Sa Pa Local Customs

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The local ethnic minority women carry baskets behind their backs all over the place, especially to the Sapa market where they will buy various stuff to bring back to their villages. This is an important means of carrying stuff in Sapa.

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During trekking, you will see some schools among the various villages. The children of ethnic minority people are given a chance for education but a big percentage of them will not take it hoping to earn a living when they are young. It is a pity that they do not see the importance of education, as this is an important means for them to get a better living and raise above poverty.

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Because the various villages are located far from Sapa, the villages have to walk along distances across some rough and hilly terrain before reaching Sapa. You will appreciate this when you are trekking to the villages and some sections of the trek may be tough for those who are not so physically fit. Some even carry heavy loads and this makes it much difficult, but they are used to it and are very fit.

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The people living in the villages are generally self sufficient as they grow their own rice, vegetables, and have their own poultries, pigs etc. Most of them live in isolation of the outside world and the nearest towns where they can go and do some shopping are Sapa or perhaps to Laocai where they can buy more goods from China since Laocai sits at the border between Vietnam and China. As for water, the river is the main source for drinking, bathing, washing etc. During wintertime when the weather is cold, I wonder how they bath as there is no electricity or heater in the house to speak of. Very tough life in a poor area of Vietnam.

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Village life is very tough in the regions surrounding Sapa. The living conditions of the ethnic minority groups are very poor and basic, with wooden houses where 3 generations of people squeezing into it without electricity, water etc. Furthermore, they need to walk along distances across hilly terrain to Sapa to visit the market and buy their daily stuff. Life is getting better due to tourism but the majority of the money goes to the tour operators and hotels. Therefore you can see many ethnic minority women selling handicrafts to tourists in the hope to earn more money. Although they can be a nuisance sometimes, you must always remember that they are trying to make a hard living and you can help them by buying some souvenirs from them.

On Saturday night, if you are in Sa Pa, go to the old Church.

Here if you are lucky, you will still see young Hmongs from nearby villages gathering here and looking for their life partners through courting by singing. And if their songs harmonize, a marriage knot will soon be tied.

Unfortunately, due to the ever increasing watching tourist cameras, this may have disappeared or moved elsewhere.

Water buffaloes in Sapa, like their lowland counterparts, played an important part of the agricultural livelihood of the ethnic Hmong in Sapa.

The water buffaloes plough the rice fields. Of course, these buffaloes can also be beast of burden and provde milk, beef, hide and source of organic fertilizers.

What a useful animal the water buffalo is.

While walking through Hmong villages, we could see indigo plants growing and hemp being dried for spinning yarn and weaving into yarn.

Making clothes from hemp is a painstacking slow progress. It is continues to be a traditional process while cotton can be cheaply imported.