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| Characteristics: Ham Rong Mountain is an attractive tourist area in the center of Sapa Town Legend has it that in the distance past, all animals lived together in a chaotic environment. One day, Jade Emperor gave an order that every species of animal had to find for them an area to live. Having heard the order, they scrambled for a place to reside. The three brothers of dragon who were living in a large lake hurriedly ran to the east but could not find any place; they then ran to the west. The two older brothers ran fast and came to the destination first. The youngest brother ran slowly and strayed into the crowds of lions, tigers and big cats. Fearing that these animals would attack it, the dragon opened its mouth to defense itself. At that time, the order of Jade Emperor was no longer available, so the three dragons petrified. The two older dragons, which were waiting for their brother, face Lao Cai City, and the youngest one raising its head and opening mouth faces the Hoang Lien Mountain Range. So the mountain is named Ham Rong (Jaw of Dragon). Visitors to Ham Rong have chances to climb up the San May (Cloud Yard) to enjoy the panorama of Sapa Townlet, visit the orchid gardens with beautiful and colorful flowers |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Showing posts with label Sapa Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sapa Shopping. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Ham Rong Mountain
Cao Son Market
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| Departing early from Lao Cai or Sa Pa for about 130 km, you will enjoy beautiful scenery and visit Lung Khau Nhin and Muong Khuong markets. We then take a dirt road which leads up into the mountains through Pine Tree forests and villages that surround the tiny markets. Flower H'mong, Tu Di, Tay and Giay ethnic minorities come to trade local products such as food, agricultural supplies and fabric. After exploring these markets your car will take you to Cao Son - the most stunning part of Lao Cai province. Here you will visit the most secluded, peaceful villages and have the opportunity to observe traditional practices such as distilling wine from corn and making bacon. You will be offered a special corn cake when you drop by local houses. You will be transferred to Sa Pa or Lao Cai at your request |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Coc Ly Market
It is the colorful market in a mountainous area where the Flower H'mong mainly gathers to exchange their homemade products. This Tuesday market is about 35km from Bac Ha. You can get here via a fairly good road, or by road and river; hotels in Sapa and Bac Ha can organise trips. Coc Ly is a small village on the Chay river inhabited by the Flower H'mong Minority people |
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It is the colorful market in a mountainous area where the Flower H'mong mainly gathers to exchange their homemade products. This Tuesday market is about 35km from Bac Ha. You can get here via a fairly good road, or by road and river; hotels in Sapa and Bac Ha can organise trips. Coc Ly is a small village on the Chay river inhabited by the Flower H'mong Minority people. The Flower H'mong traditionally wear a distinctive and bright colored costume. They are a gentle, softly spoken people who live in the steep mountainous country close to the Chinese border. Because Coc Ly is more remote than Sapa, the dress and way of life is more traditional than in the large centers. The market deals in fruit, vegetable, pork and chickens, in addition to colourful fabrics and items of traditional dress. There is a buffalo sale in progress and many of these placid animals are tethered close to the market. Buffalo are still widely used in the growing process, especially in the mountainous regions. Horse are an important form of transport in the North West and a quite a few, sturdy ponies were tied to tree around the market. The horse carry a light timber frame on their back to carry produce to and from the market.There’s no dancing or singing, but Coc Ly Market in Laocai Province always turns colorful and festive on Tuesdays, when ethnic people gather there to buy and sell goods, dine and drink, or just wander to enjoy the ambience of the montagnard market. Many ethnic traders from Bac Ha and other parts of Lao Cai Province dress up in colorful costumes and bring horses, chickens, buffaloes, vegetables or whatever they can sell to the festive market in the wee hours, and will not return home until 1pm. Certainly, what catches the eyes of visitors most are the different colors of the costumes worn by ethnic people and the handicrafts they sell at the market, about 50 kilometers from Laocai City in the northern province. You can see young and old Hmong women, wearing skirts and hats with different types of embroidered flowers, crowding the market during the opening hours of Coc Ly. Scarves, clothes, decorations and other items made of tho cam (ethnic fabric) on sale also add color to the bazaar by the Chay River. The colorful items are put on sale not just for