurants in Sapa

Delta Restaurant
Address: P Cau May Town Centre
Phone:  020 387 1799
Price: mains US$5
Hours: lunch & dinner
A stylish and atmospheric place, Delta Restaurant is renowned for its pizzas, which are the most authentic in town, though the pasta is pretty decent too. Wash it all down with a drop of Aussie red.

Viet Emotion
Address:  27 P Cau May
Website : www.vietemotion.com
Phone: 020 387 2559
Price: meals 40,000-120,000d
Hours:  breakfast, lunch & dinner

This stylish, intimate little place has a bistro feel about it, with bottles of wine hanging from the ceiling, plus a fireplace. Try the trekking omelette, home-made soup, or something from the tapas menu like gambas al ajillo (garlic prawns). If the weather really sets in there are books and magazines to browse and games including chess

Baguette & Chocolat

Address:  Ð Thac Bac Thac Bac Area
Website: www.hoasuaschool.com
 Phone:  020 387 1766
 Price: cakes from 10,000d, snacks & meals 40,000-120,000d
 Hours: breakfast, lunch & dinner

If you’re craving a genuine European-style cafe, head to this elegant converted villa for a fine breakfast (sets cost 60,000d to 78,000d), tartine, baguette or a slab of gateau. There are also good salads, pasta and Asian and Vietnamese dishes, and the ‘picnic kits’ are a smart option for trekkers.

Tavan Restaurant
Address: Victoria Sapa Hotel
Phone:  020 387 1522
Price:  mains US$4-28
Hours: lunch & dinner

This hotel restaurant has a good rep, and is the place for a ser ious splurge. The Parisian chef has been here for years, and while there are Asian dishes on the menu it’s best to stick to European classics like the rack of lamb (US$20), raclette (US$28) or pasta (from US$4).

Gecko

Address: Ð Ham Rong Park Area
Website: www.geckosapa.com
 Phone: 020 377 1504
 Price: mains US$5-9, sets US$6.50-10
 Hours:  lunch & dinner

This large enjoyable French-owned place resembles an auberge, with a rustic feel and a menu of flavoursome country cooking: try the boeuf bourguignon or the ‘gecko’ soup (with potato, bacon and cheese). There’s a bar area and a little park-facing front terrace.

Pa Then Women's Costume

Pa Then ethnic women in their traditional red costume.

Like many other ethnic groups living in Vietnam, Pa Then people grow flax to get threads for weaving the brocade and fabrics for making garments. Most of the adult Pa Then women have learned how to weave and sew clothes from their mothers. According to Pa Then custom, women have to learn weaving and sewing not only to make the clothes beautiful, but also to prepare for their wedding.
A costume of a Pa Then woman consists of a kerchief, a blouse, a belt, a skirt, and a brassiere. The kerchief is a red cloth, embroidered with designs and wrapped up into round layers. The two ends are decorated with clusters of colourful thread tassels, which cascade down onto the wearer's ears.

The most attractive part is the red blouse, which has no collar but instead has two front flaps that are crossed when worn. The back flap is often longer than the front flaps. The costume is attractive due to the harmonious mixture of hand-embroidered pieces and grafted fabrics. On the red foundation ar

e the handy embroidered geometrical shapes, while the lower sleeves and two crossed front flaps' fringes are grafted with black blocs. Young women often wear a white shirt under the red upper blouse. The white collar then will go on top of the red base, making it more beautiful.

 With their skills, Pa Then women can weave and make unique skirts. Also in red, the skirt has folded lines in the upper hem and embroidered decorations along two sides. The front face has no decorations, just simple designs.

 The belt is a long white or black cloth that is tied around the wearer's waist, with its two tails falling down the front that looks like the skirt's fringes.            

Pa Then women have to spend nearly one month to make a complete set of their costume. Making the decorations and doing the embroidery work takes most of their time. However, their traditional costume is always of the same mode, and they wear it year round, in daily activities or during festivals. Because of this unique style, visitors to the upland provinces of Ha Giang and Tuyen Quang will easily recognize Pa Then women when they see their costumes.

At spring festivals, Pa Then women look charming in their red costumes, adorned with sparkling silver necklaces, ear-rings and bracelets.