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.

Fansipan moutain

Location: Fansipan Mountain is located 9km south-west of Sapa Townlet in the Hoang Lien Mountain Range.
Characteristics: Fansipan is branded "the Roof of Indochina" at the height of 3,143m; Fansipan is to be approved as one of the very few eco-tourist spots of Vietnam, with about 2,024 floral varieties and 327 faunal species.

The topography of Fansipan is varied. Muong Hoa Valley, at the lowest altitude (950-1,000m), is created by a narrow strip of land at the base on the east side of the mountain.

Geologists say the Hoang Lien Mountain Range, with Fansipan as its highest peak, did not emerge in the mountainous North West of Vietnam until the neozoic period (circ. 100 million years ago). Fansipan, a rough pronunciation of the local name "Hua Xi Pan" means "the tottery giant rock". The French came to Vietnam and in 1905 planted a landmark telling Fansipan's height of 3,143m and branded it "the Roof of Indochina". Very few people climbed to the top of Fansipan at the time. Then came the long years of war and Fansipan was left deserted for hunting and savaging. The trail blazed by the French was quickly overgrown by the underbrush.
   
It takes six or seven days to reach the 3,143m summit, the highest peak of the Indochina Peninsula.

In 1991, Nguyen Thien Hung, an army man returned to the district town and decided to conquer Fansipan. Only on the 13th attempt did Hung, with a H'Mong boy as his guide, conquer the high peak by following the foot steps of the mountain goats. Scaling the height was meant to satisfy his eager will and aspiration to conquer the mountain without expecting that his name would be put down in the travel guidebook. After that the Sapa Tourism Agency started a new package tour there. It seemed the Fansipan Tour was meant only for those who wished to test their muscular power.

The summit of Fansipan is accessible all year round, but the best time to make the ascent is from mid-October to mid-November, and again in March.
   
Foreigners like best to book Fansipan tours between October and December, as this period is more often than not free from the heavy rains that obstruct the jaunt. But the Vietnamese prefer their tours to the peak of the mountain from February to April, as it is not so cold then. However, the best time for the trek to the mountain is from the end of February to the start of March, when the flowers all flourish and the climbers may behold the carpets of brilliant blossoms, violets and orchids, rhododendrons and aglaias.

Ban Ho Village

Ban Ho Village, Vietnamese Australian Tran Han expressed his excitement when he walked out of the Lavie Stream in the scenic village Ban Ho, more than 26 kilometers away from the famous resort town of Sapa.

Han said swimming in the Lavie was one of many unforgettable memories of his trip to northern Vietnam earlier this year, as the water was fresh and clean in the stream which ran from rocks and hills where a few minority groups live.

Young citizens of Lao Cai Province Vietnam and foreign tourists often trek to Ban Ho to indulge in the pristine Lavie Stream, enjoy the sweet sound of running water from the Ca Nhay Waterfalls and other natural attractions of the tranquil village.

The Lavie Stream, together with Muong Hoa Stream, weaves through boulders, hills, mountains and terraced paddy fields of Tay village, which is nestled in the breathtaking Valley Muong Hoa, adding the finishing touch to the picturesque image of Ban Ho Sapa.

Even though Ban Ho is not too far from the center of Sapa Vietnam not many tourists have visited the village because of the tough approach road, which is under construction and slippery in the rainy season.

However, the village is also accessible by driving from Sapa tours to Su Pan Village and then trekking 10 kilometers to Ban Ho. Topas is one of a number of tour operators who offer this one-day package, with cost determined by the number of participants.

Ban Ho Village, Ban Ho is worth the somewhat difficult journey to get there, as the village rewards visitors with stunning views of unspoiled sites and an opportunity to discover the daily activities of the ethnic people Tay.

On the way to the waterfalls, which were named by locals after seeing fish jumping out of the water in the old days, visitors will pass brooks gently running down bamboo cylinders that locals use to channel the water into their terraced paddy fields, wooden houses perched on the sides of rolling hills and wild flowers.

When they emerge from the water in the dry season the boulders and stones along the Lavie Stream are artworks that resemble different figures, depending on the imagination of viewers. In the rainy season from May till September visitors can see water flowers created by the splashing water running into the boulders.
The trails and roads from Ban Ho also lead to the quiet Red Dao Village of Nam Toong and other ethnic communities, where trekkers can enjoy the best of Northern Vietnam, such as deep valleys, amazing mountains and simple people

Silver waterfall And Tram Ton pass

Alongside the road, about 5km towards Sapa is Thac Bac (Silver Waterfall). With a height of 100m, it's a big one, and the loop track is steep and scenic.. Make sure the camera has enough memory for this route.