locals but also tourists, particularly foreigners. However, you should remember to bargain when you want to buy your favorites, and the items at the booths located at the start of the path you walk on always have higher prices. Keep walking toward the end of the traditionally ethnic market until you find a real bargain. A good idea is to stroll every corner of the once-a-week bazaar as you listen to unexpected conversations, see nice surprises and learn how ethnic people sell and buy farm produce, life’s necessities and other things. After visiting the market, which is the most fresh and unspoiled market of the region, offering a wide range of different colorful ethnic minorities such as Flower C'mon, Black Dao, Tay , Fula, Lachi, Sandui and Nung....there will be an exciting boat cruise winding you through a breathtaking, out of this-world landscape where the mountain grow from water presenting their most hidden mysteries, including caves and tiny minority ...A picnic lunch box can be prepared for your most convenience.. |
| Source:www.traveltosapa.com |
Lao Cai History
| In the 19th century, the Lao Cai area served as fighting ground for various armed groups, among which the famous Black Pavilions and White Pavilions. These gangs of plunderers had taken refuge in the mountains of Vietnam after the Taiping rebellion in China. |
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| A little history In the 19th century, the Lao Cai area served as fighting ground for various armed groups, among which the famous Black Pavilions  and White Pavilions. These gangs of plunderers had taken refuge in the mountains of Vietnam after the Taiping rebellion in China. Their main purpose was to control the shipping trade on the Red River. Sea salt from Vietnam, opium from the Yunnan province, new rice, fabrics,  manufactured goods were to be their primary objectives. Between 1850 and 1886, the town of Lao Cai was taken, destroyed and fortified several times by different groups.On March 30th, 1886, Colonel de Maussion and his troops arrived in Lao Cai. Their objective was to pacify the area in order to create a stable border with China and to open a trade route to China via the Yunnan province. The French wanted to be the first to reach Yunnan before the British managed to open a trade route starting from Burma. At the time, the French thought that Burma would be a new eldorado, especially because of its luxury silks and ore reserves. As of the 1910s, Lao Cai made it possible to control the opium trade, from which the colony derived the best part of its resources. For this purpose, the Foreign Legion set up military posts in Bat Xat, Muong Khuong  and Bac Hà and militias were created in the villages. Until 1945, then again from 1947 to 1950, the town was administered by a French resident.Traditionally, the shipping trade on the Red River has always been done by sampans capable of carrying up to 12 to 15 tons of goods, which sailed from Hanoi to Lao Cai in 35 days. In 1898, China granted  the French government the right to build the Yunnan railway. The first works started in 1901 and the railway track reached Lao Cai in April 1906. The overall cost of the project was 78 million gold francs for 384 kilometres. The railway line cost the lives of 12.000 Chinese and Vietnamese workers and 80 Europeans.In 1913, the road from Lao Cai to Cha Pa was but a mule track, only practicable on foot or on horseback. Today’s paved road was not marked out until 1924. As of 1925, the connection was established between the road and railway networks. At 9:00 p.m., the traveller could board the train in Hanoi and got off nine hours later in Lao Cai, after which a two hours’ drive took him to Cha Pa. The trip back was just as easy: leaving Cha Pa at 5 :00 p.m. one was back in Lao Cai at 7 :00 p.m., in time for a meal at the Hôtel de la Gare before boarding the night train at 8:30 p.m. |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Culture Ethnies
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The population of the Lào Cai province is a mosaic of ethnic groups. An incredible variety of peoples, some of them unique to Vietnam, are found on a relatively small area. In fact, visitors can meet 24 ethnic groups, each with its own language, culture and traditions. This cultural wealth is explained by the diversity of landscapes and of land available for farming. History also offers clues as to why the highlands in the Lào Cai province served as a refuge for certain ethnic groups during political unrest like the Taiping rebellion in 19th-century China. The seven most numerous ethnic groups in the Lào Cai province account for over 90% of the whole population. The following groups are found: the Kinh (the true Vietnamese) 35%, the Hmong 22%, the Tay 14%, the Dao (Mien) 13%, the Thai 9%, the Nung 4.5% and the Giay 4.3%. The other ethnic groups: the Phula, Hani, Latis, Tu Di, Pin Tao, Tu Lao, Pa Di, Sapho, Lolo and the Xa Mang are sometimes represented only by a few villages and a few hundred individuals. |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Red Dao Ethnic Minority
Xa pho Ethnic Minority
