From six thousand miles away, reading about Sapa in the Lonely Planet guide and on the internet, I thought the city would be as advertised: a serene portal to the mountains of North Vietnam with access to tribal areas and trekking. Up close, in Sapa, this is pretty much a joke. As you can see in the photo, Sapa is a busy place.
I made this image using multiple captures at different exposures from the second-floor balcony of my hotel room. What you can’t see from the photo is the noise: for starters, motorcycles roaring and karaoke blasting from the hotel behind me, later as darkness fell a roaring street party and bar scene.
What you also can’t see in this image is the extent of new construction going on in Sapa, most of it pretty ugly.
True, there are some nice mountains nearby. And Sapa is where you catch the gondola up the highest mountain in southeast Asia. But the tribal villages nearby are pretty much dressed up tourist attractions. And the Hmong people on the streets of Sapa are thrown like lambs to the slaughter of the tourist cycle that devours all authenticity.
As I wrote in my previous story on Sapa, while I expected Sapa to be somewhat touristic, I didn’t expect the crazy cultural dissonance I found. There’s more construction going on here than anywhere I’ve seen recently, up to and including the west side of Manhattan. There’s a street party going on right now that could be Times Square. From one side the noise of the partying on the streets meets loud Karaoke coming from the other.
Meanwhile, the tribal Hmong people are reduced to a kind of side show of street vendors (like the beautiful “black” Hmong shown in the photo) and persistent hawking of ersatz crafts by Hmong young and old.
It’s hard to see the construction boom here as anything other than a bubble fueled by easy money, and it is hard to see all this as ending well for the Hmong and other ethnic Vietnamese minorities, and hard to see visitors who aren’t the Disneyland types anything but quite disappointed.
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James
24 Jan 2023I haven’t been to Sapa, yet, but I agree with this sentiment that rapid development overwhelms the past charms of a quiet town in Southeast Asia. The situation plays itself out over and over. You are well-advised to get over it, and enjoy what the town offers, such as vibrance, good food, the same proximity to mountain areas, etc. My $.02.
Sapa Fatasea
18 Feb 2023Sapa is amazing in summer time with beautiful terraced rice fields.
Victoria L
26 Oct 2023This is a great photo. Actually has a painterly look to it. Also, thankful for a realistic photo of Sapa.
Was thinking of going there this winter and now am rethinking. I guess I would avoid the town and stay in the countryside…
Wandering Sandals
24 Nov 2023Of course any interesting place once internet discover it, will be touristy town. Could be blessing in disguise. For one, none of your photo show the rice terraces, majestic temples, flowing waterfalls, and cultural festivals. How do you know that other tourists would NOT love to stay in 5 stars hotel at night and day trekking to various attraction Sapa has to offered, like Muong Hoa valley or Lonely Tree. Perhaps some tourists want great wine and good food instead of purple sticky rice. Your idea is to keep Hmong people in loin cloths and beating the drums around bon fire, and carry foreigners on bamboo raft then you don’t look deep enough. I have never been to Sapa, but been to Baguio, Benguet, Sagada, and Bontoc in Philippines. Will definitely visit Sapa within this year and update my findings.
Mark
30 Mar 2024Not entirely sure how a doctored photo can show the “reality” of anything, and of course the central town of a very touristed area is going to be busy. Where do you expect buses to stop, people to spend the night, find something to eat, buy onward travel tickets etc? An hour away from where this photo was taken is beautiful countryside, justifiably famous.