Day 1 in Sapa:
        Today was unbelievable. You know those fantasy lands you dream up as a child? That’s what Sapa is. The little mountain town sits in the North of Vietnam. Mist fills the sky and lush green rice fields spread for miles in all directions. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a unicorn and rainbow appeared in the distance.

Clouds covered the city sapa

         Our night train from hotel in Hanoi Vietnam arrived in the town of Lao Cai where I took a bus about an hour up into the mountains to Sapa. I had prearranged to spend two days and two nights on a tour led by a woman named Hong who I was referred to by a girl I met in Bangkok. Hong picked me up when I arrived in Sapa and took me to a little hotel where I would spend my first night. After finally showered and taking my clothes to be laundered, Hong and I hit the road on her motorbike! Our first stop was down the mountain to a little village called Ta Phin where the local Red Dzao people live. The women wear traditional clothing and are distinguished by their red scarf headpieces. Hong had arranged for me to visit a family and their home. The woman, her husband, and her three children shared their home with five other women. The Dzao are known for their extremely intricate embroidered handiwork. They showed me their little craft area and I bought one of their traditional headscarves from them after they fully dressed me in one of their own outfits.

Love Waterfall

         After leaving Ta Phin we rode for almost an hour up the mountain to see a few of the amazing waterfalls Sapa has. Along the way, Hong informed me that she was the first woman in Sapa to start her own tours and has been helping her other female friends by teaching them English and how to give guided tours. You go girl! She also informed me of the difficulties of life here in Vietnam. Women do most of the work in Sapa and a lot of husbands are known to be drunks and abusive. She said her husband is an exception and that he does work but it’s difficult for him to give tours because he doesn’t know English. She has a two and and a five year old that live with their grandmother because she has to work so much. Her oldest daughter has just started school and it costs 4,000,000 dong (almost $200) each year to send her to school. College is a whole different animal but something incredibly valued in their society. It was an honor to have such an amazing woman as my guide!

Market places of indigenous peoples Sapa

          We made it up to a huge waterfall surging over the cliff of one side of a mountai. We trekked up until we reached a bridge that splits it at the middle. It was so beautiful! After hanging out in the splash zone for a while, we got back on the road. We drove another 20 minutes up the mountain to Heaven Gate where you could see a trench in the mountains that seemed to go on forever until it vanished in the distant haze. Another few minutes down the mountain and we reached another waterfall, Love Waterfall. We trekked about 2 km to reach it. The waterfall came down over the edge of a mossy stone edge of the mountain and into an ice cold pool. I took my shoes off and let the cold water run over my feet while I gazed up at nature’s incredible creation.

         Hong dropped me back off at my hotel once we got to Sapa and I spent the evening walking around Sapa’s cute little streets. Sapa town has a lot of French influence and the buildings are all brightly painted with European style balconies and clay tiled rooftops. There is a beautiful lake in the center if town where there are flower beds, cute little lampposts and park benches, and even swan boats available for rent. It almost felt like I was in a romantic little European mountain town. Tomorrow Hong is picking me up at 9:30 am to get our day started early. We are staying with a local family tomorrow night after visiting a few other villages throughout the day.

Day 2 in Sapa:
I can’t believe today marks the first day of the last month of my travels. I had noodles and coffee for breakfast yet again! Hong picked up food at the market this morning for our home stay and two days of trekking and adventure. We drove by motorbike to Ta Van village and trekked through the Lao Chai and Y Linh Ho villages. The Hmong people dress in all black and use indigo to dye the fabric they make by hand. In many homes there were big vats of the indigo concoction and big wooden looms. They also are pretty ingenuitive in building these machines to peel the grain of rice from it’s little shell. It’s a sort if teeter totter thing and when one side fills with water running from the stream and then gets heavy and empties, the other side comes smashing down into a tub of rice.

Ta Phin village entrance has two rows of trees stretching sides

           We visited the school in each little village and made lunch with a family in Tan Van. They were making rice wine in a giant barrel when we arrived. If I had time two stay two months I would’ve been able to taste it! I helped make lunch with the family and after eating we drove all the way to Ban Ho village at the base of the mountain. Hong arranged a home stay with a family that lived in a beautiful old wooden home. We walked around town and grabbed banana Popsicles. Normally the weather is very mild and cool in Sapa, but today was exceptionally hot. When we arrived back at our family home, we started the long process of preparing dinner. Hong arranged for us to have vegetable spring rolls with homemade sweet chili sauce, steamed rice, veggie soup, steamed pumpkin, and fried river fish. After a full day of adventure we called it an early night in anticipation for our last day of the tour in the morning.

Day 3 in Sapa:
         This morning we started our day off with, you guessed it, noodles! On our way back to Sapa we stopped for one final trek in Giang Ta Chai Village. We walked about 2 miles over a river to the other side of the mountain which I hadn’t been to yet. I feel like I’ve run out of adjectives to describe how insanely beautiful Sapa is, so I’ll just say it was insanely beautiful! We got back to Sapa Town around 11 am where I bid farewell to Hong. If you ever, and I highly advise you do, come to Sapa you absolutely 100% need to have Hong show you around. She is a true gem.

Read more…

Introduction Hoi An
        Hoi An is an ancient city of Vietnam, located in the lower section of Thu Bon River in Quang Nam, the best hotel in Vietnam about 11km to the sea - Nam Hai resort hotels. This is used to be a bustling seaport of trading ships belonging of Japan, China and the West during the 17th century, 18 and is known under the name "Silk Road on the Sea". 

