Originally a cultural beauty of the Mong people in the Northwest mountains for many generations, the Sapa love market has become a tourist highlight where the town is at the top of the country, attracting many tourists. Domestic and foreign tourists stop by and experience for themselves. So what is so unique about the Sapa love market? Let’s explore!
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When did Sapa Love Market start?
When did the Sapa love market start? No one knows the exact time. The village elders here recounted that, in the past, the locality only held a market once on Saturday each week with the desire to have moments to meet, gather together and share joys and sorrows, the hardships of daily farm life. Usually, on the market day, people in the village and people living in other nearby villages, from girls to boys, from older people to young children, gather, sit together, drink a few cups of corn wine, eat a bowl of Thang Co. They also often bring food, produce, and farm tools out of the house to exchange or trade with each other.
However, exchanging and trading agricultural products or agricultural tools is just a side reason. Usually, when it comes to the Sapa love market, people often joke that it is a market but not a place to sell anything. That’s right. Sapa Love Market is a dating place for young and beautiful couples in the Dao and Hmong villages.
From the early morning, boys and girls will meet at the market and bring rafts and wine jars to lead each other down to the market. Usually, the girls will dress up in their best outfits on this particular day, much prettier with bracelets, necklaces, earrings, hats, and a bag behind. Meanwhile, the boys are also very “genuine” when wearing a boat suit, brocade, or typical indigo clothes.
Usually, local girls and boys will gather in small groups at the market gate with a series of idyllic activities such as dancing, blowing leaves, etc. However, these activities are only secondary. Usually, boys and girls will often ‘give their eyes to love’ and look for a soul mate. If he meets the right person, the boy will blow the trumpet and dance, and the girls will spread umbrellas, blow leaves, and dance around. They will meet, have fun all day in the love markets, and only leave when the sun has gone down the mountain. Gradually, this has become a habit, custom, and the market accidentally becoming a charming place for couples in the Northwest.
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Where is the love market?
If in the past, the love market took place in just a small corner where the fair of the ethnic people in the wild mountains and forests, today, the love market will take place at a fixed point in Sapa square in front of the Famous Stone Temple.
According to custom, the Sapa love market happens regularly every Saturday. On Saturday evenings, people, especially boys and girls in the village, will gather around the square with splendid clothes and a space filled with musical, sweet sounds.
More specifically, around 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. every Saturday, the love market will be more bustling with a series of fun and entertainment activities. The fair is also the most appropriate time if you want to understand better the beauty of the love market culture of the Mong people.
When is the best time to come to Sapa love market?
The most appropriate time of the year to come to the Sapa love market is in the spring days, with the jubilant and bustling atmosphere crept everywhere in the majestic Northwest mountains. At that time, the villages seemed to light up with the scene of peach blossoms blooming on both sides of the road and white plum blossom petals peeking out, creating a beautiful and poetic watercolor painting.
Spring is a time when people allow themselves to relax after a whole year of a busy life. At this time, temporarily putting aside the daily hardships, the villagers often organize bustling festivals in the hope of starting a new year smoothly and successfully. At this time, the boys will bring their traditional solid dances to the love market, while the girls will be shining in self-rented dresses with bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. They are shy under umbrellas and sweet glances with a lover’s intentions, creating a fun and bustling festive atmosphere.
How to go to the love market
Sapa love market takes place at the central square in front of the Stone Church, so if you want to come to this particular market, we reveal that it is straightforward.
If you want to exercise, then after having dinner, you can leisurely walk to Sapa love market at the busiest time, just in time to enjoy the bustling and exciting atmosphere of the trumpet sound echoing the whole sky.
There is also a series of electric vehicles equipped to bring visitors to nearby attractions in the town while ensuring the limit of emissions caused by cars and protecting the environment. With only 6,000 VND / person/turn, you can already come to the Sapa love market.
Otherwise, traveling on a motorbike to be proactive and flexible in time is also a perfect suggestion for you. Don’t worry that you won’t be able to rent a car, because along the roads in Sapa, there are a series of car rental points and car delivery services to the hotel door, too convenient, right?
Special experiences when coming to the unique Sapa love market
You can immerse yourself in the bustling and vibrant festive atmosphere imbued with the culture of the Mong ethnic people in the dreamy Sapa. Still, you can also visit various famous destinations nearby, such as the Stone Church with its ancient and idyllic beauty, or visit Sunplaza with its classical European-style architecture.
In addition, do not miss the opportunity to take cute photos with lovely highland babies. The image of little children walking behind their mother’s footsteps or sitting close to the small stall, just thinking about it, makes you feel lovely.
Besides, do not miss the opportunity to enjoy the typical dishes of the Northwest mountains with a series of famous specialties everywhere in this place, such as thang co – a long-standing dish of the ethnic people here. Majestic mountains – or dishes related to sturgeon and salmon – are two specialties of Sapa with firm, soft, melt-in-your-mouth meat, and a distinctive fatty leopard flavor. Not only that, the pig under the armpits turned by the woodstove with crispy skin and rich, greasy taste, and the skewers of grilled meat and vegetables flickering by the charcoal stove are also an irresistible charm in Sapa.
Notes
If you want to experience the fun and exciting atmosphere of the unique love market, you should not tease the boys and girls. Because they are inherently gentle people and most likely have honorable intentions, so you should limit teasing them if you don’t want to cause unnecessary misunderstandings, making the outing less fun.
Not only that, do not wear ethnic minority costumes if you visit the love market, because you certainly don’t want to be teased and picked up by local boys and girls as a husband or wife, right? (actually, this is for Vietnamese tourists)
In addition, remember to ask the price of the items before buying and pay attention to personal items such as wallets and phones carefully.
Sapa love market, a cultural beauty of the Hmong people in the Northwest mountains for many generations, has become an attraction of the tourist city all year round with the misty fog in the top part of the country. Hopefully, this article helped you better understand the stories surrounding the unique ethnic fair.
