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Sapa
.JPG) Nestled
high in the Tonkinese Alps near the Chinese border, Sapa was built
as a hill station during French colonial days. These days, weekends
are still the biggest draw in this crumbling hill-tribe center.
Visitors flock to Sapa for a glimpse of the famed "Love
Market," a trek to local hill tribe villages, or an ascent of
Vietnam's highest peak, Fan Si Pan.
Famed
for its "Love Market" - sort of a cross between a
peacock mating ritual, on Saturday nights, hill tribe youths of
both sexes congregate in a weekly courting rite, singing tribal love
songs to woo the opposite sex. The songs are highly personalized and
boast of the composer's physical attributes, domestic abilities and
strong work ethic. While Dao women are indeed highly industrious,
the men, it seems, prefer to spend most of their time drinking,
smoking opium or sleeping, only occasionally slapping the rump of
a lethargic bovine moving more slowly than they are. Few of their
songs, though, are about drinking, smoking opium, sleeping or
slapping rumps.
Sapa itself is a somewhat bedraggled village meshing crumbling,
mildewed French colonial architecture with the pencil-thin,
brick-and-concrete mini-hotels that have become so ubiquitous in
recent years all across
Vietnam. This neglected, cultural mishmash
would be an eyesore in any place less spectacularly scenic than Sapa.
Because of its setting, Sapa actually seems quaint - a tranquil,
restful village. Which is, of course, what the French originally
intended the place to be.
The best times of the year to visit Sapa are in the spring and fall.
 Summers
tend to be rainy and muddy, while winter temperatures can drop to
the freezing mark (Sapa ushered in 2000 with snow!). Weather really
does make a difference here, because the spectacular scenery is all
but blotted out when there is cloud cover and rain. Ignore the other
Nikon-toting tourists in the villages and get out into the
countryside, where you just may still catch a glimpse into
hill-tribe life of a couple of centuries ago.
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