[ Travel ] Backpacking IndoChina Day 8: Cat-Cat Village, Sapa, Vietnam


It was too foggy that morning so we decided we’d wait it out a bit so we won’t have a hard time finding our way to the village. We set out a little over past 8 AM and stopped for a cup of coffee and a baguette sandwich from one of those open air food stalls. It gives me an amazing feeling of calm and belonging as I sit there along with the locals eating the same food they’re having, just listening to their easy banter with one another even though I don’t understand a word. Looking at the guys both young and old pass around a bamboo pipe as they smoke to counter the chill of the early morning, I am reminded of how these people literally grew up together. Coming from a small town myself, I am familiar with that kind of bond. At that very moment while I sip my coffee and watch people come and go, I felt like one of them..








When we finally braved the chilly air upon realizing that the fog isn’t going away, it was already after 9 in the morning. Visibility however is still limited to about 10-15 meters. It was cold and refreshing and everywhere I looked, it seemed to be cloaked in mystique. It wasn’t my first time trekking but it was easily the best one for me. We were the only one in the road walking with seemingly no direction. Once in awhile we would come across some native Hmong’s coming down from their village to sell their wares and we would ask if we were walking in the right direction. To our left is the mountainside overgrown with shrubs and herbs while the sound of an occasional mountain water flowing at the roadside would break the silence. To our right is a cliff but it wasn’t near dangerous. It was all so picturesque and I wanted to record it on video but I wouldn’t dare pull out my camera since it was drizzling.


We were at the bridge by the Cat Cat waterfalls at around  10:30 AM. Miraculously, the fog parted to give us an amazing view of the falls. Those flowers aren’t fake but they looked like it only because they were simply too pretty. I doubted it myself when we first got there. We came across some local kids garbed in colorful wardrobe. They were having fun by themselves posing for pictures so I kind of joined their little party. ^_^





After stopping by the falls, we continued with our trek. I was hoping to see some rice terraces but it wasn’t planting season so I was a wee bit disappointed. It was still a scenic walk though. The fog started creeping in again. Really, it was almost as if the Gods of Nature just gave us some time to see the waterfalls in all its glory and for that, we thank You. 🙂






It had started raining again too. Luckily, we spy a small house in the distance. It was a coffee shop. Can the timing be any more perfect? It was simply just a magical moment caught in the rain on top of a mountain with the fog right on our heels and we get to seek shelter in a random coffee shop and have a cup of awesome Vietnamese coffee.

As a fitting end to our journey in the village, we were serenaded by a blind man at the foot of the bridge going back to town. All in all including the trek back, it can be done in around 3 hours at a leisurely pace.

Foot Notes:

Tourists are discouraged to bring along candies to give to the Hmong kids along the way as it encourages begging. I actually encountered this first hand. I was holding a plastic bag of a native delicacy we bought in the market to consume during the trek. We passed by some kids in the village when we were checking out souvenir items and in a split second, someone snatched it away from my hands. It was just too fast. Not that I minded but it just caught me by surprise.

Entrance Fee to Cat Cat Village                              40,000 VND
A cup of coffee at the mountain coffee shop           20,000 VND
Baguette sandwich with egg filling                         20,000 VND
Coffee                                                                      10,000 VND

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