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History: The Giay immigrated from China 200 years ago. They are strongly influenced by Chinese culture. Language: The Giay people speak a language of Tay - Thai group. They do not have their own writing. Costume: Like the Tay minority, the Giay women dress in simple clothes. They wear a five panel blouse split at the sides and buttoned on the right with dark indigo trousers. The blouses are different colors depending on the age - old women usually wear the darker shades. Women wrap their hair around their head and fix it in place with red threads. Giay, like other minorities, have adopted elements of Viet and Western clothing. Social organisation: Before the Revolution of August, 1945, the Giay society was divided into different classes. The upper class was composed of administration officials who owned the land. They paid soldiers and housekeepers to take care of weddings and funerals. Farmers working on their land had to pay taxes as well as doing the hard labour. Birth: Pregnant women have to avoid many things - wood is not burned from the top to the bottom to avoid difficulties when giving birth, and they are not allowed to attend funerals or visit a place for worshiping for fear of losing their spirit. When it is time to give birth the pregnant woman makes offerings to the Mother spirit. When the baby is one month old, they make offerings to the ancestors. At the same time they give the child a name and establish his or her horoscope, which will be used later when it is time to choose a partner for the marriage, and the right time to be put in a coffin when he or she dies. Marriage: The procedure for marriage is based strongly on Chinese traditions. A go-between is very important as they help propose the marriage to a potential bride. Once this has happened, the groom s family gives the bride a necklace and a bracelet to show their intentions - a kind of engagement. For the wedding, the groom s family must offer the bride s family food and money, and give close relatives a chicken, a duck and a silver coin. Once married, the bride is carried to her new house on the groom s back, as if she walks her spirit will find its way back to her parents. Funeral: Giay people believe that if a funeral is well organized, the dead will go happily to heaven with their ancestors. If not, the dead will be forced to live in hell or become animals. In a rich family, the funeral can last from five to seven days with extra rituals such as running along the river to lead the spirit on a procession. The children must mourn their parent s death for one year. Beliefs: The Giay altar is located in the middle of the house. There are three incense bowls set from the left to the right to worship the Kitchen God, Heaven and Earth, and the family ancestor. If the master of the house is a son-in-law who wants to worship his real parents, he must set up a fourth incense bowl to the far left. If a family has no altar for the Mother spirit, they set a fifth incense bowl to the right. Some families set up a small alter beside the big one to worship their parents-in-law. | |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Minority in general
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There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. The resultant diversity in culture and history of these minorities has created one of the most complex human environments in South East Asia. The main ethic group, the Kinh (Viet), accounts for approximately 87% of the population. The remaining 13%, some 8.5 million people, occupy a variety of midland, upland and highland areas, though are mainly concentrated in the western part of the country where they inhabit two-thirds of the border areas. The ethnic groups vary in size, ranging from over 1 million to less than 200 persons. The ten major groups account for about 85% of the ethnic population. Most minorities are found in equal or greater numbers in southern China, Laos, Cambodia, northern Thailand and Burma. Facts regarding the origin, distribution, subdivisions and cultural character of the minorities remain uncertain. The classification of ethnic groups varies, in a number of cases Vietnamese, Chinese, French and British designate the same people by different names. The distinction between ethnic groups is made on the basis of linguistic criteria. The minorities are divided into three major language families: Austro-Asiatic, Austronesian and Sino-Tibetan. However, the 54 ethnic groups included many local groups of different denomination with a multitude of dialects. Also, minority groups who share the same language often have distinct thought and behaviour patterns. Thus, a system of classification based on language alone would be imprecise. Groups may be sub-divided by differences in dialect relationships geographical position, altitude of settlement, socio-political structure and traditional dress. Political & administrative history Before the French rule (1859-1954) many minorities had developed patterns of social organisation, either living as rural communes or under a feudal system