Hong Kong & Vietnam: Sapa - half day trip to Cat Cat Village

http://hongkongvietnam.blogspot.com.au

Cat Cat Village is the home of Black H'mong ethnic people and is located near the bottom of a deep valley at the foot of Fansipan Peak. A local guide, So Lo showed us some of the daily life activities of the locals, we trekked down to the valley below to the waterfall where the French built a Hydraulic Power Station and returned uphill. That was a return trekking distance of about 3 km and took about 2 hours. So Lo was very patient with me as I was struggling with Sciatica.

Visiting Cat Cat Village, tourists will be impressed by the peacefully picturesque sceneries. People can easily catch sight of women sitting in front of the loom with colourful pieces of brocade, while children playing around with pets or even livestock. From the plain brocade, then women can carefully dye them with special leaves and embroider beautiful patterns of flower and animal on them. Moreover, many residents of Cat Cat Village are also skillful at manipulating sophisticated gold and silver jewellery.

The original architect of H’Mong people is interesting as well. Their house typically contains three rooms with three doors and po mu wood roof, while the walls’ material is sawn timber. There are other indispensable parts of the house such as altar, kitchen, places for keeping food and sleeping, etc.

Cat Cat Village gives tourists a chance to have a glimpse into the daily life of local ethnic people, as well as take part in traditional activities such as weaving fabric. It is also a good opportunity to purchase some traditional souvenirs and handicrafts right from the craftsmen. People can also try some local food selling the way upcoming to the hill.

Through times Cat Cat Village has transformed to one appealing feature of Sapa's tourism.

Map of Cat Cat Village trek
About 2 kms from Sapa

Our tour guide So Lo was a mother with 2 young children

The start to our Cat Cat Village trek below

Cat Cat Village

The descent down to Cat Cat Village

Our walk down to Cat Cat Village
So Lo, Robyn, Linh Ngoc and I

Terraced rice and corn fields
Our descent down to Cat Cat Village

Our walk down to Cat Cat Village

A family shop
Baby peeling a hard boiled egg

Rice field

View as we trekked down to Cat Cat Village

Bananas

We continued our trek down to Cat Cat Village

Lady dying material indigo

Drying out corn
Hammock waiting to be used

Buffalo wandering through village

So Lo and Robyn

Inside a village house with kitchen
step ladder to upstairs sleeping area

Cooking area

kitchen area

This little pig went to market
This little pig stayed at home
This little pig had roast beef
This little pig had none and
This little pig went wee wee wee all the way home!