Danh mục: Tourist Sites

Though Sapa has long been familiar with tourists, Ta Phin Village is still a new name to almost everybody. Located about 17km in the west of Sapa, Ta Phin is a village of Red Dao’s people possessing a rich culture that has not been damaged by the modern life.

 

Though Sapa has long been familiar with tourists, Ta Phin Village is still a new name to almost everybody. Located about 17km in the west of Sapa, Ta Phin is a village of Red Dao’s people possessing a rich culture that has not been damaged by the modern life.

Overview

Ta Phin is the nearest village of Red Dao’s ethnic group within the area of Sapa district. From Sapa, it will take about 30 minutes to reach here by motorbike. The mountainous road can make it difficult for cars to move, so the best solution is to hire a “xe om”, or motorbike taxi, and the experienced driver will take you to right place at a very reasonable price with many useful advices and tips.

What to see?

Coming to Ta Phin, you will immediately catch sight of groups of Red Dao’s women gathering together, keeping inside their hands colorful reels of thread and cloths. They sew continuously, even when offering the goods to the customers. Amazingly, most of them can speak quite well, some use Vietnamese less than English. Since 1998, Ta Phin has officially become the “brocade village”, where tourists can find the distinctively hand-made brocades made by ethnic people. All of the products are eye-catching with numerous bright colors and patterns, ranging from bag, scarf, purse, to skirt, and even backpack and coat. Ta Phin is also the main supply of brocades for shops in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and the products are exported to foreign countries as well.

Through times, Ta Phin Village, however, still can remain its special traditions. If you are lucky enough, you can have a chance to participate in a Red Dao’s wedding, seeing how carefully they prepare and many complicated customs for this occasion. There are also several local festivals such as “dancing festival”, “greeting for the new house”, “oath-taking ceremony” that will help you understand more about the simple but happy and amiable life of ethnic people.

 

• Location: northwest part of Vietnam
• Status: a part of Lao Cai province
• Population: 8,975 (2009 census)
• Area: 24.02 square kilometers
• Most well-known for its love markets

Sapa located in the north – west of Vietnam, about 350 km from Hanoi. It belongs to Lao Cai province, which a modest land but hides many wonders of the natural scene. The natural beauty of Sapa is combined with human creativity, the topography of the mountains, green forests, which creates romantic spot.

Sapa lies at altitude of 1500-1650m, it has invaluable resources with cool and fresh air, the climate is moderate and rainy in summer (May-August) and foggy with occasional snowfalls in winter. Sapa has temperate climate; weather in town has four seasons: the morning likes spring; the afternoon likes summer with sunny; the evening has fog as the autumn and the cold of winter. It is highly seasonal, with a subtropical climate in the summer and a temperate climate during the winter. Mean annual temperature for Sapa town is 15.4°C, with a maximum of 29.4°C and a minimum of 1°C.

Sapa has a great diversity of ethnic minorities; the total population is 36,000 people that consist mostly of minority groups. Each ethnic group has a difference in dress, lifestyle, customs, and methods of cultivation together with the distinct cultural identity. With 6 ethnic groups reside, each ethnic has its own culture with a festival such as “Roong Poc” of Giay, “Sai San” of H’Mong, “Tet jump” of Dao Do, which holds annually in May.

Sapa has Fan Si Pan at a height of 3142m above sea level that is the highest mountain in Vietnam. Tourists can visit Ham Rong mountain, any visitors can also see the whole town from here along with Muong Hoa valley, Sa Pa, Cat Cat, Lao Chai, Ta Van, Ta Phin that hidden in the mist. Sapa tour also has old church in town and goes from to the northeast on the road to Ta Phin. From Sapa town to the west about 12 kilometers on the road to Lai Chau, we will see Silver Waterfall with water rushing down from a height of 200m. In addition, SaPa is the “kingdom” of fruit such as purple plum, peach, peach blossom with small and big yellow size. Sapa’s fair starts on Sunday at the district capital. People must go to fair on Saturday. On Saturday evening, everyone can enjoy the folk songs of the Mong, Dao.