Tram Ton Pass
The incredible road between Sapa and Lai Chau crosses the Tram Ton Pass on the northern side of Fansipan, 15km from Sapa. At 1900m this is the highest mountain pass in Vietnam. Even if you are not planning to carry on around the northwest, it is well worth coming up here to experience the incredible views from the top of this pass. Descend by mountain bike before returning by truck or rent a motorbike to make the short hop to the new Tam Duong (Binh Lu). This is a seriously spectacular ride. On the Sapa side of the mountain the weather is often cold. foggy and generally miserable. Drop down a few hundred metres below the pass on the Lai Chau side and it will often be sunny and warm. Ferocious winds come ripping over the pass, which is not surprising given the temperature differ ences - Sapa is the coldest place in Vietnam while Lai Chau is the warmest. Tram Ton Pass is the dividing line between two great weather fronts - who says you can't see air?.

Lao Chai Village

(A story by Dane - who visited Lao Chai March, 2007)

    We got a decent jump on the day. We set out before noon. The foggy days had passed, and we had seen plenty of sunshine lately. Lao Chai is a village near Sapa, down in the valley. We didn't know for sure if we wanted to go all the way there, but we thought we'd at least head in that direction and see what we could find.

    What we found were more incredible views and more cute kids. They're everywhere. For anyone who knows me, I'm sure it comes as a shock to hear me talk about kids so much. I'm not normally a big fan. They're loud, they smell, they're messy, and they don't respond to rational arguments. I guess they're a lot like adults, but their cries are much more piercing.

    But these little hill tribe kids are adorable. They're quiet, friendly, industrious, I can't understand them, and their snot covered faces are somehow endearing. They're magical little creatures. And it's nice because they're still fascinated by visitors. We've been to some places where it's obvious they don't see a lot of Westerners. But adults are rarely friendly and fascinated. They're distrustful and wary. But we were up on some mountain, sort of lost on some trail, and we saw this one little girl near a hut in the distance. When she saw us, her face lit up, she screamed "HELLO," and she ran toward us. When she reached us, she just stood there and stared at us, interested but polite. It turned out that she had exhausted her English after our initial greeting, and we don't know any Vietnamese or whatever the H'mong language is. But the three of us were pretty content to just smile at one another and share some silence. She didn't look malnourished or anything, but we had some crackers with us and thought we'd offer her some. She was thrilled. She smiled big and then ran away. We assumed she was done with us. In fact, she was just going to share her prize with a little girl who was hiding in the trees. They both screamed and ran toward the house. Then more kids approached. Some quickly, the rest cautiously. Eventually we had 6 children standing around us. They were all smiles and giggles. They didn't have their hands out or request anything. They didn't all come for the crackers. I think the gesture just let them know that we were friendly people. One of the little girls was heartbreakingly cute. Her hair was tussled, her clothes a little worse for wear, she hadn't discovered Kleenex yet, but she smiled constantly, her eyes were full of wonder and joy, and all of it added up to make her the cutest kid I've seen in a long time. We all sat around for quite some time. Eventually we brought out more crackers and wished we had more to offer. It's not that they expected anything or looked particularly needy (some will disagree when they see the photos, but that's just how most the kids look here), but it's nice to do something nice for them. And handing them money isn't the answer. Food's always good. We've been trying to find some coloring books or something to take them. But one thing that immediately makes most of the kids happy is seeing themselves in your digital camera. We took lots of pictures and let them see. They'd all giggle and get embarrassed and then pose again. I shot some video of them talking and laughing and showed them that. They about lost their minds. It was a joy that's more pure than I often see. They were great. We eventually figured out how to ask their names and we went through introductions several times. They all had cool names like "Shohl" and "Blah" and "Bai" and "Tao." I'll post the video of them saying their names. It's worth seeing. After all this we finally decided to say our goodbyes. I was genuinely sad to leave, which is crazy because we could barely communicate. But I liked them much better than a lot of people I can understand. Maybe there's something to that.

    As we left they started an impromptu game of hide-and-seek. Also adorable. I shot a video of that too. Like I said, all the kids like looking at the LCD and seeing pictures, but seeing a video and hearing their own voices just sends them over the edge. I was glad we had something that could make them so happy. It's a great feeling to have some exchange, instead of feeling like we, the travelers, are the only ones getting something out of our visit. Sometimes we give money, sometimes food or books or toothbrushes, but the thing that made me feel the best was watching those kids. It's better than all the pagodas and wats and statues put together.

    But I still don't like kids. Even yours.

