Sapa’s cool climate and magnificent green vistas first
attracted the attention of French Colonizers in 1909, but the minority people
of this frontier valley have been living and working in the shadow of Fansipan
mountain for much longer.
Like most traveling to Sapa, my journey to the hill town
started in a sleepy train station cafe in Hanoi
the night before. It was 9 pm and already pitch-black when I joined a waiting
roorn of fatigued locals who were milling about and stirring Styrofoam cups of
iced “ca phe” (coffee), trying to keep their eyes on their baggage ancl
over-excited chilclren. The most popular train option is an over-night sleeper,
departing Hanoi
in the evening to arrive in Lao Cai early the next day. Travelers are likely to
end up sitting with a cheerful Vietnamese family who is eager to share smiles and
their supplies of fresh fruit during the ten-hour journey. Awakening early the
next morning, rural images race by the window: rolling green pastures, lakes,
and small enclaves of houses.
At the platform in Lao Cai a fleet of minibuses waits for
new arrivals. It's only 38 km to Sapa, but the winding drive takes two hours.
The scenery is magnificent - the verdant green vista of farm plots, terraced
rice paddies and low-land valleys make the journey pass quickly.
Situated 1,600 meters above sea-level, temperatures are always
coo1, averaging a comfortable 15-18"C. Though bitterly cold in winter, the
mountain air provides a perfect escape from the punishing summer heat of Hanoi. Locals say that
you can experience all four seasons in one day in Sapa. Many H'mong women
carry long umbrellas to shield themselves from both the rain and hot sun, using
the sturdy metal spike as a walking stick through muddy slopes.
Fansipan
Mountain, nine kilometers
northwest of Sapa, offers challenging hikes. At 3,143 meters, Fansipan is the
highest peak in Vietnam and
in all of Indochina, obscured by clouds
year-round and with ternperatures often dropping well below zero. The name
"Fansipan" derives from a rough pronunciation of the local name
"Hua Xi Pan" which means "the tottery giant rock." Now
recognized as a unique ecotourism area, Fansipan is home to 2,024 floral
varieties and 327 faunal species.
Altogether, there are 14 ethnic minorities living in the
surrounding area. The earliest records of the H'mong show they once ruled much
of the area around what is now Beijing, but now
over 7 million H'mong people are scattered across south China, Thailand,
Vietnam and Laos (700,000 H'rnong live in North Vietnam).
Although it is over 1,000 years since they ruled their own nation. H'mong
people retain their cultural identity and their language.
Continue at Part 2
Continue at Part 2
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