Boulder Valley Women's Health

Located in the mountains of north-west, Sapa is a small town nestled in the mountains in Hoang Lien Son province of Lao Cai. Sapa is a great destination for enjoying the outdoors with magnificent landscapes that attract tourists and foreigners.

Travel to Sapa, few tourists miss the opportunity to trek in the mountain villages and majestic waterfalls.

Cat Cat Village is located on top of unspoilt countryside and is a popular destination for hikers who want to spend full days walking in a world of natural beauty and tranquility.

Visitors to Cat Cat have the opportunity to admire and watch locals seated at the loom and create colorful pieces of brocade. When these pieces of brocade are finished, they are dyed and embroidered with beautiful drawings of flowers and birds. Interestingly, women use Mong, plants and leaves to dye fabric. After dyeing the fabric, then they roll a round, smooth piece of wood, covered with wax, the polishing materials. In doing so, it helps to make the colors more durable the fabric.

Apart from their looms, many residents of Cat Cat are good at making gold and silver jewelry. Their products are fairly sophisticated, especially jewelry for women.

Later in the village are waterfalls with a stream that weaves its way around rocks, hills and mountains. The stream is spanned by a virgin suspension bridge, which offers beautiful views of waterfalls and mountains.

The path crosses over the bridge of bamboo forests filled with wildflowers and past quiet streams.

Another essential village of Ta Phin, a remote village located 12km from the center of Sapa, which still preserves traditional customs and lifestyles of the Dao, Tay and Mong ethnic groups.

It is recommended that tourists take a local xe om (motorbike taxi) to the price of VND180, 000 (U.S. $ 10) to get there. Another option is to rent a bike for VND100, 000 ($ 5.50) per day, which offers a convenient and interesting to explore the landscape and villages.

Despite the winding road toward the village, tourists can see the picturesque hills and terraced fields on the track. Much of the Sapa valley has been cultivated in the green rice fields equipped with irrigation systems.

Ta Phin Village seeks to benefit from tourism, and thus causes children and adults to constantly monitor the visitors in an effort to persuade them to buy wallets, hats, bags or cloth. However, these sellers tend to be friendly and welcoming.

The villagers often invite tourists to visit their homes, where they show them how they live and what they have, and talk about their families. Their standard of living is still low, but their lives were improved by the growing tourism industry.

"We women are so active - not only do we grow vegetables and raise pigs and look for firewood, we also try to learn English so that we can talk to tourists," said a 25 year old woman, Dao. "Before there were tourists, we were very poor, but now we can do manual work, make money and meet people."

Ta Phin Village is able to win the hearts of tourists thanks to the best attractions that surround it. Lavie cascade is a common destination for hikers. After hiking through forests, corn fields and the mountains, tourists often enjoy soaking in Lavie Stream and sunbathing on the flat rocks.

After a long day's journey on the winding roads and hills around Sapa, it was nice to soak my bones and muscles in a bath based on traditional Dao Ta Phin.

The price was reasonable, VND60, 000 ($ 3.30) for a one-hour bath. Soaking in the medicinal waters can make you feel a little tipsy. When you start to feel dizzy, it's time to leave the wooden bathtub. After soaking, I.