"Well, Sapa brings in peace in a fine,
rugged scenery and cultural diversity… a very sweet time for us!” remarked a
young couple after their honeymoon in Sa Pa.
Location
Sa Pa District is located in Lao CaiProvince, north-west Vietnam, and 350 km north-west of Hanoi, close to the
border with China. Sapa is famous both for its fine, rugged scenery and for its
rich cultural diversity. French used to consider Sapa as Summer Capital of
Northern Vietnam in the early decades of the 20th century.
Its naturally
gifted beauty keeps attracting more and more people to spend their vacation
there since then. Particularly, the place is the foremost choice for honeymoon
couples!
Geography & Weather
Geographically, Sapa is exactly a
mountainous area of Northwest Vietnam. The whole Sapa District is dominated by
the Hoang Lien Son mountain range which is at the Eastern extremity of the
Himalayas, being famous with the Vietnam’s highest mountain of Fa Si Pan at
a height of 3,142 m above sea level. The town of Sa Pa lies at an altitude of
about 1,600 m, bringing in a cool and foggy site of Sa Pa.
Let’s join a fancy trip to this romantic
town!
Sapa town are taking a night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai,
and then 45 minutes more from Lao Cai City by bus, Sapa town appears in fanciful
fog. Thanks to the height of 1,600 m above the sea level, the average
temperature of the area is always 15-18°C, cool in summer, but a bit cold in
winter.
Sapa town takes its pride in its unique climate
in Vietnam. It is highly seasonal, with a subtropical climate in the summer and
a temperate climate during the winter. Mean annual temperature for Sa Pa town
is 15.4°C, with a maximum of 29.4°C and a minimum of 1°C.
The warmest months
are July and August, and the coldest months are December and January. Snow
falls in some years on the highest peaks. In the morning and afternoon, it is
as cool as in spring and autumn. Yet, at noon, it is as sunny and cloudless as
in summer.
In the evening, it drastically changes into coldness just as in
winter. This is actually a unique advantage, making Sapa different from
anywhere else in the nation. However, travelers should be noticed that there
might be sudden thunderstorm and heavy rains at noon in summer. Yet,
subsequently, a rainbow appears turning Sapa into a beautifully magic land with
seven colors! So, remember to bring your best camera so as not to miss this
magnificent view!
April and May are the best time for tourists
to watch the most scenic beauties of Sapa, or else it might be cold and foggy
before that and rainy after that. During these two peak months, the town is
blossoming with pink and white flowers, and green pastures in valleys. The
clouds that settle in the valley in early morning would quickly disappear.
Beauty Spots and Resorts
The scenery of the Sapa region in large part
reflects the relationship between the ethnic minority people and nature. This
is seen especially in the paddy fields carpeting the rolling lower slopes of
the Hoang Lien Mountains. The impressive physical landscape, which underlies this,
has resulted from the work of the elements over thousands of years, wearing
away the underlying rock.
Most tourists agree that it would be
regretful if the leisure and relaxation time in cool and fresh weather is not
accompanied by visiting trips to Sapa’s prideful natural beauty spots, such as
Ham Rong Mountain, Silver Waterfall, Rattan Bridge, Bamboo Forest and Ta Phin
Cave. The town is also the starting point for many mountain climbers and
scientists who would like to discover the Fansipan Mount, the highest mountain
in Vietnam with 3,143 m height. Can you imagine that Hoang Lien Mountain Range
is called “the Alps of the North Sea area” since Fansipan Mount also marks its
greatest height among others in the Indochina Peninsula as well. The pyramid-shaped
mountain is covered with clouds all the year round. On top of the mountain is
filled with frequent below zero temperature, especially at high altitudes.
On approaching the town, the very first
thing tourists may find is the detached wooden mansions and villas perched on
top or side of the hills, behind thick pine forests, hided by fog in the
morning. Old and new villas with red roofs now appear and then disappear in the
green rows of pomu trees, bringing in the beauty of European towns.
Flowers
Sapa is home to various families of flowers
of captivating colours, unique in the vast country. When Tet, the Lunar New
Year Festival, comes, the whole township of Sapa is filled with the pink colour
of peach blossom brought from the vast forests of peach just outside the town.
Sapa is regarded as the kingdom of orchids.
Here, orchid lovers are even amazed
by the choice, when trekking in the forest filled with several hundred kinds of
orchids of brilliant colours and fantastic shapes, such as Orchid Princess, Orchid
of My Fair Lady's Shoe. Some orchids are named after lovely singing birds such
as the canary, salangane's nest, and more.
Specialties
Foreign tourists are actually fond of scarce
and precious specialties of Sapa, such as forest’s product, handicrafts,
delicacies (smoked meat, “thang co”, “cai meo”, san lung wine, corn wine,
etc.), typical of ethnic minority people.
Most travellers do like to bring some of the
local fresh vegetables back home for presents. Thanks to the fresh and cool
air, Sapa is the ideal land for fresh temperate vegetables such as cabbage,
chayote, precious medical herbs, fruit trees (plum, pear), and so on.
Cultural diversity
Sapa is famous for its special cultural
diversity in a combination of ethnic minority groups’ culture. Visitors to Sapa
will have opportunities to discover the unique customs of the local residents.
Local markets are the town’s typically cultural element, which are always
crowded and joyful, attracting hundreds of visitors. This is the common place
for minority groups to gather and exchange goods.
Market sessions are also a
chance for local people to promenade. No foreign visitor could help joining such
a market session, a typical cultural element of Sapa. What is more, tourists
coming to Sapa at weekends have the great chance to learn about local ethnic
people's courtship and martial life, through the Sapa love market and wife
kidnapping ceremony of the H’Mong group.
The ceremony will begin on April 29th.
This is part of a five-day festival, titled Festival on the Cloud, to mark the
beginning of the Sapa 2006 tourism year, in the northern mountain township of
Sapa, in Lao Cai Province.
If ever asked to drop a quick comment, even
the toughest person must admit the romance and peace of a magnificently cool
and beautiful Sapa! I hope you should spend a short summer here, and you will
soon share the idea!
And Sapa Town Tourist Video (Amateur Video From Visitor)
.jpg "Sapa Town 1")
.jpg "Sapa Town 9")
.jpg "Sapa town 21")
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.jpg "Sapa town 23")
.jpg "Sapa town 24")
.jpg "Sapa Town 43")
.jpg "Sapa town 44")
.jpg "Sapa Town 45")
.jpg "Sapa town 46")
.jpg "Sapa town 47")
.jpg "Sapa town 48")
.jpg "Sapa town 49")
.jpg "Discover Vietnam: Sapa Town information")
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