where one minority often dominated another. Under French rule most minorities were required to carry out unpaid labour and were subject to heavy taxes. As with many minorities, the ethnic groups in Sapa were actively opposed to the colonialists, and immigration into Vietnam, particularly of Hmong, continued between 1864 to 1892 to augment guerilla forces made up of mixed minority groups. During the 40 years preceding the 1945 August Revolution the French faced at least seven minority revolts. Between 1945 and 1975 the government of Vietnam aimed to achieve the co-operation of ethnic groups in the war of reunification. This was attempted by granting them constitutional rights equal to those of the Kinh majority. In the mid 1960s relations between the government and northern minorities improved due to the introduction of an official policy based on the principle of self-government centred on Soviet communist practice for ethnic groups. The government established two Autonomous Regions in the north and north-west of the country led by a People s Council and its administrative body, on which the various minorities in the region were proportionally represented. These Autonomous Regions were abolished in the post-reunification period. Minority participation in the two Indo-China wars contributed to their integration in to the political, economic and life of the country. This is reflected in the delineation of their political and civil fights as written in the 1981 constitution. The present government approach to the minorities is through a settlement programme aimed at further integration the minorities into national life. Ethnic groups are represented at a country level by the National Assembly. In 1987, 14% of members were minority peoples, in-line with their proportion of the total population. Other political legislative and executive bodies exist for and with the participation of minorities, such as the State Committee for Ethnic Affairs and civil committees at provincial and district level. Ethnic minorities in the Sapa district Excluding the Kinh people or ethnic Vietnamese, eight different ethnic groups are found in Sapa; Hmong, Dao (pronounced Zao), Tay, Giay (pronounced Zai), Muong, Thai, Hoa (ethnic Chinese) and Xa Pho (a denomination of the Phu La minority group). However, the last four groups comprise less than 500 people in total. The population of the district is estimated at 31,652 (1993) of which 52% are Hmong, 25% are Dao, 15% are Kinh, 5% are Tay and 2% are Giay. Around 3,300 people live in Sapa town, the remainder are peasant farmers distributed unevenly throughout the district. The minorities are governed under the same legal and administrative systems as the Kinh majority. Each province is sub-divided in to a number of districts which hold a degree of autonomy in local government. The district is further divided in to communes which have an elected president and small committee responsible for agricultural and legal issues, amongst other thing. There are 18 communes in the Sapa district, with populations of between 970 and 4,500. These communes are made up of between two and six villages, each with an elected leader. Education and Health Education and health care are supplied free to the minorities by the state. Every commune in Vietnam is supposed to have a primary school, and each of the 550 districts typically has at least one upper secondary school. However, in Sapa not every commune has a primary school and school attendance rates by minority child are low since formal education is not a traditional part of minority culture. Primary schools provide classes in Vietnamese, basic arithmetic and Vietnamese culture. These classes are held between three and six mornings each week and are attended by less than 3% of each commune. Children attending school are able to participate in household chores or agricultural work during the afternoon. In the summer months some communes offer similar classes to adults during the evenings. There is a secondary school in Sapa attended by about 120 minority children. Pupils board on a full-time or part-time basis depending on family commitments. Few communes have trained health staff and most refer serious cases of diseases such as malaria, dysentery and measles to the hospital in Sapa. Traditional herbal remedies are primarily used by the minorities, comprising medicinal plants gathered in the forest. A traditional medicine garden is located near the bus station in Sapa. This is supported by the Institute for Medicine in Hanoi and most of the plants are used in Hanoi. Other traditional gardens exist within province, for example at Lao Cai, for use by local people. There are very basic water treatment, sewage or waste disposal facilities in the district, and many communes have no means of dealing with their waste. It is therefore important that visitors take sensible health precautions, particularly regarding drinking water. Similarly, it is important not to increase the existing burden the environment by adding to the waste disposal problem. Minimize the effects of your visit by disposing of rubbish sensibly and re-use