Culture shock

We dropped down into northern Viet Nam, making our first stop in the small 'village' of Sapa. Sapa is perfectly picturesque situated amongst the lush hills and steep rice terraces, but the word has gotten out. The small town was crawling with tourists, which came as quite a shock after being the minority amidst the crowds of Chinese tourists we had just left behind. The half mile lane that composed the heart of town was lined with restaurants and hotels catering to the western tourist...and it was quite difficult finding ourselves in the midst of this scene when we were anticipating a quiet village belonging to one of several minority groups in the area. And the tourism has further shaped the local culture as the local women, in their beautiful traditional clothing, swarmed upon you like bees in a flower garden, flashing their tapestries and handicrafts in your face. 'You buy from me?! You buy from me later?!....promise?!'. It was exhausting trying to walk anywhere, as someone immediately latched on and would follow you wherever you were going in hopes of making a sale.

Tim and I did venture out of the town and strolled through the surrounding rice terraces and found a completely different experience that retained the authenticity we weren't seeing in town. Beautiful, lush, vibrant terraces stacked like the ultimate wedding cake stretched up the valley walls and were topped by thick bamboo forests. We lost ourselves rambling through the terraces only occasionally running into locals, who either flashed a captivating sincere smile or timidly cast their gaze to the ground and shuffled past us with curious glances back at us. Their woven baskets packed to the gills with fresh greens or pale ears of corn. Although I'm sure even the people we saw out in the field have seen their fair share of tourists, it felt less corrupted by the tourist trade. It was a glimpse of people living their lives instead of the performance found in the town itself. What started out as overwhelming turned into a beautiful, and memorable entrance to Viet Nam.