Bac Ha market

Sunday is market day at Bac Ha. It is meant to be the most colourful market n Vietnam so we decided it couldn’t be missed.

With a 0730 pick-up, we were up around 0630 to catch breakfast at 0700. We got to Bac Ha (via Lao Cai) at 1030. The actual driving time was around 2h30 and we nearly got killed in a head-on collision in a bad overtaking manouver.

Bac Ha turned out to be rather touristy with many stalls selling souvenirs and craft. I was disappointed at first but then realised that the attraction wasn’t the stalls and what was being sold; instead it was the Flower Hmong tribe that come to town on Sunday and brighten the whole place up with their colourful embroidered costumes. Wandering around the eating section, it was a little medieval. Then there was the meat and livestock section (with cats and dogs). I did see a couple of severed snake heads too.

Overall, I thought there were too many visitors. I long for the true experience which I most recently got in Pakistan where a visitor can feel special being the only one. We spent two hours at Bac Ha plus an hour for lunch. It felt a bit too long, perhaps by 30 minutes for non-shoppers like us. But to cut it shorter would mean 5 hours of driving for 1h (or 1h30) at the destination, which makes it seem a bit silly.

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The outing included a visit to a village and also the border with China at Lao Cai. There’s certainly plenty of trade going through; there were overloaded bicycle-carts from Vietnam going to China and big Chinese trucks in the opposite direction.

Despite being in the highlands, it was rather hot and humid. We were worn out by the time we arrived back in Sapa.

But we had a mission to accomplish tonight.  Sapa seems to be the largest factory outlet for North Face cold weather gear (copies). It seemed silly not to check things out and possiibly stock up on a few items.

It turned out to be slightly pricier than in China but the selection was huge. We ended with a pair of hiking shoes each. Kim bought a pair of two-layer ski jackets and two pairs of ski pants. We were both confident with the quality as my North Face from Beijing proved itself motorcyling in the cool Dalat air; and I thought the “Wind Stopper” logo was only decorative being a fake.