I thought it was about time I started sharing some photos from my trip to Vietnam with you. These pictures are of Hill Tribe women from the northern mountain town of Sapa.

There are more then 50 different ethnic minority peoples in Vietnam. ‘Hill Tribes’ refers to various different groups of people who migrated from China over the past few centuries and settled in the mountainous northern regions of Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar). The women in the first four photos are from the Black Hmong people, and the last two are Red Dao (pronounced Dzao). The name of each ethnic group usually refers to the distinct clothing that that group wears.

I took all these photos in Sapa market where I spent many happy hours with these lovely women, shopping, laughing and just hanging out.

I bought some of these beautiful embroidered bedspreads, rolls of batik indigo hemp fabric and neon embroidery, some silver jewellery and various pieces of traditional clothing.

I had dreamed of going to Sapa for many years after seeing photos from my brother’s trips there, and receiving gifts of these beautiful handicrafts from him.

I’ll show you more photos over the next little while of our trek and village homestay, and also some of the goodies that I bought from the various Hill Tribe markets that we visited.