Visiting Cat Cat Village
Trekking through lush rice terraces, surrounded by nature, encountering local tribal women in traditional dress - this is what I expected from Cat Cat Village. Oh how wrong I was!
That isn’t to say that Cat Cat Village isn’t worth a visit. In fact, it’s probably a ‘must do’ for anyone visiting Sapa. If you don’t have time to travel further out, this will be your one chance to see a ‘local’ village. If you are spending longer in town, there are only a few attractions and this is one of them!
Right - so what should I expect from Cat Cat?
A very commercialised visit to a ‘local’ village. It doesn’t feel authentic at all (this starts when you arrive only to be told to go to a ticket office and pay for entrance).
Other blogs have pointed out that this is to support the locals who live there. At one point I think they opened their houses, but all seemed shut when we were visiting. It’s almost like paying for entrance to a theme park...kinda like main street in Disneyland.
But I’ve s…
That isn’t to say that Cat Cat Village isn’t worth a visit. In fact, it’s probably a ‘must do’ for anyone visiting Sapa. If you don’t have time to travel further out, this will be your one chance to see a ‘local’ village. If you are spending longer in town, there are only a few attractions and this is one of them!
Right - so what should I expect from Cat Cat?
A very commercialised visit to a ‘local’ village. It doesn’t feel authentic at all (this starts when you arrive only to be told to go to a ticket office and pay for entrance).
Other blogs have pointed out that this is to support the locals who live there. At one point I think they opened their houses, but all seemed shut when we were visiting. It’s almost like paying for entrance to a theme park...kinda like main street in Disneyland.
But I’ve s…