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Erika Na

Vietnam is a popular holiday destination for Hong Kong residents since it is not far away – Hanoi is only a two-hour flight from Hong Kong International Airport.
There is more to the Land of the Ascending Dragon than just its capital city, however, such as Sapa.
Difficulty of access is what has always made this remote town, rich in history, special; getting there requires a five-hour car journey from Hanoi.
Some 1,600 metres (one mile) above sea level in Lao Cai province in northern Vietnam, Sapa was always difficult to get to for most, other than the ethnic minority tribes that built rice terraces into its hillsides.

The biggest ethnic minority group in the area are the Hmong people, whose origins are in mountainous Guizhou province in southwest China. Also known as the Miao people, Hmong migrated to northern Vietnam in large numbers in the early 19th century to avoid conflict with China’s majority Han population.
Sapa was viewed as a safe place to settle.

In 1901, when French colonialists stumbled upon the peaceful place after scouting the land, Sapa began to change.
The French – mesmerised by the rice terraces, towering mountains and cooler climate compared to the heat of the Red River delta – began to develop Sapa as their summertime getaway. In 1905, trains began running between Hanoi and Lao Cai, and the holidaymakers poured in.
After the Vietnam war (1955-1975), Vietnamese living in the cities began visiting Sapa and eventually, word reached adventurous international backpackers of a misty town high in the mountains that was well worth a visit.

After the Hanoi-Lao Cai Expressway opened in 2014, downtown Sapa began to grow further – today, it is a vibrant place full of guest houses, hotels and businesses that cater to international tourists.
While a few of the ethnic-minority villages in the nearby valleys are known to be over-commercialised, others such as Lao Chai and Ta Phin remain more traditional.
Water buffalo are still seen as valuable assets, as they help the farmers plough the land. That is why they are only eaten when they are injured or get sick, explains trekking tour guide Chu, a 28-year-old woman from the Black Hmong – one of the Hmong tribes in Vietnam.

The area’s indigenous languages and customs have been kept alive. The Black Hmong people’s dialect is unintelligible to urban Vietnamese speakers, and their traditional clothing – dark in colour and adorned with beautiful embroidery – is distinct. People still get married early and have many kids, says Chu, who has two children herself.
Technological advances have empowered the people of Sapa – the advent of the internet and smartphones allowed them to operate homestays and work as trekking guides.
It is no longer just to backpackers that Sapa appeals; you can tell a place is on the radar of luxury travellers when it gets a Bill Bensley-designed hotel, and the town has one in the shape of the Hotel de la Coupole – MGallery.

Opened in 2019 and operated by Accor, Europe’s largest hospitality brand, the hotel’s European architecture attracts tourists, who stop to take pictures.
The hotel reflects MGallery’s ethos of celebrating local culture and stories in many ways. Its design incorporates elements of hill-tribe culture – think lampshades shaped like Hmong hats – and it supports the community by employing people from ethnic-minority groups, who are often the first in their family to have jobs and a regular salary.
Thanks to its location in the middle of town overlooking the rice terraces and Mount Fansipan, guests can soak in the surrounding scenery while enjoying their breakfast or afternoon tea.

The slightly more adventurous may want to head up Fansipan. In the old days, the only way to reach the 3,147-metre-high summit was by hiking for a couple of days. Since 2016, however, a cableway has been transporting people up the mountain in 20 minutes.
The vistas on the way up are stunning – you get a bird’s-eye view of the terraced rice fields, which were created out of necessity but look incredibly beautiful.
The higher the cableway goes, the fewer human settlements there are and the more nature takes over, from trees to mountain streams and waterfalls.

Once you get out of your cable car and begin your climb up a series of staircases to the summit, one of the most impressive sights is of a 21.5-metre-tall Buddha statue, made of tens of thousands of thin bronze sheets and the highest seated bronze Buddha in the world.
Even more impressive is that it was built before the cable car existed, meaning that all the materials to build it were carried up the mountain.
At the summit, an elevation plaque lets you know that you are at the highest point in the Indochina peninsula.
Impermanence is a cornerstone of the teachings of Buddha, and that is something that can be felt at the top of Fansipan. Mist and clouds frequently shroud your view – one minute the Buddha statue is there, the next it is gone.
The only people who stay on Fansipan for any length of time are the monks who tend to the Buddha statue and other Buddhist monuments, making the mountain feel lonely. In Sapa town, ancient customs ensure the townsfolk never feel that way by making sure they find love.

Instead of swiping left and right on dating app profiles, locals gather at a square in Sapa every Saturday evening for the weekly “love market”. Through musical performances and games, young men and women have opportunities to get to know each other better, the goal being to find life partners.
In little more than 100 years, the once inaccessible highlands, with their scattered settlements, have turned into a destination for tourists who come to immerse themselves in a more traditional way of life and to set foot on the roof of Indochina. Throughout, much has changed while a lot has remained the same.
The opening of the railway from Hanoi in 1905 and of the expressway in 2014 were watershed moments in the growth of tourism in Sapa. A planned airport nearby will be another.
It makes the visitor today wonder how the mist-shrouded town will look on their next visit.


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Fall in love with Sapa, Vietnam, with its rice terraces, hill tribes and Mount Fansipan

In 1901, French colonialists were mesmerised by the rice terraces of Sapa. Photo: Erika Na 

From stunning rice terraces to a vibrant “love market”, Sapa in Vietnam offers a captivating blend of natural beauty and cultural immersion. Photo: Erika Na

Historically, the people who settled in the valleys of Sapa were from hill tribes. They built rice terraces on the hillsides. Photo: Erika Na

A bird’s-eye view of Sapa rice terraces from the cable car up Mount Fansipan. Photo: Erika Na 

Villagers get around Sapa on motorbikes. Photo: Erika Na

Chu explaining the techniques behind traditional garment making. Photo: Erika Na

Water buffaloes take a mud bath. Farmers still use them to plough in Sapa. Photo: Erika Na 

Hotel de la Coupole – MGallery overlooks the Hoang Lien Son mountain range. Photo: courtesy of Hotel de la Coupole – MGallery

The cableway up Mount Fansipan, which began operating in 2016, greatly shortened the time needed to reach its summit. Photo: Erika Na 

The world’s highest seated Buddha statue on Mount Fansipan. Photo: courtesy of Hotel de la Coupole – MGallery

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Travel & Leisure

From rice terraces to a ‘love market’, Sapa in Vietnam offers visitors natural beauty and cultural immersion. Soon there’ll be more of them


From rice terraces to a ‘love market’, Sapa in Vietnam offers visitors natural beauty and cultural immersion. Soon there’ll be more of them.


Tourism

Vietnam