Sunday - Bac Ha Market 5 days 4 nights - Sapa Market Vietnam

We will catch the overnight train soft sleeper with AC to Lao Cai. The train leaves at 22.00 from Hanoi railway station

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After meeting a guide at the Lao Cai railway station we have breakfast there and go to the Bac Ha market for two hours by a van.
This is the largest market in the region, a place where many ethnic groups gather to buy and sell, eat and drink together. There are 10 minority groups in the Bac Ha region. You can buy homemade handicrafts and clothes. In the afternoon we will have a 2 hour trek to Ban Pho village (Flower H’Mong people).In the village we can have a look in their house and understand little more about their lifestyle and traditional customs. Especially, we can try homemade wine from corn. And then we drive back to Sapa for 3 hours.

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At 10 am  we  leave the hotel and start trekking.  The first part is on the road but we soon turn to the right and walk on a small path down the valley to the Muong Hoa River and

from here to the Black H’mong village Lao Chai. Black H’mong is one of the biggest minority groups in the Sapa area. They are proud of their culture and keep their traditions and way of living. They have their own language and wear traditional indigio blue clothing.  After this you continue to Ta Van village (1.200 m) to visit Zay people. Zay is a fairly small minority group of about 38.000 people who live mainly in the mountains in Northwest Vietnam. The development has meant that some of their old customs have been lost but many women still wear traditional shirts with a purple, blue or green colour. The Zay houses are build of wood and bamboo with a clay floor. We stay overnight with a local family in Ta Van and have our dinner here. Trekking distance: 15 km.

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After the breakfast we continue to visit Red Dao people at Giang Ta Chai where we also see a waterfall. The Red Dao women have very colourful red embroidery and coins on their clothing. On their head they wear a red scarf. Som
We continue along small paths in the rice fields, cross the Muong Hoa River and arrive to the Tay village Ban Ho (900 m). Tay is the most populous of the hill tribes. Because of the development and adaptation to the Vietnamese society some of them have started wearing Vietnamese clothing. But most women still wear the traditional checkered headscarf. We stay overnight in e of the women have shaved off their eyebrows because of a nice Red Zao legend. a wooden Tay stilt house. If we reach Ban Ho in the early afternoon you will have time to swim in a nearby river. In the evening we have dinner with the Tay family. Trekking distance: 25 km.

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After breakfast you trek up to Ban Den (3 km). From here you will be picked up and transferred back to Sapa. In the afternoon you will have time to experience the colourful Sapa market where women from different ethnic minority groups come into town to sell their products. And then we go to Lao cai railway station for the night train to Hanoi. The guide sees you off at the Lao cai railway station and takes you on the train.

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