Sapa seems to be a happy place in the middle of mountains. It is not only amazingly beautiful, it is also very happy. 🙂 It is a pretty common to stay for a night or two with local hill tribes, so did I.
We started out local experience by hike over the mountain to the village. After few hours we arrived to few hemp fields. “We use it just for clothes!!” We were laughing as they were explaining is strictly for making fabric. After dinner there was a bottle (and than another bottle) of happy water on the table and we were not allowed to go to bed before it was empty. Anyways, mood was good 🙂 To make things even better, our host mum brings a home made bong and ask if we want some happy flowers – aha, we knew it it’s not just for fabric and clothes! Yeah guys, I know you people like it. I can make you also happy tea in the morning!
So it was. Happy tea for breakfast and another day of trekking, over the paddies and local villages. In the middle of narrow paths between paddies a guy on a motorbike selling steam buns – all portable on motorbike of course – show up from somewhere! All good, except that we stopped for lunch at exactly the same place where we have seen a big roasted dog two days ago, when driving around by motorbikes … I’m actually seriously turning to vegetarian …
Rice paddies are stunning. I will never have enough of them. After spending half a day planting rice with the locals, all the rice terraces look even more amazing. I knew it, but the work is actually way harder than I thought! No buttons to click on my keyboard – into the mud to your knees or above, bend down and plant rice plants into 15 cm grid. Ad a “little bit” of sun shinning all day long. Once a field is done, just move to another one. Don’t complain as most of local women do it with their babies on their back. The locals pretty much spend all their days on the rice fields, there is always something to do. And there is always time for happy water in the evening and at lunch time! Yeah, lunch break was my “saviour” – happy water ended at the table and I had to have a shot or two with every person sitting at the table.
