Adventures - Sapa rice terraces, Vietnam

Went to Sapa, Vietnam for a quick 2-day relaxing trek (with hotel stay at night).

My friend and I took the mini-van ("Limousine") to from Hanoi to Sapa. We departed at 7am and reached at about 2pm, a 5-hour journey. The winding road towards the end was a little uncomfortable.

Sapa is home to various hill tribes, including the Black H'mong tribe people who make up the majority. The tallest mountain in Indochina is also found in Sapa (Mt Fansipan).

The benefit of travelling during winter is probably the weather, which was cool and comfortable for hiking. The cons would be that the rice terrace did not look as picturesque. 

There was not many bees, except a little Hylaeus bee.

Possible trails and villages belong to the various hill tribes.

Sun-rays peeking through the clouds during our trek to the rice terraces

...

H'mong lady "smoothening" flax with her hands, so that she can use it to make clothes later.

Rice terraces. According to our guide, there is only one "crop" season in Sapa, which feeds the people and is not commercially sold. 

The many peaks at Sapa

Adventures - Taroko National Park (Hualien) and Yangmingshan (Taipei) in Taiwan

Just a quick post about two national parks in Taiwan! Went in late Feb 2019 and it was almost the end of winter and start of spring! 

Taroko National Park (Hualien)

We took Taroko train from Taipei Main Station and had pre-booked tickets (online). The train ride was scenic! We hired a free-and-easy driver from Klook. Definitely a recommended way to explore Taroko as you can customise your itinerary, and even do some trekking! 

Here's the Qingshui Cliffs, beautiful but rainy day morning. 

Qingshui Cliffs

We went to the Shakadang and Lushui trails - these were the easiest but rather scenic trails in the park. 

The Shakadang trail is the only trail where you can see blue water (it's the last tributary leading to the larger Liwu river) due to the rocks.

We drove through the national park, visited various "attractions" like the Swallow Grotto, Chingxi Suspension Bridge and Cimu Bridge.

Grey water in contrast to the blue water above. A beautiful sight to behold!

Yangmingshan National Park (Taipei)

We took a tour of the Northern part of Taipei, so one of the stops was Yangmingshan National Park; again we used Klook. We made it there just in time for the flower festival and it was crowded. The sakuras and plum trees were blooming, so it was really nice to catch the blooming flowers. We only spent 2 hours there though, unlike Taroko NP where we spent the whole day. 

Flower Clock with many tourists.

Sakura!

We also made a short stop at the Datun Nature Park which is beautiful as well! The clouds obscured our view as we were leaving.

Datun Nature Park

We saw a few male long-horned bees (Tetralonia) sunning on Rhododendron.

A little long-horned bee from genus Tetralonia.

Will end the post here! It was such a great trip to these two national parks. Hope to go again and spend a longer time there!