Almost 1,500 meters high, Sapa is a lovely mountain town in Northwest Vietnam, close to the border with China. Beautiful and perfectly sculpted rice terraces surround the mountain, small ethnic Hmong villages harvest their crops, and Fansipan, the highest mountain in Vietnam (3,150 meters), emerges overlooking everything. The combination of the cold weather starting right after the sunset, as well as the daily fog during this season, gives the town a mystic blend which makes the little cafes even cozier.

During our stay, we were happily surprised by the celebration of the New Year, also referred to as TET. It is quite an extended holiday of several days long, 4 of which everything is closed down, and during which you are wished a Happy New Year everyday, several times a day, even by the same person consistently…! As it is a very important festivity, it is the highest period of migration throughout Vietnam and China, with many locals travelling to see their families, and thus all public transportation is packed (hence our lovely experience to arrive here). Among the Hmong ethnic people they also sew all new clothes, so on New Year’s Day everybody was walking around with beautiful shiny new outfits. It is also common to see people burning fake money -ironically dollars- hoping this will bring them good luck for the upcoming year.

We had the honor of being invited to celebrate the New Year with a very friendly Hmong family in their cabin in the mountains where they live. According to their beliefs, it brings good luck to have as many people as possible at your house, so they almost have an “open door” policy, and we were no exception to it. After a 20 minute extreme off-road scooter ride on a dirt path filled with holes and serious up and downhill slopes (you cannot imagine what these people are able to do with a simple and tiny scooter), we were welcomed by a wonderful table full of little bowls filled with all sorts of delicious food.

The tradition is to kill and cook a pig the same morning, so the menu was mainly composed of pork, including a dish for almost every part of the animal, not forgetting a tasty bowl of blood which Josep was in a friendly manner forced to taste by the other men at the table! To be honest the thought of it is gross, but the taste was not bad at all (not good enough to ask for a second bowl though..). Men and women sat on opposite ends of the table, and the entire meal was accompanied by a significant dose of rice wine, a homemade liquor containing 35% alcohol which has nothing to do with the wine we are used to, and as you can imagine, it makes you smile more… Throughout the meal, several locals were coming in and out to have some food and cheers together as it is common to spend these days going from house to house celebrating. It was a unique experience.

The rest of the days we basically enjoyed the village and did some hiking on our own, including some trail running through the rice terraces. It was such a pleasant feeling to notice that our only company along the way was the surrounding beautiful nature. Unfortunately, it had snowed a month before our arrival, and thus the majority of the rice terraces did not have the light green color seen in postcards, although this in no way spoiled the views. Sapa was beautiful.