Travel / Sapa, Vietnam

ESCAPE / SAPA

THE SPIRIT OF SAPA It is the realm of the Red Daos, home to the Black Hmongs, host to a landscape in gradients of green that stretches as far as the eyes can see.

As Nelissa Hernandez finds out, venturing into Vietnam’s mountainous northwest means seeing the country in full colour

26 | SILKWINDS

SILKAIR.COM | 27

ESCAPE / SAPA

Opening spread: Sapa’s Hoang Lien National Park offers breathtaking views at every angle

n spring, the whiteness overwhelms. The mountains are cloaked in what seem like lowlying clouds, the green paddy fields concealed by a cotton candy-like veil. But when the mist lifts and the fog vanishes, what comes into view is a dreamy landscape populated by tribes with colourful stories to tell.

This is Sapa, after all. Known as the Tonkinese Alps, this picturesque resort town sits high in Vietnam’s tourism pantheon, boasting more than a million visitors annually. It became a popular destination when the French colonials, who found Hanoi too hot, established it as a resort town. Organised tours began around 1997, and it’s been in many travellers’ must-go list since.

Some say, predictably so, that 28 | SILKWINDS

Sapa is no longer like it used to be – pristine, quiet, and devoid of hordes of holidaymakers. Easier transportation means more and more travellers have access to this hideaway, more new hotels are being built, countless tours offered. Some of the hilltribes, lured by the promise of dollars, have become too brazen in hawking wares to tourists. And these beg the questions: Has modernisation eroded the town’s cultural appeal? Has it become too touristy for its own good?

And more importantly, has Sapa lost its soul?

Certainly not. To see the real Sapa, one has to visit the tribes where they originally thrive.

AMONG THE HMONGS Knock, knock, knock comes the thud on the door from our train attendant at 4.30am. “Coffee, tea?” follows, as another attendant wheeled her trolley in the corridor 10 minutes before the train screeched

to a halt in Lao Cai station, the gateway to Sapa. After trundling along the countryside for 10 hours, I reached the mountainous northwestern region of Vietnam at dawn, a soft drizzle providing a misty prelude to my Sapa exploration.

They say the best time to see this part of Vietnam is right before harvest season, when the rice stalks are all bowing to the ground due to ripeness, and the fields splendid in rich shades of yellow and green. It’s planting time when I arrive, and it’s still as breathtaking. The huts of the Black Hmong tribe – with, unsurprisingly, blackish thatched roof – stand out among the vastness of brown and green fields wedged between the town’s hilly terrains.

My 11km-trek, part of Topas Ecolodge’s three-day homestay tour, traverses Ta Van village, which offers some of the most beautiful vantage points to take in local life. We hike next to

RÉHAHN PHOTOGRAPHY

Facing page, from top: A Black Hmong house sits at the centre of the hilltribe’s fields; the hands of some Black Hmong women are stained with blue dye, which is extracted from fermented leaves of indigo plants used to colour their clothes

SILKAIR.COM | 29

ESCAPE / SAPA

STAY Perched 930m above sea level on a hilltop, Topas Ecolodge (topasecolodge. com) has 25 chalet-style bungalows with unrivalled views of Hoang Lien mountains as well as the ethnic minority villages 400m below. They offer a variety of travel packages that include hiking, trekking, trips to the tribal markets and mountain biking. To get up-close with Vietnam’s hilltribes, opt for the 3D2N homestay package, which includes a one-night stay in Nam Cang Riverside Lodge (namcangriversidelodge. com) as well as visits to Red Dao and Black Hmong communities.

30 | SILKWINDS

SILKAIR.COM | 31

ESCAPE / SAPA

WEERAPONG CHAIPUCK; GETTY IMAGES; NELISSA HERNANDEZ

This spread, clockwise from left: A Black Hmong family with their bountiful harvest; taking a break from farm work; Red Daos cross a river on the way to the plantations

32 | SILKWINDS

slopes spilling down to fields that yield corn and rice in season, and between muddy tracks of land being toiled for planting. We are walking past a lush plantation that rings a hillside – “indigo plants”, says Kien, our tour guide – when we hear some noise from a nearby pond.

“That is a house of a Black Hmong family,” adds Kien, but my fellow travellers and I are already busy clicking our cameras aimed at a happy flock of ducks wading noisily in the muddy water. Kien ushers us inside the hut, where we visit a Hmong lady, who is dressed in the typical deep blue costume dyed using the indigo plants we just passed. She smiles meekly at us before continuing her embroidery work.

