Sapa

    Sapa is a tourist town nestled high in the mountains near the Chinese border. The French developed a center here more than a century ago and it's been a tourist destination since. At 6 thousand foot elevation, summers are cool with beautiful mountain vistas. The dozen or so streets are lined with hotels and restaurants with Hmong tribal women wandering around peddling their handicrafts ( embroidered items and clothing ), and farm products. They often carry beautiful basket backpacks. 

  Within a mile or two of town are remarkably primitive villages. At this elevation, they are at the limits of rice growing so the locals struggle with subsistence farming. The beautifully dressed women in their traditional tribal colors are amazing to see, each tribe with its own colors and embroidered patterns. They are very tolerant of being photographed and usually smile.

   The surrounding peaks reach 10 thousand feet. The lower slopes and foot hills are forested with an odd mixture of conifers ( spruce ?) and bamboo. The locals have terraced the land wherever possible to eek out as much cultivation space as possible. 

    Their scattered villages often have some electricity but little else. Our guide knows everyone,  enabling us to wander freely including into private homes, quite an experience. 

The fog rolled in when our guide drove us up to a waterfall high in the hills. We stumbled upon a Hmong mother watching her children pick greens for dinner along a steep slope, the girl in the photo was about 6. They worked at a steady pace in silence. We were about a mile from the nearest road.