Travel Flashback: Women Of Sapa, Vietnam

Travel Flashback: Women Of Sapa, Vietnam

The place

Vietnam was one of my favourite trips. In a week, I somehow managed to go from south to north, and hit a diversity of spots. The north was one of the most intense cultural experiences I had. I visited Sapa, a small city in the mountains up north, and to get there, I had to take an overnight bus from Hanoi, but oh it was so worth it.

Sapa

I woke up in the morning, in the middle of the foggy rice paddies, welcomed by an army of hard working indigenous women, ready to sell us their craft and offer a place to sleep for very cheap.

Sapa is beyond words AMAZING. And if you can accept a town that has been changed by tourism, and it’s people, that took advantage of this to supplement their income in order to give their families better futures, you will enjoy the experience immensely.

The Women

The people of Sapa and it’s surrounding areas still dress in their traditional outfits. Each tribe (Red Dao, Black Hmong, among others) live in communities in the middle of nowhere in the mountains, near the main town. Most of them walk hours each day, in and out of the cultural hub, to sell their goods and attract tourists back to their humble homes.

Most men (that I did not see at all) work the land (I assume) and most women, work as artisans, and trade goods among themselves. These women blew my mind with their dedication and hard work.

Given the touristy popularity of Sapa, a lot of the women learn how to speak english, even though some of them dont even speak Vietnamese, and use the language to sell their craft and handmade goods to tourist. In the recent years a lot of these families have opened up their homes as home stays, for visitors to experience a real local experience. But don’t be fooled, if you book a “home stay” through a travel agency, chances are you won’t get the real deal.

The Experience

I don’t often plan my trips too much, and Sapa was no exception. considering I decided to hop on a bus on a whim after arriving from another overnight trip into Hanoi just that day, I didnt really have much of an opportunity to plan.

So I just showed up, and having no plan was the best I could have done. I roamed the streets and met countless women, and then, after a brief conversation with a beautiful lady, I had my own Sapa adventure: I found myself in a small home in Lao Chai, a very small “town” of maybe 30 or 40 houses, far from Sapa for the night. I watched her two young granddaughters cook our meal, and then we all sat on the ground to eat with our hands. I loved watching the 2 year old have no issues with eating the same food us adults were eating. That night I brushed my teeth with a bucket outside, right by the pigs, slept in a makeshift attack in the house, where a  fire was lit in the middle of the living room (by the 8 year-old), the only thing keeping us warm that night.

The next day, we embarked on our 2 hour hike back into town, while the toddler was left alone, for the community to care of her, while her older sister went to school, gramma went into town to find a new round of tourists, and their mom continued to live far away, pursing an education.

Sapa was an experience that I will never forget. Here are a few of the portraits I was lucky to capture of the incredible women I met.