Sapa, the famous destination in Vietnam

Located in Vietnam's remote northwest mountains, Sapa is famous for both its fine, rugged scenery and also its rich cultural diversity. Sapa is an incredibly picturesque village that lies in the Hoang Lien Son mountain range near the Chinese border in northwestern Vietnam, known as "the Tonkinese Alps". Sapa and its surrounding region is host to many hill tribes, as well as rice terraces, lush vegetation, and Fansipan, the highest peak in Vietnam. However, as a result of a recent surge in popularity Sapa has rapidly become a tourist hotspot where money is the new drug of choice. Don't be put off by the rush, your explorations of the surrounding countryside will be worth the trouble. 

Sapa Town in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai has been voted one of the world’s top ten spots for walking by popular travel guide Lonely Planet.

The other greatest places for walkers are the Grand Canyon in the US, Aoraki/Mount Cook Village in New Zealand, Lake District in England, Torres del Paine in Chile, Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, Brecon Beacons in Wales, Kakadu National Park in Australia, Taman Negara in Malaysia, and Dartmoor in England.

According to Lonely Planet, walking can be the best way to experience a place.

Ethnic Minorities

Many ethnic minorities, such as the Hmong and the Dao, live in and around Sapa. Many older women in particular make items such as ethnic-style clothes and blankets, to sell to tourists. Striking up a conversation with them can be very rewarding. Sadly, however, doing this in Sapa town itself will sometimes lead to a scrum as a multitude of vendors taste a potential sale.

Children from these ethnic minorities begin to earn a living as soon as they are five years old. They often peddle small metal or silver trinkets, embroidered pillow cases and friendship bands in the main town, and they walk for about 3 hours from their villages to reach. Some of the "richer" ethnic women sometimes take a one-hour motorbike ride back to their villages at the end of the day.

Girls as young as ten years old can get married and often have two children by the time they are 20 years old. This is especially the case for the more beautiful ones. Poverty has led to a majority of girls who leave their villages each day to go to Sapa town and to have only one meal per day.

Weather

In winter (the 4 months November to February), the weather in Sapa is invariably cold, wet and foggy (temperatures can drop to nearly freezing). Travellers have rolled into town on a glorious clear day and proceed to spend a week trapped in impenetrable fog. When it like this there really isn't very much to do. Also the rice paddys are brown & empty (they are planted in spring), the paths very muddy & slippery & the glorious vistas of summer are completely hidden in the mist. If you chose to visit in winter, bring along warm clothes or prepare to be cold and miserable, as many hotels do not have efficient heating in their rooms. During that time, more upmarket hotels that do have heating fill up quickly, so make advance reservations if you can afford not to freeze. (Or don't go there in winter time). It rains very often during the month of August, especially in the mornings.

Nha Trang - one of the most beautiful bays of the world

The city of Nha Trang is becoming more popular with the tourists in recent years. Yet, with a population of 300,000, Nha Trang still retains its small town atmosphere. This resort town is well known for its miles of beach and the friendliness of its people. The city is flanked by nearly ten kilometers of prime beach where the water is warm year round. The average temperature in Nha Trang is 26 C. Nha Trang also has the lowest level of humidity in all of Vietnam. Today, Nha Trang ranks among the top of all beaches in Vietnam. Nha Trang is 1,287 km south of Hanoi, 624 km south of Hue and 442 km from Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon). Nha Trang has several famous islands. Most notable are Hon Tre, Hon Yen, Hon Rua and the Spratly islands.

The name Nha trang is a Vietnamese pronunciation of a Cham word Eatran or Yjatan. Ea or Yja means river, and tran means reed. According to the locals, there once were a lot of reeds along Ngoc Hoi river. The river winds its way through the town. Ngoc Hoi was later renamed Nha Trang river.

Another theory of the origin of Nha Trang's name has a more amusing twist. Long ago, in this part of the country, all the houses were made out of the reeds and mud gathered from Ngoc Hoi river. The only house that was made out of bricks were the house belonging to Dr. Yersin, a French immunologist who made his home here. The house itself was painted prominently white and could be seen by vessels coming from far away. Once there was a foreign vessel passing by. The captain asked his translator where he was. The translator not knowing where they were blurted out Nha` tra('ng or white house in Vietnamese. The captain duly noted on his chart Nha Trang. Because most foreign languages do not make use of tones, the captain's name for this part of the country stuck.

