Another nice town to visit is the Tafin village, nine miles (15km) from Sapa. you can get here by car or motorbike. In this town live Red Dzao and Black H'mong people.

 

Sapa is also famous for its love market, which takes place on saturday evenings. The love market of Sapa used to be the place to find a partner to get married. With the tourism, the real love market does not take place anymore. Currently you can only see a representation of the love market. Do not miss it anyway if you are staying here a saturday night.

Young Red Dzao hill tribe used to come to Sapa to sing songs to the opposite sex. Girls sang the songs hidden in the dark, when a boy found them, and if they matched together, they disappeared into the forest for three days. Some of them got married after that. Currently you may spot some young locals singing in the dark, but they are not looking for a partner, they are looking for you. They will sing a song, and ask for a tip afterwards.

 

In the market of Bac Ha you will have the chance to see more ethnic minority groups than in Sapa, but the infrastructure is not as good. For this reason I recommend staying in Sapa, and leaving early in the morning. You can get to Bac Ha on a mini bus or on a 4 wheeled vehicle from Sapa. Many of the tours that you can reserve in Hanoi offer the possibility to visit the two towns and their markets.

When I saw these young girls harassing the visitors, I had a mixed feeling. Tourism is bringing money to these people. This money will change the life of the local people. Quality of life of the future generations will be much better, but at the same time many traditions will be lost. I guess this is the price they will have to pay. The same happens with the Sapa landscapes. In order to accommodate the tourists, new hotels are being built in and around Sapa. Some of these hotels respect the local building techniques, but most of them don't. I wonder what will locals sell to the visitors, once part of their scenic views are not here anymore.