Sapa, in the north of Vietnam, is the home of hotpots and hospitality. Almost bordering China, Sapa and its near towns have been one of the most memorable, charming and relaxing weeks of this trip through South East Asia these past 3 months. Beautiful homestays with heated blankets and wooden log cabins looking out to buffalos and river streams. Sapa and its surrounding villages (specifically Ta Van) are the perfect places to slow down and breathe. After completing the insanely incredible Ha Giang loop, a 450km motorbike tour some hours north of the capital city, Hanoi, our dopamine levels remained sky-high. It felt like Sapa was sprinkled with bits of magic and the slow way of life came at the perfect time.
We arrived from Ha Giang to Sapa at around 2am after taking a 6-hour sleeper bus. Talking with other travellers about Sapa, they said it’s cold, not much mentioning its beauty, only that it’s cold and you can stay with a Vietnamese family. Fortunately for Meg and me, we had great weather at the beginning of February, and the mountains weren’t clouded by mist like we had been warned. We decided to stay in a private room for $6 each with 2 double beds and a nice warm shower. We meant to stay one night and ended up staying for 3. The staff were kind and let us leave out larger bags in the hotel, and we drove back to Sapa 30 minutes from Ta Van to get more supplies and clean clothes most days. I had only stayed in Sapa for a week but I felt as though I could stay forever.
But back to Sapa town, there was casual magic everywhere we looked and the locals were so warm and kind. Meg and I shared a veggie hotpot, where a family of locals taught us the correct way to use chopsticks (hold your fingers much higher to the top of the sticks apparently). Our favourite bar to go to was Why Bar, a cool rasta bar covered with artwork, graffiti and rap music, in fact, we got into such a routine in Sapa, it’s the only bar we visited which I wouldn’t usually do. We also went to the same cake shop over and over again, consuming masses called Bi Bi Cafe, we went for 7 days in a row and I have absolutely no regrets. The cakes are unreal. As you walk through the town, families have karaoke machines as they sing to their neighbours down the street, and little boys play the flute. Sapa has a real community sense and because there weren’t many tourists I just felt blessed to be there and witness this sense of pride between the indigenous communities. Often locals would be intrigued by us, not in an uncomfortable way but rather respectfully, but remember to always remain safe and trust your gut feeling. People will often ask to take photos, or not ask and do it anyway which is okay with me.
Out next day in Sapa was the busiest day and the most memorable day, a day I will talk about with my friends for years to come. Hire a motorbike. Almost everywhere in South East Asia holds motorbike rentals and it’s the best way to see as much as you can, it is convenient and so cheap. Meg and I rented an old scooter with an engine that kept cutting out, but I loved that scooter. We decided to drive west of Sapa and see where we end up. We accidentally went into Sun World, a big amusement park full of colour, flowers and activities for families, almost like a Vietnamese Disneyland. We walked around the flowers perfectly arranged in gardens, overlooking green mountains. After coming from Hanoi where the air felt so polluted and dirty, coming to the mountains for fresh air was needed. Throughout the drive, we stopped at various viewpoints, where small shacks would play bass music and sell cups of coffee as you admire whenever ending mountains. They are great places to get pictures, and the scenic view is something that is hard to forget. We then made out way to a waterfall where we would journal and practice tarot, on the way we met locals camping, enjoying Tet (their new year, which is celebrated for a month!). The locals offered us beer and buffalo to try which tasted really good until later I drove and saw these gentle buffalos walking in the roads and felt bad for eating them.
As the sunset, we drove back into Sapa, just remember if you come, most days there is so much mist after 5pm and of course mountainous roads with difficult terrain. As we drove back my first bad thing of Sapa happened, 3 dogs came whizzing around the corner chasing us on our little scooter. I told Meg to drive as fast as she could but I got nipped on the leg by a wolf-size dog, luckily it wasn’t too bad. We reached back into Sapa and ordered a pizza, the waiter gave me happy water, salt and lime, and a concoction of antiseptic to clean the wound. The pizza was probably the worst microwaved pizza I had ever tasted and don’t get me started on the lasagne; nonetheless, I was grateful to the waiter for helping clean up my leg.
