After a quick overnight stop in Hanoi I decided to take another one of these amazing sleeper buses up to Sapa to go on a three day trekking tour guided by some of the local woman and staying at their homes overnight.
Upon first exiting the bus, I noticed Sapa looked a lot like the famous mountain towns around Europe and even a bit like the small towns in the canadian mountains, just with sightly smaller hills and no snow up on top. The town of Sapa is quite touristy and over the past few years many hotels and guesthouses have been built and locals just started to realize the potential to make money through guided tours of the area. In order to get away from the main tourist tracks, I decided to do a two night homestay tour and make my way further away from the town and across the rice paddies and mountains.
Trekking for three days with a small group was great fun and we shared many laughs and ‘happy water’ drinks, but the most spectacular part of the trip was the stunning landscapes surrounding us. With mountains and rice paddies as far as one could see, low hanging clouds and small villages just peaking out around hill sites the region is definitely one of the most beautiful places I was able to discover throughout all of my travels.
The quite surrounding you while hiking, gives you the opportunity to listen to your own thoughts and looking down from the mountain tops across the valley makes you realize how small and insignificant some worries are, when compared to the size of the world.
Nothing mattered for those days. All I had to do and focus on was right there, just watch your feet and put one foot in front of the other. No big plans, no wifi, no arrangements for the future. For a few days, it was just me and camera and these other people along the trail, it didn’t matter what time it was or how fast we’d made it. Simply wandering down the hills surrounded by magnificent sights and unbelievable beauty was enough to keep me breathless and mesmerized. Walking through the villages giving a High-Five to local kids and make them smile, was one of the highlights of the day.
After being so busy for the previous weeks and constantly on the move, being up in the mountains for these days was perfect. Up here time stands still. In these villages life’s almost exactly the way it used to be 10, 15 or 20 years ago. They harvest rice, slather pigs and drive the motorbikes up and down the hill sites.
Experiencing their daily life and learning about their culture, makes one realize how sophisticated we are and how much we simply take for granted in the western world. Being fortunate enough to travel here and experience all the different cultures, is something many people can’t do and the locals living in the mountain villages often never leave their village.
They spent all their life surrounded by mountains, never seeing the sea, but at the same time never feeling like they are missing something either. They cherish their mountains and just lately these mountains presented a new way of living and work to them by simply taking tourists with them along the many trails in between their villages. The locals walked these paths for many years and they know every step and corner, walking in flip-flops and through the rain, caring 50-kg bags of rice up the mountains and still not slipping once. These people have so little, but are offering so much. They are friendly and helpful. Of course they try to sell you bracelets, clothing and handbags everywhere you stop for lunch or dinner, but always smiling and happy even when you never buy a thing.
On my way back down from the mountains, the sounds picked up again. The honking of motorbikes, the crowds of backpackers, the number of souvenir shops increased and slowly I returned to reality. Gone was the quite and peaceful atmosphere of the mountains. No more glorious views while walking down a mountain in the golden glow of the late afternoon sun. Still I take these memories and hopefully some of inner peace I found far up surrounded by buffalos and rice paddies. Life is simple up there, but not any less beautiful. It doesn't have to be fancy hotels or buzzing resorts, in fact I’d prefer the quite of the mountains, the smile of a local child and the slight rain high up in the clouds.
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