Sapa has been generously endowed by nature, from its high
mountains and deep rivers through valleys and layers of terraces fields and
orchids and primitive forests to its genuine and delightful inhabitants. But
that does not seem to be all. Sapa is additionally endowed with white clouds,
an amorphous treasure that comes and goes unexpectedly.
One can affirm with certainty that if a photo of the Sapa
landscape does not feature clouds its author has not yet grasped the beauty of
Sapa. Remember the typical pictures printed on calendars, postcards, magazine
or newspaper covers. In all of them, Sapa always appears amidst white clouds.
Clouds can change shape dramatically. When the porous white
cotton covers mountains and forests, Sapa looks like a sea of clouds, with
mountain peaks of Hoang Lien Son as islands. In the blink of an eye, these
clouds can descend to the bottom of O Quy Ho valley and froim Sapa, one may
imagine oneself in heaven looking down on the clouds in the middle of the sky.
The gold sunshine pouring through to the terrace fields located in the valley
turns the ambiance to honey.
The most exciting scene occurs when the wind starts to blow.
The floating clouds gradually rise up in masses, swallowing the mountains and
Sapa seems to sink in a white sea. People standing a few feet apart can hardly
see each other. One feels like losing gravity.
When the sky is clear, the snowy – white clouds curl into
each other. They are bunches of thread, they are young, ladies lying naked
along the mountain side. Some cottage
roofs by the gorges emerge from the clouds which are so thick that one can
associate them with a spacious courtyard to dry rice and corn. When the wind
blows hard, the clouds explode into hundreds of pieces, like ice blocks melting
in Western rivers in the spring . Meanwhile, the small clouds in the valleys
are chasing each other like playful waves.
At other times, they are as thin as mist or smoke, forming
silk ribbons cobering the streets, trees and grass field. They stay there for a
long time. The higher clouds are thinner. If Sapa witnesses fog before the Tet
season, the weather is going to get extremely cold in the following days. If
the fog appears in summer, there will be excessive sunshine. Sometimes it stays
for several days, and vehicles have to move very slowly, keeping their
fog-light on. In the moonlight, the view simply breathtaking.
Whether you are watching the clouds from your window or from
a grass field, you will feel pleasure and relaxation, forget your worries and
ponder about the uncertainties of human life, just like clouds gathering and
separating unpredictably.
Perhaps you have heard of the popular song “Wandering
clouds”. This is a funny American story of cowboys playing cheerfully in the
prairie, like little mice in a wheat stock, People here play the song in a
slower rhythm and give it Vietnamese lyrics, reproaching the clouds that keep
wandering, concealing forests or indulging themselves with the stars. The end
of the song is the singer’s concern that the clouds cry when it rains. The
composer must surely have observed clouds for long time, and who knows if the
clouds of Sapa have not inspired him.
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