Sapa Trekking Guide

Coming to Sapa, you cannot ignore to visit the village by trekking in order to explore the nature as well as majestic beauty of the green fields, mountain and waterfalls. Go trekking is a type of explore and discover the unique culture of ethnic minorities so to have more fun for your trekking trip, you should find out about the village, customs, things to do and not to do when visiting those villages. Besides that, you also have to study the maps and terrain area to make plan that suitable for your health and prevent the dangerous situations.

If you have plan for the first trekking trip in Sapa, surely that you will wonder about what you have to prepare for your trip and we would like to share some information as well as experiences to go trekking.

What to pack for trekking in Sapa?
Clothes and shoes
To enjoy the trip and having the best experience in Sapa, tourists are advised to be well-prepared before setting off. The average temperature in Sapa is much lower than other regions in Vietnam, especially at night in winter. So, make sure you prepare warm clothes if visiting on the time. A good shoes for trekking is should be.
Medicines
Maybe you will be faced with the weather different from your country, so it is better to bring some medicines for: Cold, fever, diarrhea, antipyretic, antibiotics…. Because you go trekking so you should bring bandages, red medicines in case of injuring.
Backpacks
During your journey, you have to bring your luggage by yourself, so a medium backpack is the best choice for choosing to contain your belonging. It should also has the belt to tighten and its strap is soft to feel smooth and relax for the whole journey. When joining a trekking trip in Sapa, there’re something you should bring: drinking water, raincoat, windbreaker, good trekking shoes or rubber boots, a walking pole, insect repellant, flashlight…

Foods and drinks
Trekking journey makes you to be consumed a lot of energy and sweat a lot so you need to prepare enough foods and drinks to supplement when needed. Some foods should be carried such as: bread, snacks, sausages, canned foods…. and water.

Some notes for trekking in Sapa
When visiting some villages in Sapa, such as Lao Chai – Ta Van, Cat Cat – Y Linh Ho, Ta Phin … where inhabited by Black H’mong, Dzao, you absolutely do not sit in the middle of the house or middle room. If you visit their homes, you have to visit follow the direction of the owner. The first chair is for parents (if their parents have passed away, no one is allowed to sit on it). When you see the Black H´mong or Red Dzao is doing magic ritual or exorcism, you have to attend without their allowance because they do not want allowing strange person to attend. When doing ritual, a beam of green leaf usually be hung on the tall pillar which is put at the solemn place in order to everyone can see to avoid attending.

When you see kids in village, you absolutely do not touch or kiss on their head because everyone in here assumes that action would make the kids to be frightened and abled to illness.

If you see a nice and clean place, remember do not immediately take a rest and eat there because probably it is the place of common worship of that whole village and very sacred for them. Whistling when visiting is the taboo because they said that sound will call the devil comes to their village.

The house of ethnic people also often divided into many rooms and the middle room is the place of worship and the guest are not allowed to sit there. The biggest and tallest pillar in the house is considered as where the ghosts living and you should not to hang your clothes, sit and set your back to that pillar.

When communicating with the owners, you may be invited to drink water or wine. If you do not want to drink, you should bluntly refuse so that the owners will understand and sympathize. It is prohibited to turn the bowl upside down because only shamans are allowed to do like that to dismiss the evil. Besides that, when talking to owners, you also do not to point your fingers to the front. H´mong people think that such action means not satisfy and scorn the others

Preparing follow the above guides and notes, it is for sure that you will have a wonderful trip in Sapa, with reasonable prices although this is the first time you travel Sapa.

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