    After leaving the children, we headed out toward the river. From the ridge of terraces, we could see all the way up the valley toward Sapa. It's gorgeous. It's just mind blowing how much they've altered the landscape. I've seen terracing and I've always liked it. The Amalfi Coast in Italy, the Peruvian Andes, but this is on another scale entirely. Cutting these ridges into the side of a mountain isn't easy. If you've seen 10 terraces on a hillside, you've seen the product of a great deal of work. There are sections of these mountains that are completely covered in terracing, from the banks of the river to the top of the mountain a kilometer up. And this is work done by hand with a hoe. You can watch them doing it still. Yes, they have beasts of burden that can help with the plowing, but the initial work is done by hand with back-breaking labor. I have some shots of the people filing out of the valley into the surrounding mountains at sunrise with their hoes and baskets on their backs. I'm sure there are tree huggers that find this upsetting, but they're not covering the land with concrete. Trees are replaced with rice. After harvest, the animals graze on the drying stalks. Then they burn it, flood it, and start all over again. Right now they're burning everything and the air is thick with ash. It's like living at the foot of Vesuveus. My lungs love it.

    So check out the shots of the valley. The light makes it hard to see it, but all those lines in the mountainside are terraces. They're 4 or 5 feet tall and 8 feet deep. I looked down from a distance and the land lost form. It looked like one of those mazes on a restaurant placemat. My eyes just followed the lines, trying to find a way out. But I was lost in them. It's quite a sight.

    We crisscrossed through the mountains on dirt paths that would often disappear into flooded terrain. We'd try to just pick our way through the fields toward the correct spot on the horizon and we'd eventually find our path again. Whenever we passed hill tribe people on our way, we knew we were at least heading toward some village somewhere. I noticed when we arrived in Sapa, but have yet to point out, how similar these people look to Central and South Americans. It's striking. Their facial features are alike, they're clothing and textiles are almost identical, their jewelry looks alike, and they're general culture reminds me a great deal of Guatemala in particular. It makes sense, since people crossed into the America's from Asia at least 14,000 years ago (or they took an ark 4000 years ago). But it's still fascinating to see the similarities despite such a relatively long period of geographic isolation.

    By this point we had hiked so far that we decided to make our way to Lao Chai. The sun sunk in the sky quickly yet again, and we didn't get to the village until dark. But we saw the surrounding valley in the fading sunlight and the colors were deep and vibrant. The sunlight tends to wash it all out, but for the first and last hour of the day, the landscape is paint-by-numbers, and it's all oils and acrylic. Rich hues and curving brush strokes abound.

    By the end of the day we were exhausted. Eight kilometers of going up and down over hills and rocks, winding around mountains, and navigating flooded terraces is about as easy as it sounds. I'd take the treadmill any day, but I'd prefer to keep the view. We caught a lift on a motorbike back to Sapa. As we sped along the curving road, we saw the last lights of day disappear behind the looming mountains, with clouds sweeping across the sky and through the valley below. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

    (Source:www.travelpod.com)

Sapa ancient rock fields

Sapa Ancient Rock Field is between the terraced rice paddies of ethnic minority groups. This 8sq.km-area of remains consists of large multi-grade rocks engraved with ancient images. The first exploration research, in 1925, recorded that there were 200 stones of various dimensions concentrated in the area. Hon Bo, which is 15m long and 6m high, is the biggest of theses rocks.

The engravings on the surfaces of the stone are either pictographic or decorative. Remarkably, among the engravings are drawings of humans, stilt-houses of the ethnic minorities and symbols believed to be a primitive form of writing. But their meaning has not yet been deciphered.

In addition, impressive images include a da chong (the husband stone), da vo (the wife stone), as well as stones that look like tigers and a stela with an incantation written on it by the carver to help his people defeat the tigers. The da chong and da vo tell the story of faithful love between a couple who overcame all difficulties to be together; even though they turned to stone, they are still dedicated to each other.

Archaeologists have proven that this area has been inhabited since ancient times. These fascinating Viet remains have drawn the attention of scientists and tourists.

Ham Rong Moutain - The legend

Ham Rong Mountain is an attractive tourist area in the center of Sapa Townlet. Legend has it that in the distance past, all animals lived together in a chaotic environment. One day, Jade Emperor gave an order that every species of animal had to find for them an area to live. Having heard the order, they scrambled for a place to reside. The three brothers of dragon who were living in a large lake hurriedly ran to the east but could not find any place; they then ran to the west. The two older brothers ran fast and came to the destination first. The youngest brother ran slowly and strayed into the crowds of lions, tigers and big cats. Fearing that these animals would attack it, the dragon opened its mouth to defense itself. At that time, the order of Jade Emperor was no longer available, so the three dragons petrified. The two older dragons, which were waiting for their brother, face Lao Cai City, and the youngest one raising its head and opening mouth faces the Hoang Lien Mountain Range. So the mountain is named Ham Rong (Jaw of Dragon).

Visitors to Ham Rong have chances to climb up the San May (Cloud Yard) to enjoy the panorama of Sapa Townlet, visit the orchid gardens with beautiful and colorful flowers. In addition, Ham Rong Mountain has numerous caves and stones in extraordinary shapes.