During the walk down the road from the town of Sapa, Vietnam, to the village of Cat Cat, we discovered another aspect of visiting ‘off the beaten path’ destinations on our own: being able to experience and enjoy the slower pace of life and the peaceful atmosphere.

Since Kristi and I went on our own, we didn’t have the ‘entourage’ of local women going with us to sell souvenirs. We pretty much walked alone, and once in a while we passed locals either on foot or on motorcycles (which seemed to be the preferred ‘public transport’ locally). But to the most part we could just walk and simply got ‘lost’ in the village environment.

When there was no other ‘noise pollution’ or visual stimulus that compete for your attention, you start noticing little things. For me, it was the gentle sound of water streaming down on the side of the road, as seen in the photo below. The foggy day added another interesting dimension to the sense of place. I think this is why people came to this area back in the French colonial days — to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and to slow down and rest.

Cat Cat is a village close to Sapa, Vietnam. The village was one of the several villages that were becoming popular among tourists who came to trek and see the villages where the local minorities live.

Compared to the other villages, Cat Cat is among the closest in distance to Sapa, and the route to get there is pretty straight forward. As such, they have more visitors who come on their own (without tour guide). The local government also tried to capitalize on this by having a ‘toll gate’ where we needed to purchase entrance tickets before entering the only road that led to the village. When we reached the village, there was a booth where they checked for the tickets, and they had a well-laid out path down the valley and through the village, complete with a map that showed the points of interests along the way.

The photo below showed the checkpoint where our tickets wew checked before entering the pathway to the village.