Sapa

buy a map, rent a moto, and ride with the sun in your eyes and wind whipping around you.

follow a tour, and you most likely get roped along into unworthy false shows of villagers, grown numb to tourists.

go a little bit farther and find trekking, valleys, and less “where you from? buy something from me?”

This is truly asia. So exotic and far from civilization as can be. The prettiest views you can imagine, up in the mountains of north Vietnam. Of all the places we visited in Vietnam, Sa Pa was the prettiest of all. Extremely nice for hikes.

I loved the scenery of the Sapa area. But, I just think its cultural-based tourism out of control up there. And I didn’t see very much nature, just endless rice paddies. If you want to learn about the amazing ethnic groups of the uplands, go to Luang Nam Tha and Vieng Phouka in Laos, where tourism is still low key, and the villagers are not parading around for tourists, they are just living their lives and also enjoying improved incomes thanks to (mostly) carefully planned tourism initiatives up there. And there are treks through the national park.
I did, however, fall in love with the Minsk motorbikes.

Trekking to be done. village children are willing to be photographed.

The weather, the landscape, the people… So fab!
It’s easy to take a train from Hanoi to Laocai, and then take a bus to Sapa. There’re many trekking tour programs in Sapa for you to choose. And it’s cheap.
At night, you should go to the Church square and try bamboo-tube rice.