 

Though there are few stalls during the week, the main Sapa market is organized every Sunday at the main square.

In the early morning, streets in Sapa downtown are filled with hundreds of Hmong and Red Dao people in colorful ethnic attire heading to Sapa market. The traditional Sunday market, which is bustling until late afternoon, is not only for trading, but also for socializing and unwinding after hard working days.

Location

Sapa market is located right at the heart of Sapa town, just a short walk to Sapa stone church that is built by the French in the early 20th century.

What to buy

The market consists of both indoors and outdoors space. While stalls along the stone stairs outside sell flowers, fresh produce, groceries and food; little workshops on the second floor offer ethnic fabrics.

Once getting inside the market gate, tourists will see stalls full of mountain fruits like peach, apricot, pear and plum. Buying some fruits for the dinner dessert or enjoy during the trip is a good idea. Dropping by the right hand side stalls, tourists will find trinkets (ethnic silver jewelry), medical herbs and local products that are good for health like forest honey, notosingeng and ganoderma.

For the ones who are enchanted by colorful costume of H’Mong, Dao people in Sapa, and looking for authentic ethnic fabric, the second floor of Sapa market is a must-visit. Here, one can find a number of embroidered skirts, handbags, blankets, pillow shams and table covers with unique patterns, made by the indigenous. Ethnic women who sell brocades here can converse quite well in English.

What to eat

Visiting Sapa market in the morning, travelers will see a lot of local people gather at food stalls to enjoy favorite breakfast of “mèn mén” (steamed corn wheat), “thắng cố” (horse soup) and corn wine. These are traditional food and beverage of local people in Sapa, and must-try for any tourists who come here.

When to visit

As a weekly market, Sapa market only opens on Sunday. Hence, tourists should wake up early on Sunday morning to visit the market and enjoy hearty breakfast with the locals.

How to get there

It only takes tourists staying in Sapa town few walking minutes to get Sapa market, which is located right in the heart of the town, nearby Sapa church.

 

The ancient church is known as stone church or the Holy Rosary church which is located in the heart of Sapa town built by the French from the early 20th century. Before starting to build this structure, the French architect selected carefully about the terrain. The shape and architecture of the church was built by cross. This architecture presented in the roof, bell tower… which created the elegant church.

The whole church was built by stone (walls, floors, bell towers …) that are linked by a mixture of sand, lime and molasses. With total area over 6000m2, Sapa church has enough rooms for the arrangement of the area.

The church of Sapa is always a place where holds many traditional cultural activities of ethnic minorities. In the front of the church is tennis area which has unique cultural activities of local people on Saturday. With flute, trumpet leaves, “xòe” dance… created sparkling, magical atmosphere in Sapa.

Additionally, because the structure was designed early, the church of Sapa experienced many events of history. Since its establishment, the church always has priests in order to offer parishioners. However, many years later, due to the presence of Japanese troops, the activities of the Church have stalled. In later years, the war makes almost activities to suspend. After that, the church became the repository of rice.

Tổng hợp từ: tourismvietnam.com

At 3143 meters above sea level, Fansipan is the proclaimed the roof of the Indochina peninsula.

At the height of 3,143m, Fansipan has been widely known as the highest mountain in Vietnam and “the Roof of Indochina”. Conquest of Fansipan is dream of many professional climbers as well as adventurous travelers when they come to Vietnam. (Read more about Climbing the Fansipan).

Location

The Mount Fasipan is located in Lao Cai province, about 9km southwest of Sapa town. It belongs to the mountain range Hoang Lien Son, located in the northwest of Vietnam and lying in the border of two provinces: Lao Cai and Lai Chau.

What to see

Trees & Plants

The flora in Fansipan is so diverse with 1,680 species of plants, some in which are rare and able to be found only here. Hence, the mountain is an appealing natural attraction for any tourists, especially the ones who are interested in botany.

Types of plants vary depending on altitude: the foot of the mountain is home to jackfruit tree, cotton tree (bombax ceiba), pterocarya; while the area lower than700m are covered by vast rainforest with tangled vines; from 700m to more than 2000m is the land of gymnosperms (seed-bearing plants) like fokienia, pine tree; and from 2,800m to the peak is home to short phyllostachy (25-30cm high), and some species of the genus rose, chrysanthemums and so on. Besides, climbers can see beautiful orchids, drodohendrons and wild flowers along the way to the peak, especially in spring.

