-15°C, loads and loads of snow, no people, sun. That´s what our trip to South Konnevesi National Park in Finland was about.
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A walk on a beautiful winter day
Sapa region trekking and visiting the H´mongs
Sa Pa (or Sapa) district is situated at the Hoang Lien Son mountain range about 1500 meters above sea level in northwest Vietnam about 380 km from Hanoi. This region that spreads around a valley and mountainsides and is surrounded by towering mountains with thick fog over the peaks is probably best known for two things:
1) ethnic minorities such as Black Hmong, Red Dao, Giay (Day) and Tao living in the valley and around it in the mountainside villages
2) an amazing mountainous landscape with picturesque terraced rice fields offering great trekking and photo opportunities. Those were the main things that made us come here. Being so high above the sea the climate is moderate and much cooler compared to places like Hanoi, Halong bay or Saigon which after weeks of sweating 24/7 suited us as well.
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Phu Quoc - A dig deeper
Phu Quoc – a dig deeper
Now anyone who has been to Instagram is probably saturated with images of absolutely stunning beaches. I thought I´d post one above myself and don´t get me wrong, Sao beach was definitely a great beach and if you are looking for a good beach on Phu Quoc, you should check it out.
But that´ s just a half of the story. You see, when we keep seeing those perfectly composed images of perfect white sand beaches, we forget that that´s not the whole truth. When we first got to this beach we started walking along the waterline to our right. The scene was depressing and really showed... well I don´t even know exactly what it showed. Maybe it shows what mass tourism is doing or maybe it´s a sad reminder of the state our seas are in. Or maybe it´s about the recklessness of the people who use the beach or maybe the lack of infrastucture. Or maybe it´s a combination of all these.
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