plastic bottles by sterilizing drinking water if possible. Many locally produced drinks come in glass bottles which are recycled. Agriculture The majority of people in Sapa are subsistence farmers in forest areas with some traditional practicing “swidden” agriculture (slash & burn) which has led to much forest clearance. The annual calendar of events is centred around agriculture. Rice cultivation is the main economic activity, though production is limited to one crop per year due to the winter climate being unsuitable for optimal rice growth. Between March and May, depending on the weather and the number of fields to be cultivated, rice is planted in the terraced paddy fields. Before planting the fields are ploughed using buffalo as draught animals. In July weeding of the rice crops takes place. Between September and October the rice is harvested. Between February and March maize is planted and crops are harvested between June and August. As a result of population growth there is high pressure on existing land. As rice is limited to only one crop per year and there is limited scope for expansion of agricultural land the ethnic minorities in Sapa face an annual deficit in food production. This shortage varies between families but most can only produce enough to provide for between four and eight months. The poorest families in each village receive rice provided by the government, usually surplus stock from the Mekong Delta. Livestock is reared to provide food during periods of rice shortage or on special occasions and also for sale to enable basic necessities to be bought. Livestock kept by local people includes cattle, water buffalo, pot-bellied pigs, goats, ducks and chickens. The minorities also gather natural produce from the forest, both to supplement their income and for domestic use. These include dead wood for fuel and building materials, mushrooms, bamboo shoots and ginger. Men from the ethnic groups are skilled hunters using homemade flintlock rifles, traps, crossbows, knives and dogs to catch animals in the forest. Hunting is now illegal though animals such as monkeys are still trapped if they are raiding crops. Opium cultivation exists in the north-western provinces of Lao Cai, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Lai Chau and Son La. Addiction in minorities has been reported, as has the use of opium for medicinal purposes. Opium farming war banned in Vietnam in 1954, though cultivation for personal use was permitted. In 1986 all cultivation and possession for sale or personal use became illegal. Punishment includes fines and prison sentences for re-offenders. To discourage opium cultivation in Sapa the Hmong have been permitted to cultivate Panax Pseudo-ginseng within the remaining forest areas. This cash crop is sold to the Chinese for use in traditional medicines. There is no traditional delineation of work between the sexes. Each member of the family carries out jobs to which they are suited. Men are responsible for heavy work including ploughing, threshing, building, repairing the house and making agricultural implements. Women are responsible for planting, weeding, harvesting, food preparation and making clothes. Children are responsible for tending buffalo, and they, together with the elderly, help with lighter work and household chores. Tree planting programmers exist in Sapa to provide alternative sources of wood for fuel and building materials. This alleviates pressure on the remaining natural forest. These reforestation projects are supported by the Vietnamese government. A number of foreign aid and development agencies are also contributing to tree planting efforts as an integrated approach to raising the standard of the ethnic groups.Tree Planting Protective forest legislation acts as a disincentive to "swidden" agriculturalists, and those clearing land for cultivation are fined. Economic lumber species such as Fokienia hodginsii are used in furniture production and command high prices in Lao Cai ($400/m3) and China ($900/m3) for furniture production. The trees are cut by local people, though they are only paid a small fraction of the commercial value of the wood. Economic timber species are included in the tree planting programmes to reduce the incidence of illegal logging and provide an alternative source of income to the district. |
| Source: www.traveltosapa.com |
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Sapa Shopping
 You can find throughout Sapa Shopping series of souvenir shops where they show all local people"s products: handicrafts, silvers, wooden things. All products are made by the people in this region.It is also interesting to go down to the villages and buy souvenirs from the local minority people. It is important that you should buy things from the adults (especially from women) in their houses in stead of buying outside and from children. By this way, you will encourage the people to sell things in their villages and motivate the children come back to schools.
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| Source: : www.traveltosapa.com |
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