Going to sleep in the morning
The bus reached Sapa in the early hours of the morning, and didn’t kick people off until around 6:30am. Mat, Hannah, Qian, and I hired a taxi at the bus station to take us to the homestay. The homestay we stayed in was called Saigonese Homestay, for more info click here. It was within walking distance to the centre of Sapa, but far enough out so it was nice and quaint. It took a while for anyone to come to the gate to open up as it was very early in the morning. Eventually, the hostess came and let us check in, then showed us to our room. After finding our beds, we all agreed to have a few hours of sleep to catch up on what was lost last night, before heading to Cat Cat Village.
The beds were very comfortable, so sleep came easy to us. When we woke up a few hours later, we all got ready, then headed out for breakfast. As we’re a slight distance from the centre, there wasn’t much nearby in the way of breakfast. After 15 minutes or so, we’d reached the centre, and also found somewhere for breakfast. We all chowed down on our breakfasts, savoured it, then carried on down the winding roads towards Cat Cat Village.
Entering the village
It seemed that Sapa was on top of a mountain, because all roads appeared to descend to valleys in different directions. To get to Cat Cat Village, we had to walk down long and winding roads. Fortunately for us, this meant we got to see awesome views of the entire valley, mountains and farms included. Part way down the hill, we managed to find the entrance to Cat Cat Village. It’d be very easy to pass if you weren’t looking for it, in fact I think we did walk past it.
There’s a small ticket shop that blends in with the other shops, but you can buy your ticket here for around 30,000 VND. Then there’s a little alley way you go down, and all of a sudden you’re in a different world. It’s like Diagon Alley. The customs and culture of this village seem to be very distinctive, especially the attire that is worn here. Cat Cat Village mostly consists of shops and restaurants, all selling their own delicacies and trinkets. Personally, I wasn’t interested in either, but Qian had a field day as she loves all these odds and ends. I will admit that due to the heat, we all indulged in an ice cream.
What a performance!
At various points throughout the village, there were landmarks or sculptures that stood out, and I’m sure they had some significance to the locals here. The gardens and fields were full of beautiful flowers, all planted in pretty patterns and carefully thought out arrangements. We came across a waterfall and stream which we decided to chill out by for a while as it was so hot. It did a good job of cooling us down, and it also gave us a chance to take a breath and admire the beauty of where we are.
On the other side of the stream was a theatre at which there were regular music and dance performances. As luck would have it, we were right on time for the show. We filtered in with everyone else and chose our spot to watch from. It was certainly a unique performance and dance; I’d never seen anything like it. I did enjoy it though, it was very quirky and ultimately entertaining, which is the point of entertainment. I’m known for being reserved with my money, but I had to give a tip to show my appreciation towards them.
The long road back up
After the performance, we’d reached the end of the village’s tourist attractions, so we began making our way back towards the entrance. We saw more of the quiet side of Cat Cat Village, among the outskirts. Once we had joined the main road, it was a long and tiresome walk back up. Thankfully we had several places to rest and have some tea to recuperate our energy. A little further up, we also had a bite to eat as we’d not had anything since breakfast.
When we finally arrived at the hostel, we were all glad to take our feet off the floor. Qian’s dorm was empty, so we decided to play Uno and Rummy in there until the early hours of the morning. We all had a grand old time, and enjoyed each other’s company.