Paintings depicting the busy port of Hoi An 16th century

        Hoi An is a land left many impressed by the mix and the acculturation of many Eastern countries as well as Western. The assembly halls, temples traces of the Chinese are right beside the house of the Vietnam traditional or home-style French architecture. Today, Hoi An is still preserved many buildings and many of the non-material culture is extremely diverse, from the customs and habits, the religious life to the folk art, cultural festivals are still preserved and developed.

Ancient town of Hoi An

        Unlike the Hanoi Old Quarter, Hoi An ancient town with narrow streets and short, horizontal and vertical chessboard style lies in Ming An Ward. Tran Phu Street is the main road, where the greatest concentration of important architecture, stand out as "the Inns" by the Chinese to build a tribute to their hometown. In addition, Nguyen Thai Hoc Street to the west is formed by a row of houses with French architectural facades, the eastern part is bustling mall with the two-story house.

Afternoon in the city of Hoi An

          A common architecture that you will encounter in Hoi An, which is the two-story house with characteristic narrow width, depth very long like a tube frame house. These homes often have wood framed structure with brick walls separated. Roofs are usually built high up like a box, the form and decoration of walls in always gives a strong impression, which is a factor in creating unique value of Hoi An ancient town.

Visit the Covered Bridge.

           Covered Bridge, also known as the Japanese or Lai Vien Kieu, is a symbol of Hoi An. Covered Bridge was built in the 1600s by Japanese traders and north across the Thu Bon River - the boundary between Nguyen Thi Minh Khai and Tran Phu Street. Especially, on the sides Covered Bridge have the animals, that the Japanese worship from ancient times, while the middle is a pagoda - where Tran Vo statue Northern Empire, the god of protection and bring happiness to human.

Covered Bridge - Hoi An

Evening at the Covered Bridge - Hoi An

Assembly halls

          One of the characteristics of the Chinese, it is anywhere in the world, where they live, they are building the Inns. In Hoi An still exists today 5 major assembly halls: Fujian  assembly halls, Chaozhou assembly halls, Chinese assembly halls, Quynh Phu assembly halls and Guangdong assembly halls. Assembly Hall is a overall includes the front ports, followed by a large yard with many ornamental plants, and two churches, one on the right and one on the left.

 Fujian  assembly halls

Hoi An Sea bathing

         Cua Dai beach is located 5km east of Hoi An, this is the ideal beach with white sand beaches, blue water, small waves and the sun is always shining.

           You should go to a beach about 15 km from Cua Dai and has been recognized by UNESCO as the World Biosphere Reserve - Cu Lao Cham. Cu Lao Cham has 8 island  takes many forms and different characteristics.: Hon Lao, Hon Dai, Hon mom Dry, Dry Hon child, rather than, Hon Tai, Hon Ong. In this cool year round and rich flora and fauna, particularly seafood and bird nests resources.

Hoi An Cuisine

          Hoi An was ranked No. 6 in the 25 culinary destinations in the world should come to the famous dishes like Cao Lau, chicken rice, pancakes, baked rolls, ...

Chicken rice

In addition, Hoi An has the best luxury hotels in Vietnam such as Indochine Hotel, Hotel Lantern, Green Field Hotel, ...

Read more…

          Is a beautiful coastal city in Vietnam, Nha Trang is known as the "Pearl of the Far East" and has always attracted tourists in the country and the most international Vietnam. With a cool climate, many beautiful beaches and luxury hotels, Nha Trang beach is always the first choice of travelers to Vietnam, especially in the summer.

         Seaside coconut groves and casuarinas more flattering ecstatic "Pearl of the East". Nha Trang Bay full convergence factors mountains, rivers, seas, lagoons, islands, fields, villages ... to create a rich and valuable characteristics. This is a rare form of natural bay system in the world, with biodiversity, and most typical ecosystems of tropical seas.

         Not only known for its beautiful scenery captivating, tourism Nha Trang is also known by the abundance of culinary. Nha Trang delicious cuisine from popular dishes such as fish noodles, cake soup, pancakes to the European-style dishes, Asia at restaurants, luxury hotels. Nha Trang cake soup, made ​​from freshwater fish and bread soup powder will create an unforgettable taste that visitors can hardly ignore ...

        When visiting Nha Trang, tourists can not miss a unique landscape and a historical sites of Nha Trang - Po Nagar towers. This is a Champa temples from the 8th century, a special temples of the ancient kingdom of Champa, where the worship of Po Nagar, symbolizes beauty, art and creativity. Visitors to the tower Ponagar also can enjoy the ancient Champa dance by the Champa people perform.

          Since the 30s of the 20th century, Nha Trang has a museum of Oceanography. To visit the museum, visitors have the opportunity not only admire the beauty of hundreds of creatures, but also have the opportunity to learn more than 10 thousand kinds of sea creatures are being stored, including those species are endangered. In addition, snorkelling andisland tourism Nha Trang is the form most tourists enjoy. Here, they can swim with the fish and see firsthand the colorful coral reefs in the ocean.

          Come to Nha Trang, the tourist should visit Ba waterfall, which is tourism center of hot mineral springs to enjoy a new method of mudbath and soaking in the natural mineral water.

          Nha Trang was the club of the most beautiful bays in the world recognized as one of 29 most beautiful bays in the world. Nha Trang is the venue for many important events of Vietnam and international, such as the contest Miss Universe 2008 and Miss Earth 2010. Moreover, the Nha Trang hotel is rated as the best hotel in Vietnam such as Vinpearl Hotel, Sheraton Hotels, Hotel Sunrise, ...

Vinpearl Hotel Resort Nha Trang

Read more…