The northernmost part of North Vietnam, just a stone’s throw from the Chinese border is a world apart. So remote, or perhaps because it is so close to China, that the region was largely untouched by the “American” War. The French colonialists called the region the “Tonkinese Alps”. A region of soaring peaks (including the highest mountain in Southeast Asia), impossibly terraced slopes and rice paddies and stunningly beautiful valleys.

The region is inhabited by some 30 or so ethnically distinct hill tribes with diverse cultures, speaking different dialects which are so dissimilar that Mandarin is the local Lingua Franca and the only way the different tribes can communicate with each other.

When Vietnam’s period of modern development got underway in the mid-’80’s following decades of war, the central government sent people to the region from other parts of the country to start developing an infrastructure, of which the most visible sign today is a series of massive dams and hydroelectric schemes

The centre of mass tourism in northwestern Vietnam (both locals and foreigners) is Sa Pa, developed by the French a century or more ago as a hill station, somewhere to escape the summer heat of Hanoi. We avoid the crowds all together though by staying 45 minutes away at the stunningly located Topas Ecolodge.

Describing itself as “A touch of Scandinavia in Vietnam”, the lodge comprises some 40 individual mostly thatched two-level bungalows perched along a ridge overlooking a stunningly beautiful, picturesque valley.

Each bungalow offers a spectacular view matched by the view from the Lodge’s infinity swimming pool.

If you can tear yourself away from that and the restaurant’s Vietnamese/Scandinavian fusion cuisine, the Lodge offers guided day-long hikes through the valleys and terraced paddy fields passing through hill tribe villages and communities. 

The hill tribes are still the poorest of Vietnam’s 90 million or so population and mostly continue to adhere to their traditional customs and way of life. Whereas more affluent Vietnamese families now have two children at most, hill tribe families have many children to help farm the land and look after the animals. In some tribes we hear, children marry very young. Boys as young as 14 marry women several years their senior, the idea being that by that age boys are mature enough to farm and the older women have learned how to cook, look after a home and bring up the children. Not a social strategy I can see catching on in the West…..😂

We’re incredibly fortunate to experience the region in near-perfect weather, just dodging the northeasterly monsoon forecast to arrive the evening of our departure day. But even the easiest hikes are strenuous and our guide takes pity on us, offering a shorter (though still pretty tough) valley route on day 1

and an “easier” route through the paddy field terraces on day 2. Unfortunately that meant we missed out on visiting a remote Hmong village which is only accessible via a long trek up a steep hillside. 

Not so Mark! Our guide tells us that he had the “pleasure” of guiding Mark Zuckerberg a few years back. Mark it seems took over the entire Topas Ecolodge. For his hikes, Mark was preceded and followed by a posse of bodyguards. Local guides both led and followed the group but out of sight! So Mark was guided but in such a way that he could feel like he was doing it all himself. While no doubt feeling like he was protected from being kidnapped by one of the hill tribes who of course would have recognized him on sight…..😂😂