Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Do you know that autumn has arrived in Sapa? 

The autumn here also marks the beginning of the persimmon season. From mid-August to late October is the time to harvest many varieties of persimmons. Among them, crunchy persimmons are always the earliest type to ripen. 

During this time, I often visit Mrs. Vân’s orchard, where there are plenty of 20-year-old crunchy persimmon trees. Mrs. Vân, the garden owner, shared with me that her trees are native to Japan. They belong to the Fuyu persimmon species. An interesting thing is that the trees only grow their deep roots and thick trunks through time. Therefore, each tree is fruitful and just 1 or 2-meter high. This makes the harvesting work quite easy.  Continue reading Picking up crunchy persimmons at Mrs. Vân’s orchard →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

One day, while I was thinking about where I could buy fresh tea leaves in Sapa market, an old Black Hmong woman carrying on her back a rattan basket full of green tea leaves passed by my house. 

From a distance, I called her. With a bamboo walking stick in her hand, she slowly came to me. This Hmong woman wore a traditional indigo costume. At an age of over 80, she was thin and had skin as brown as the colour of the soil in Sapa hills. The wrinkles on her forehead and around her eyes looked like the lines of rice terraces. Though her eyes were cloudy, she still could see everything around.  Continue reading Buying fresh tea leaves from an old Black Hmong woman →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

How are you doing?

Sapa is in the cool and rainy summer. This season is really a good chance for me to see different dragonflies in the sky. Each time I come across a dragonfly, this Vietnamese proverb often springs to mind: “If dragonflies fly low, it will be rainy. If they fly high, it will be sunny. And if they fly at a medium height, it will be shady.” 

Basically, a dragonfly normally has two big, spherical eyes. The eyes are close together and cover almost all of the dragonfly’s head. It has a tiny mouth along with four clear and fragile wings. Its six legs are hairy and spiky. The dragonfly’s belly is long and slim. Every part of a dragonfly’s body combines perfectly to help it fly speedily, escape from danger, and hunt prey such as mosquitoes, flies, or bees easily. 

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Have you ever picked up someone’s lost item?

A few days ago, a taxi driver gave a lost wallet to our family hotel. He said he had found the wallet in the back seat of his taxi after dropping off two foreign guests at the hotel in the middle of the night.

Inside the brown leather wallet contained more than 500.000 VND, along with a Vietnam SIM card, a credit card, and a driver’s licence of a British person named “Georges”. Continue reading Finding a dropped wallet →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Truc Lam Dai Giac Zen monastery is the first Buddhist monastery in Sapa, built in 2015. It stands on a hill on Dien Bien Phu Street. This monastery belongs to the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect.

The main hall of the monastery is spacious, with a simple design. There is a big Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the center of the hall. The Buddha holds a lotus in his right hand with a gentle smile. Besides the Buddha statue are the statues of Manjushri – the Bodhisattva of wisdom, and Samantabhadra – the Bodhisattva of kindness. This hall is where the monks, and nuns in the monastery, along with other Buddhists, practice sitting meditation. Continue reading Truc Lam Dai Giac Zen monastery →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

How are you doing? Who do you often encounter on the streets?

I often run into some Hmong children who spend most of their time on Sapa’s streets. They are at the age of 1- 10, and most of them come from Lao Chải village.  

The Hmong children usually walk around the main streets in Sapa. With some souvenirs in their hand, they work as street vendors. The children approach tourists, and ask them to buy something. Sometimes, the begging action of these children bothers visitors.

Continue reading The Hmong child vendors in Sapa →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

How are you? Do you like dragons?

Today, I’d love to share with you a story about a mountain located right in Sapa downtown. The mountain  reaches 1850m above sea level. People call this mountain “Hàm Rồng” as its peak looks like a dragon’s jaw. 

Continue reading A story about Mount Hàm Rồng →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

How’s it going? Do you have any memories with traffic lights?

I remember, when I was a teen, my friends and I talked about traffic lights. We asked one another why Sapa didn’t have any. Some friends answered, “Sapa is just a small town. Only big cities have traffic lights”, while others replied, “Perhaps it would be hard to install traffic lights on the sloping roads in Sapa.” At that time, we all were curious to know where people would put traffic lights. 

Continue reading The traffic lights in Sapa →

Sapa corner

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

How are you doing today? Have you ever seen black mustard seeds?

In Sapa, people often cultivate black mustard plants. This sort of plant bears black mustard seeds. 

Black mustard seeds usually have a dark brown colour. The seeds are smaller than sesame seeds, and look like tiny balls. Even so, these tiny seeds can sprout from soil and grow into black mustard plants with beautiful yellow flowers in large fields. 

Continue reading Black mustard seeds →