After having a great experience trekking in Myanmar we booked a 2 day/1 night trek in Sapa, a small town in northern Vietnam, through Ethnic Travel.  We had very little information on the details of the trek prior to leaving Hanoi and were unsure of what the mileage would be, what size the group would be, etc. All we knew was that we had to arrive at the company’s office in Hanoi at 7:30pm for our night train to the north.

Upon arriving at Ethnic Travel’s office we were faced with a decision. We could do the trek that we’d signed up for in Sapa or switch to a trek in Bac Ha, a town about 2 hours away from Sapa.  The selling points of switching were:

(1) Bac Ha is much less touristy than Sapa

(2) The scenery is allegedly better in Bac Ha this time of year. Typically, tourists go to Sapa to see the dramatic rice terraces which are dry during the winter.

(3) The Bac Ha trek would stop at the local Sunday market which Sapa does not offer

The downside of switching was that we weren’t sure how much of the upside to believe since it sounded like we would be the only travelers to Sapa, but the had another group of two going to Bac Ha that we could join. How convenient for the company to combine the tours…

We took a gamble and agreed to go to Bac Ha as we do like to avoid the big tourist crowds and were excited about having some trekking companions since we loved our group from our Myanmar trek.

The trek started with a 9 hour journey on the night train. It was a fun experience and sleep was much easier to come by than we envisioned prior to the journey. On the train north we shared a cabin with a pair of middle-aged Australian guys who were very entertaining and opened our eyes to how boring American cursing is.

We were picked up at the train station by our guide Za and a driver in the company van. We went to a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant for beef pho (noodle soup) for breakfast and then straight to our home stay. Up to that point we had been wondering how our trekking companions Sherry and Chloe, a mother-daughter duo from Singapore, were going to do the trek with a rolling suitcase but since the homestay was the first stop we could leave our belongings there and take only what we needed for a day of trekking. Phew!

On the first day of trekking we walked 14 kilometers (just under 9 miles for our American readers) through misty mountains of rice terraces and family farms. It had rained in the town the day before so while the trekking distance was not particularly challenging it was a near constant struggle to make it up or down even the gentlest slope without slipping in the mud.

The highlight of the trek was visiting a local village and bing invited in someone’s home where the family was celebrating the upcoming Tet New Year. They had killed and cooked a large pig and were enjoying heaping bowls of pork and mushrooms, pigs liver and vegetables, cooked bamboo, and white rice.  Homemade rice wine was a flowing freely and we participated in many rounds in which someone would toast to health and happiness in the new year, everyone would chant “Hi Ba Yo” (don’t hold me to the spelling), and we’d all take the shot of strong tasting and smelling liquor, ending with a hand shake for whoever poured the shot and gave the toast.

Even in a remote mountain village in Vietnam is was impossible not to notice the similarities between the celebration the was taking place and the many that we have experienced back home. A late-arriving friend would walk into the house and everyone would yell “AYYYYYE!!!” and stand to greet the newcomer and offer him a drink, a scene I have witnessed at almost every party in Baltimore. There was the guy who was visibly more intoxicated than everyone else who would be refusing shots one minute only to be pouring more for himself and everyone the next (we all know that person). Groups were talking and laughing and even with the language barrier it was hard to not feel welcome and appreciate the generosity of our hosts.

Back at the home stay we helped prepare dinner by rolling spring rolls and then shared an excellent meal of rice, stir fried vegetables, excellent looking spring rolls, and peanuts with our host family.  In typical 21st century fashion we were offered the wifi password before retiring to our room for the night.

The second day of trekking didn’t really include any trekking per se as we explored the local Bac Ha Sunday market (as advertised) before getting back in the van to drop off the rest of the group in Sapa as they booked an additional day of trekking.

Our last stop in Bac Ha was to visit the local palace which was nice and picturesque.

From there, we dropped the group in Sapa where they’d do another day of trekking and we returned to the train station for our second overnight train to Hanoi. This time, we shared a cabin with an American couple around our age who gave us some tips on our upcoming time in Hoi An and our plans for Australia.

Luckily, in the end, the selling points of switching to Bac Ha over Sapa seemed to be true and we had a great time. We had a few laughs about how we doing “luxury” trekking since we didn’t have to carry anything, we had running warm water in our house, there was wifi and we only averaged about 6 miles per day – a far cry from our trek in Myanmar. The scenery on the trek was beautiful and while driving through Sapa it was clear that it is a tourist hub filled with neon lights and chain restaurants that were absent in Bac Ha. We also learned that local children will follow tour groups in Sapa for miles, trying to sell various products. We were glad to avoid that!

We were appreciative that we were talked into Bac Ha, glad that we had a great guide Za, and ultimately happy with our Ethnic Travels experience.