Water fall

There are a number of waterfalls lying around the foot of the Mount Fansipan like Cat Cat, Thac Bac (Silver Waterfall), Thac Lanh (Cold Waterfall), Thac Ham Rong (Dragon Jaw Waterfall) or on the way to conquer the peak like Thac Tinh Yeu (Love Waterfall). These waterfalls are ideal resting places for climbers after a long journey as well as nice places for photo taking.

When to visit

September to the next March is good time for mountain climbing here. However, it would be great if one can make the conquest at the end of February, when flowers on the mountain blossom.

How to get there

From Hanoi, tourists should catch an overnight train Hanoi – Sapa (333km) which arrives in Lao Cai province in the early next morning. After that, tourists go to Sapa from Lao Cai (38km) by car or public bus. At Sapa town, as planned, tourists go to Tram Ton, Cat Cat or Sin Chai to begin the conquest of Fansipan.

Come to Sapa, tourists can climb Ham Rong Mountain, Cat Cat or Lao Chai- Ta Van of The H’Mong, Ta Phin village where The Dao live and go to Silver Waterfall, Rattan Bridge or ancient reef, the roof of Indochina-Fan Si Pan mountain. Sapa has one place that you should come and stay with home stay style. No foreign tourists before leaving Ban Ho village without leaving the emotional entries beacause the natural scenery is very fascinating and people is very friendly and hospitable.

Ban Ho is far from Sapa town about 20 kilometers. It is divided into three areas: Ta Trung Ho, Xeo Trung Ho and Hoang Lien, which is place of the Mong, Dao, Tay. Have no specific price but guides usually pay 20.000vnd/people/day for accommodation. The owner doesn’t appreciate it as important; they bring foods and wine for tourists. Come to Ban Ho, you will be alive and living in the cozy ambiance and friendly family. Because the climate in Ban Ho is warmer than Sapa (between 18-250C), in the afternoon, tourists can enjoy yourself in the stream Lave, sight Da Nhay waterfall.

After lunch, the hospitable owner will take guests to the Red Dao village on the mountain so as to bath with herbs. The herbs will be poured into wood tank. Tourists will dip into the tank and after 15 minutes the water has been drawn to refill new water. After that, tourists can feel well being, euphoria extremely.

When the sun sets, you can walk around Ban Ho to see people weave brocade and can buy a plate with only 20.000 vnd that is wide enough to wrap around a skirt. At the weekend, tourists can sing with local people. Each region will bring the different games, dances and unique dishes to invites its visitors.  Ticket prices: 40.000vnd/adult

Talking about Sapa, travelers often remember its peaceful fresh atmosphere, terrace fields stretching from mountain to mountain or colorful valleys while many others memorize romantic waterfalls, and Love Waterfall is the outstanding one.

Located in San Sa Ho Commune with 4km to the Northwest of Sapa Town, Love Waterfall deserves to be a must-see in this allured town. The name of this waterfall, Love, originates from a legendary love story that has been told to generations in this land. The story tells that long time ago, this waterfall was the bathing place of fairies from heaven. One day, a fairy was mesmerized by flute sound of a young boy near the fall, so she spent every night listening to his melodies. Not long time after, her parentscame to know the secret, and forbade her from coming back to the fall. The passionate fairy transformed herself to a bird so that she could live with her love forever. From then on, the name Love is born.

 

Travelling on a soil road offragrantflower on the two sides of it to the fall, tourists might be more and more curious about how beautiful the waterfall is. From far sight, Love Waterfall looks like a sparkling stream of light.

It has a height of about 100m, and starts from the peak of Fansipan Mountain and rush noisily into the Gold Stream like a never-ending song. Under the waterfall, the Gold Stream runs along with green grass plots and bamboo clusters, forming a poetic image.The stream flows to the forest endlessly, to some places that only passionate people dare to venture into.