We joined the Pha Long Market package organized by the hotel (for their guest only) today. We were told that Bac Ha Market is already much commercialized, sometimes tourists there are more than the locals. The Pha Long Market they recommended is far at the border between Vietnam and China, and takes about three hours drive to reach there. The Market is actually not open to tourist yet; therefore the fare to there is higher than to the other markets as it is inclusive of some “coffee money”.
Terraced field near Pha Long Market
The other selling point is that the sceneries on the way there are very nice. True enough, we saw a lot of very big and nice terraced fields along the journey (it’s a pity that we couldn't stop the car to take photos). In Pha Long Market, beside four of us, we saw only three other tourists who were from France (we were told that they were the guest of the same hotel too). During the two hours in the market, we did not encounter any store owner pestering us to buy things from them.
Pha Long Market
We realized these two days that most of the men in Sapa and in this market were not in their traditional costumes. For ladies, it’s common to see those at middle and old age in traditional costumes, whereas for those younger, most of them were half in traditional costumes, half in modern clothing.
As the market is near the border between Vietnam and China, some of the store owners can speak simple Mandarin. The lady in the photo below was able to tell us she sells mushroom sticks in Mandarin. Although there were not much tourists, the locals were neither curious about the tourists nor repel their camera lens. Some of them were quite glad when they watched their photos we just took from the camera screen.
There were quite a number of ladies carried their child on their back in the market, most of them were very young, about fifteen or sixteen years old, and most of the children on their back were about one or two years old. HM noticed that those children were quite independent, just enjoy the food in their hands quietly most of the time, none of them throw a tantrum like a spoiled child.
After spending two hour at the market, the driver drives us to a small town for our lunch.
Eating house at a small town
We stopped over in Lao Cai for taking photographs at the border between Lao Cai and China He Kou. We viewed a few birds near the bridge, and passed the binoculars to our guide to try, but he keep saying that the binoculars dizzied him.
Border between Lao Cai and China He Kou
We got back to Sapa at around 4pm, after taking a stroll at the central of the town and round the Sapa Lake; we couldn’t stand the cold anymore. All of us hid in the room after dinner and gave up our original plan – to visit their weekend “Love Market” at around 9pm.
Sapa Town Central
Roadside store at Sapa Town
Roadside Store at Sapa Town
Sapa Lake
Dinner at Mimosa Restaurant, the food is inexpensive and nice too as recommended in the internet. Having hot pot in such a cold whether was really an enjoyment.
Hot Pot
Amazing photos!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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