Po Nagar Cham Towers

 Location: Po Nagar Cham is situated on Cu Lao marble hill, 2km north of Nha Trang, in Khanh Hoa Province.
Characteristic: Po Nagar Cham Towers were built between the 8th and 13th centuries. The largest of the four remaining towers was built in honour of the Goddess Po Nagar, also known as Lady Thien Y Ana or Lady Mother of the Kingdom.

She spent part of her life in teaching new weaving and agricultural techniques. The 22.5m tower contains her sandstone statue sitting cross-legged on lotus-shaped stone estrade. The statue is 2.6m high (including the Yoni-shaped stone pedestal). The statue has ten hands, eight of which each holding a specific object illustrating the intellect and power of her. The remaining towers were dedicated to different gods: the southeast tower, the northwest tower and the south tower.

Not only are the towers famous for their architecture and sculpture, but they are also well-known for their great significance in history, nationalism, and archaeology.

Other towers in the complex are dedicated to gods - the central tower is in honour of Cri Cambhu, and is thought to bless devotees with fertility, so is visited by childless couples. In the North West lies a tower dedicated to Sandhaka, a wood cutter and foster father to Ponagar, and the tower in the south was dedicated to Ganeca, the daughter of Ponagar.

Entrance to the towers costs 12,000 VND and opening hours are from 6 AM - 6 PM. Late afternoon is a good time to visit.

Con Dao Islands - natural beauty

One of the stellar attractions in this region, the Con Dao Archipelago is slowly gaining attention for its startling natural beauty. Con Son, the largest of this chain of 15 islands and islets, is ringed with lovely beaches, coral reefs and scenic bays, and remains partially covered in thick forests. In addition to hiking, diving and exploring empty coastal roads and deserted beaches, there are some excellent wildlife-watching opportunities.

Con Son Island (with a total land area of 20 sq km) is also known by its Europeanised Malay name, Iles Poulo Condore (Pulau Kun-dur), which means ‘Island of the Squashes’. Although it seems something of an island paradise, Con Son was once hell on earth for the thousands of prisoners who languished in confinement during the French and American regimes.

Roughly 80% of the land area in the island chain is part of Con Dao National Park, which protects Vietnam’s most important sea turtle nesting grounds. For the last decade the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) has been working with local park rangers on a long-term monitoring program. During nesting season (May to September) the park sets up ranger stations to rescue threatened nests and move them to the safe haven of hatcheries.

Other interesting sea life around Con Dao includes the dugong, a rare and seldom-seen marine mammal in the same family as the manatee. Dugongs live as far north as Japan, and as far south as the subtropical coasts of Australia. Their numbers have been on a steady decline, and increasingly efforts are being made to protect these adorable creatures. Major threats include coastal road development, which causes the destruction of shallow-water beds of seagrass, the dugongs’ staple diet.

Con Dao is one of those rare places in Viet­nam where there are virtually no structures over two storeys, and where the traveller’s experience is almost hassle-free. There’s even no need to bargain at the local market! Owing to the relatively high cost and the inaccessibility of the islands, mass tourism has thankfully been kept to a minimum.

These days most visitors to Con Son are package-tour groups of former VC soldiers who were imprisoned on the island. The Viet­namese government generously subsidises these jaunts as a show of gratitude for their sacrifice. Foreign tourists are still few and far between, though their numbers are on the rise.

The driest time to visit Con Dao is from November to February, though the seas are calmest from March to July. The rainy season lasts from June to September, but there are also northeast and southwest monsoons in autumn that can bring heavy winds. In November 1997 typhoon Linda did a number here: 300 fishing boats were lost, reefs were wiped out and the forests flattened. September and October are the hottest months, though even then the cool island breezes make Con Dao relatively comfortable when compared with HCMC or Vung Tau.

(Source: Lonelyplanet)