A quick glimpse at a Hmong’s house feels like a trip back in time. There is no glaring TV screen spewing the day’s news, no furniture and electronic equipment. In lieu of technology is a natural simplicity forgotten in today’s modern life. Dramatically lit with the sun’s rays slitting through the cracks of the wooden walls, the hut is big and sprawling, and inside, the air hints of smoke emanating from the freshly doused fire in the kitchen.

The absence of shelves and sofas gives way to an abundant supply of sacks upon sacks of food for the pigs. There are no walls separating the kitchen

from the living quarters, and as Kien explains, three to four generations of a Hmong family are usually housed under one roof, as they tend to marry young – 14 to 16 years old, younger than the legal age in the country.

The Black Hmongs came from China almost 300 years ago, and are self-sufficient. Some 36km away, another hilltribe exists in similar harmony with nature, in equally simple existence, subsisting on the fruits of their labour toiling the soil.

REALM OF THE RED DAO “The forest has leeches. If you rest, don’t rest too long,” comes the warning the next morning.

It may sound like we’re in some uncharted territory, but my fellow travellers and I are trekking in the hills of Nam Cang commune, home to the Red Dao tribe, to see their cardamom forests. The higher we go, the thicker the mist and the taller the trees; 40 minutes in, we find ourselves surrounded by towering bamboo trees that would not look out of place in a set of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Like the Black Hmongs, the Red Daos are of Chinese descent, and some 500 of them live in the commune. They survive on planting and selling cardamom, which covers almost 600 hectares of their land. After our trek to SILKAIR.COM | 33

ESCAPE / SAPA

GETTING THERE International travellers going to Sapa usually start their trips in Hanoi. Many tour operators based here offer three-day packages that include transportation, typically a return train transfer (9-10 hours per way) between Hanoi and Lao Cai, which is 40 minutes by car from Sapa town. Thanks to the recent opening of the last section of the Noi BaiLao Cai highway, travel time by car is now only five hours each way. Guests at Topas Ecolodge can opt to take the Topas Mountain Express, a 10-seat van with Wi-Fi and USB ports onboard, that has daily services between Hanoi and Sapa.

34 | SILKWINDS

SILKAIR.COM | 35

ESCAPE / SAPA

the forest – sans encounters with leeches, thank goodness – we visit a few houses in the community near Nam Cang Riverside Lodge, a humble two-floor hut operated by a Red Dao couple, where I stay.

The water rushes over the rocks in the river below while we watch the local life play out from the balcony of the hut. Every other hour or so, we see some Red Dao women descending the hills dragging bamboo poles tied with ropes. Their petite frames belie a strength that’s required in carrying those long poles from the forest to their doorstep.

It’s easy to spot the Red Daos from afar, their vibrant red costume, decorated with tassels and silver coins, pop up distinctly among Nam Cang’s leafy surrounds. Legend has it that their costume, woven from cotton, has its genesis from an unfortunate incident with the king. A strand of the cook’s hair fell into his soup and the furious monarch mandated that all women shave their eyebrows and fringes, and wear a hat to keep their hair from falling into the food they prepare. To this day, the Red Dao women still wear a red hat, which symbolises a good wife, and its red hue is considered a lucky one in their culture.

Later, we meet the silversmith who still makes rings and silver accessories the traditional way that his family has done for decades. He welcomes us into this home – bigger than 36 | SILKWINDS

a Black Hmong’s, and with a worship corner with some Taoist prayer books – and shows us his collection of silver French coins dating back to the late 1920s.

He places a small silver rod over fire, hammers and then flattens it – tang! tang! tang! echoes in the room – before fashioning it into a circular shape. Armed with our newly minted silver rings, we walk past hydro-powered traditional pumps dehusking rice in a nearby home, before crossing the bouncy suspended bridge back to our lodge.

In the evening, with muscles crying foul after two days of

hiking, we take a car to Topas Ecolodge where we are greeted by mutiple greetings of “Hello! Where are you from?” from the ladies selling their wares by the gate. The fog descends on the hills while we wait for another hearty dinner of Vietnamese delicacies.

At sundown, the other guests – who have hiked in different parts of Sapa – and I exchange tales of our treks. All agree that Sapa’s the real deal, a place where nature and culture mingle and coexist in perfect harmony.

SilkAir flies four times weekly between Singapore and Hanoi

GETTY IMAGES; NELISSA HERNANDEZ

From top: In keeping with their ancestor’s ways, the Red Dao women wear red hats that signify a good wife; a silversmith in Nam Cang shows the traditional way of making jewellery