Sapa or Mai Chau?

If you come to northern Vietnam, earlier or later you will ask yourself the question: Sapa or Mai Chau?

 

After 2 days of the craziness of Hanoi, we needed a change of scenery and opted for Mai Chau instead of Sapa. There are two reasons for this: Mai Chau is closer to Hanoi and less touristy. We met many people who did both and most who did a several day tour preferred Mai Chau over Sapa just because you can still feel more like an explorer and less like a mass tourist.

 

Ricefields, motorcycle tours and waterfalls

We stayed at Nature Lodge in the homestay stilt house. During the day we really needed the fans on full power but during the night the temperature was quite agreeable. The night was quite loud with all the cicada noises but that gave us the opportunity to get up early on the first morning and experience the mist hovering over the rice fields. It was a magical environment!
During the day it’s just as beautiful. On the first day, we all took a bicycle (some in better shape than others) and drove through the valley of green rice fields. It was very nice to be in an environment so different from home!
In the evening, we had a delicious bbq dinner with a huge variety of things. I loved all the food we had in Vietnam so far. After dinner, there was a show with traditional dancing and in the end, everybody received a sip of rice wine.
The next day, we did an awesome tour on a scooter through the backcountry and swam in a lake and waterfall. You can read more about that adventure here.

At the end of the second day, there was a storm and when it ended we witnessed a magical moment. The whole valley shone yellow and there was a whole rainbow visible in the sky. Stunning!
After that day, I was so tired that I even slept through the noise of the workers the next morning and got up just in time for breakfast. Next to the pancakes I already started eating beef noodle soup for breakfast. It’s just so delicious! And we needed the energy. We had a 2km uphill bicycle ride ahead of us and that in 37 degrees (feeling like 45) was quite strenuous. The hike afterwards was almost agreeable compared to that. We walked up the hill to then wander through the rice terraces. I even could plant a row of rice myself 🙂 That was a lot of fun. And we still could not get over how beautiful the whole scenery was.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mai Chau is definitely worth a visit a few days if you want an authentic Vietnam experience. We booked a 3 day/ 2 night tour through the Golden Charm Hotel in Hanoi. It cost about 150$ which is more than other tours but we were the only ones who had that great motorscooter adventure with the home made lunch and that was well worth it.