The Love of Sa Pa

by Catherine Siahaan (Indonesia)

Making a local connection Vietnam

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The first time I set foot into a place called Vietnam, exactly Sa Pa, the feel that recorded in my mind is the aroma of the species, the aroma is exactly the same aroma of my mother's cooking, a traditional Chinese pork stew, funny thing i travel far from home, but this place reminds me of my own home. The warmth of the Sa Pa peoples greets me is one of the best things. This city is small but holds a lot of magnificence landscape, the mountains surrounded this city, fresh air, and the colorful traditional clothing which most of the women wear it makes this journey more exciting. First wandering in Sa Pa city starts with meet the guide for mountain trekking randomly in the city hall, this is a common way. A lot of locals with a traditional cloth will approach and offering their guide service for mountain trekking with a very affordable price if you agree to use their service, they will give you a woven bracelet and set the time to meet again in city hall to start trekking. Meet The Local. I met Zis, a local guide with a minim English skill but still understandable. Zis and I start trekking the mountain, which is the place that she and her family live, start going through a traditional market place which sells a variety of meat include horse meat and then continue to an uphill footpath entering expanse of trees and weeds. The first hour of the trekking my eyes treated to see a joyful view of rice field and greet by the warmness of the local who is in the busy time doing daily work in a rice field. See The Culture While we taking a break from the walking, Zis explain to me about their culture in Sa Pa. She said to me that girls in Sa Pa just allowed to cut their hair twice in their lives. They used to grow their hair so long and twist it around their head, I see it just like a Frida Khalo hairstyle. It's their culture women always have long hair to be a pretty one. I saw Zis long hair, it almost touches her knee! Zis have a metal little comb made by brass, she told me that her father made it by himself. A brass comb and woven are the most popular craft from Sa Pa, they use to make it handmade. Men make the metal craft and the women make a woven colorful cloth (they love to use bright red, blue, or green) or an indigo cloth. On my way to the top of the mountain, we passed children play in the edge of a steep mountain, livestock running around that owns by the local, but the most interesting part of this trekking is in the top of the mountain, we found a big square of a marijuana field. This is the first time I see it in my own eyes, I just feel like I'm in a set of Narcos series!. But Zis explain to me that marijuana is a common basic material that they use to make a textile, they make their own cloth and dye the cloth naturally with indigo color that they found from plants. It explains why while in this trekking I found a lot of barrels of indigo liquid. Zis told me that Sa Pa peoples used to sell the cloth and other craft in Ba Cha market, that always held on Sunday morning, not so far from Sa Pa area or they sell directly to the tourist. End of Journey Finally, arrive in Zis home. She offers me tea while we catch our breath from six hours of trekking. It is really a simple home, made by a thin wood and the floor is directly the soil. She lives in her husband family in one house, and they are so kind as to teach me how to woven and cook a simple local noodle. The beautiful view of the mountain landscape, a warm noodle, and laugh of Zis family make me always wanna go back there, to the small city of Sa Pa.