The hotel room in Sapa is pretty poor. There is mildew on the wall and a strong smell of damp. But then everything here seems damp until, that is, the sun comes out which it has today. The sky is clear blue and a lovely day is in store. We have free time until 1pm and Andy is feeling better (apart from very stiff calves), so we take a stroll through the main street and the markets around the square. The town is bustling with minority tribes people who come into town every day to buy, sell and trade. In the afternoon we meet up with our guide, Nem, for an easy walk with Fiona and Daniel to Cat Cat village. This is a heritage village a few minutes outside Sapa and fees are charged for tourist visitors. Apart from the paved path that leads from the road at the top of the village to the river deep in the valley below and a few handicraft stalls along the way, this is a traditional working village and the walk takes us down to a decommissioned hydro-electric power station built by the French in 1902 which is situated in a spectacular gorge. In the evening we transfer back to Lao Cai to catch the sleeper train back to Hanoi.
Some of the Black H’Mong congregate outside the hotels to greet new arrivals with a barrage of questions: ‘What’s your name?’, ‘Where are you from?’ ‘How old are you?’, ‘Will you buy from me?’ and ‘Remember me later!’ They wait patiently for the trekkers to leave in order to walk with them and hopefully sell something. There are 60 ethnic minorities in Vietnam many of whom live in the North and several are thronging the streets this morning. The Black H’Mong are by far the most numerous and persistant. Less persistant and less well-represented are the Striped H’Mong and the Red Dzai. Both add a splash of colour, the latter with their elaborate red headgear with its profusion of tassles and the former with their embroidered multi-coloured skirts. Show any interest in the goods and within seconds you will be surrounded by Black H’Mong all clammering for you to buy something. Buy from one and they want you to buy from them all. Having already bought the very thing they are trying to sell is no defence – why not just by a second?
Cat Cat is Black H’Mong village which is built on the mountainside. Villagers are digging the foundations for a new house by hand – no mechanical aids, just hand hoes to loosen the earth and canvas stretchers to carry the it away. Men, women, some with babies on their backs, and children are all lending a hand. We visit a village house where flax is woven and dyed. This is a traditional wooden house, no windows or chimney despite there being an open fire for cooking. Large vats of blue indigo dye stand on the verandah and inside the house and newly dyed fabric hangs out to dry. This is living at it’s most basic – very little furniture, no sanitation in fact nothing in the way of creature comforts that we would recognise.
At the bottom of the valley the long-decommissioned power station is used as a cultural centre. A fast flowing torrent roars through a narrow gorge and is joined by a beautiful waterfall cascading down a rock face from the mountain above. On the climb out of river valley we stop for a rest at a small cafe with spectacular views of the valley below. From here we get a bird’s eye view of the ground clearing work that is still continuing in the village.