We stood on the mountain looking down to our trek destination in the valley below SAPA. The view we hoped for was one of a myriad of terraces – you know – the one that is featured in all the travel mags and blogs?
Looking down into the valley, made me grope my glasses to see if someone had jokingly dropped a muslin cloth over them, or given them a quick spray of fake snow. The reality of our view was one that many visitors to Sapa get – Mist.
Sapa is near Fansipan the highest mountain in Vietnam – it snowed two weeks before we arrived in April. Arrived in our summer clothes. Everybody knows it is always hot in Vietnam – right?
It was cold. Whenever we were in our hostel room, I was under the covers snuggled up to our electric blanket, the one concession to warmth that our $10/night room afforded us. I loved that electric blanket.
After two days I accepted defeat and bought a North Face “Made in Vietnam” black jacket and things felt a whole lot better after that. $20 AUD better. You have to love that. I really loved it when I returned home and priced it at $220 AUD.
Trekking down the mountain, through the layers of mist, I started to realize
the beauty of those misty terraces.
Have a Fantastic Friday.
Budget Travel Interview with Krista Bjorn from Rambling Tart
You certainly made the most of the opportunity for a photo on a misty day. That is delicate as a watercolor.
Thanks Vera, I adore finding beauty in unexpected places.
Shame it was so misty, but still you can’t discount the beauty and mist imparts a mystical veil. I’d like to see a pic of you in that (expensive) jacket!
Ha Ha, I’ll see what I can find 🙂
Everything is just so wet. Did you have to get a new pair of mud boots too?
Ha Ha. We just wore joggers. It was a bit slippery on the muddy slopes but there are plenty of Hmong helpers that attach themselves to the treks, and then at the end you had to buy something from them. One Hmong Lady held my hand most of the way – I had to extricate it back occasionally 🙂
I never think of Vietnam as being cold!
Gosh that hotel room was cheap…and the view stunning. Gorgeous even if it was cold, never had an electric blanket on our bed cause of kids but I reckon when we head to the snow we will be needing one 🙂
Electric Blankets are great, even if you use just use them to get the bed warm before you hop in 🙂 When are you heading to the snow Lisa?
stunning! you take us to such amazing places Jan. Thank you.
and thank you for stopping by my blog a week or so ago – I am catching up!
There are so many amazing places to see 🙂
Sorry about the cold. Reminds me of my first trip to California. It was April and I had a suitcase full of summer clothes. It was so cold, I had to buy socks and warm clothes. The mist does give it a nice soft quality, doesn’t it?
It was quite funny because I had checked what the temperatures were supposed to be when we were there (April) and Sapa was meant to be cooler than the rest but certainly not really cold. Everyone was talking about the unusual snow fall just two weeks previous. April is a month where anything can happen 🙂 The mist was a great experience. Walking around the town with a thick mist at night was very atmospheric.