Arriving at my homestay

As soon as I arrived at my accommodation in Sa Pa at 6am, I immediately went to bed to get a few more hours of sleep. The hostel I booked in Sa Pa was a homestay hostel. In particular the room was very small and there was hardly any space. The beds were also very narrow. I payed $6 AUD per night so I can’t complain.

At nine o’clock I woke up. After I took a shower, I went to the reception and booked a trekking tour through the rice fields for the following day. I then had breakfast in the hostel and then went to the famous Cat Cat Village.

Visiting the famous Cat Cat Village

Cat Cat Village is an ethnic village that attracts many tourists who travel to Sa Pa. The price of entry is 150K Dong.

Cat Cat Village was 2 kilometers from my hostel. Since it wasn’t too warm, I decided to walk the route. To get to the Village I had to walk downhill all the time. Meanwhile I had a really nice view over the rice terraces.

Finally I arrived at the Cat Cat Village. I expected that there would be a lot of tourists, but actually there weren’t many people there.

First, I went down more steps, which led me past the various shops of the locals. At the end of the stairs I had a really nice view over the rice fields.

I walked around the Village for a while and also checked out the waterfall. The waterfall itself was not really spectacular. But the small village built around the waterfall was really beautiful.

Relaxing in the afternoon

After walking 2 hours through Cat Cat Village, I walked all the steps back up and also walked up the hill to Sa Pa. There I went to the supermarket and bought something to eat. On the way back to the hostel I randomly met the dutch girl I had met in the hostel in Hanoi.

I spent the afternoon in the hostel because I just needed a break from the constant activities.

Exploring the rice fields in Sa Pa

The next morning after breakfast I went on a trekking tour through the rice fields. First, I was picked up by the locals along with a few people from my hostel. Then we walked to the rice fields. On the way there I had a nice conversation with one of the local womans.

She told me that she lives with her family in a small village in the rice fields. She married her husband when she was 19. Her two children are 10 years old. She herself was 35 years old.

The walk through the rice fields was all downhill for a while. The ground was pretty muddy, so it wasn’t so safe to come down there. But the local womans helped us to get down safely.

We walked through the rice fields for almost three hours and enjoyed the view. Finally we arrived in a small village where we got lunch.

During the tour through the fields, children and locals kept asking us if we wanted to buy something from them. Even when we arrived at the restaurant, women came to our table and persistently tried to sell us their things. I feel very sorry for these people, but unfortunately you can’t buy something from everyone. In the long run it is also quite annoying as a traveler, because saying “no, thank you” once is not enough. You have to repeat yourself severaltimes but they still trying to convince you.

Exploring a local village

After lunch we walked a little further through the rice fields. We walked through small villages again and again. We also looked at a traditional Vietnamese house. It’s really interesting to see how simply people still live in 2023.

Around 3 pm we were all back at the hostel. I spent the afternoon there until I was picked up by the taxi shortly after seven and taken to the bus stop. From there I took the overnight bus to Ha Giang.

If you want to know what I experienced during my time on the Ha Giang Loop, please have a look at my next post 4 days on a Roadtrip along the Ha Giang Loop – Vietnam Travel Diary.