I met a friend Bev in Belize over Christmas in 2021, we met up again here in Vietnam (Da Nang) because she and a friend decided to just hire an apartment for a month somewhere in the world. When I visited their cosy apartment I realized I’m a bit done with hostels and don’t feel the urge to socialise all the time, so I think slow travel could be for me. I decided I want to incorporate more slow travel when I’m backpacking, Sapa became a great place for this. Megan and I got into such a perfect mix of productive and adventurous days, it was the best routine. It’s the most I’ve felt like a traveller that I want to be in all my time travelling. With our scooter, we drove through crazy scenery where clouds are below us, picked up fruit and coffee every morning, read books and did nothing but everything.
Ta Van
Tet, the national holiday celebrating the Lunar New Year, moves throughout provinces and little did we know the place we planned on visiting was an entire festival. We hadn’t booked a homestay but planned to have a short wander around the town to a nice-looking homestay with a log fire and good views. Only as we look down the mountain, carrying our bags on our old moped, hundreds of people gathered. As we got closer we were surrounded by indigenous people, trying to not wobble off our bike as we pathed through crowds of people, it was slightly stressful but a surreal experience. The first homestay we saw was a small ghost village beside the river, the second had no room but the more we walked up the mountain we found Desi Homestay. Megan and I turned out to be only staying in this giant cabin house with a living room and large balcony, below lived the family and it was beautiful. It was also slightly sad to see we were the only ones staying in a place built for at least 20 people, but we were perfectly happy in our own little home. But if going to these towns by motorbike, packing a small bag and just showing up, you often find better and more interesting places than on Booking or Hostel World. Desi House turned into our own home while we were there, we made it just the way we liked it and had the best time chilling in our wooden chalet.
North Vietnam may have also possibly changed me from an island gal to a mountain gal. We walked around the few streets of Ta Van and chatted with mama’s, indigenous women who worked in the town. These mama’s are friendly but persistent. There’s only so many things you can buy from them and sometimes you get cornered by the mamas, but we found love in Mama Soi, who we paid to go and eat dinner with. Mama Soi and her family lived a few doors down from our homestay and she stayed in a basic house, it was so interesting to ask her questions while we made spring rolls and sat on the floor of her house with her family. It is an experience rare to find where you get this close to the locals, but we enjoyed singing and playing the ukelele with her and will miss Mama Soi. From Sapa, you can find mamas who take you to Cat Cat, another village but it seemed to be more of a tourist trap and we preferred to find our Mama in a more organic way.
Ta Van is small, there are only a handful of cafes, small bars and restaurants. That’s what makes it so nice, we went to Lucky Daisy Bamboo Bar for our fruit and pancakes breakfast, then the incredible art gallery made of wood for a coffee and then explore other cafes throughout the day. We stayed a few more days, driving through villages, journalling, breathing and consuming fruit and coffee all day, and then it was time to go back to Sapa, making my way to the east of Vietnam. Sapa was also the last time I travelled with Meg, a mate I met on the bus into Cambodia and more-or-less stayed with ever since. Travel friends are the best, finding a friend that you randomly meet in a shop or bus station are always the best ones. We ended up sharing everything from accommodation, food, and bikes and enjoyed all the same things. It can be hard to travel with people because it means compromising and focusing on someone else, I find that hard anyway, but some people you meet it feels so easy, these people I meet on trips are who alter my entire experiences.
Overall, as I write this on the final day of my 3-month South-East Asia trip, I have made many memories with people I love. Now it is time to head home, work on boats again and work hard for a while. This means no walking around like a grubby backpacker anymore. Although the following countries I’d like to visit when I have the chance are Israel, Argentina and Nepal…
Bevs Backpacking📍 
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