May is one of the most beautiful months of the year to visit Sapa. It is also one of the hottest months in Hanoi so it makes sense to escape the heat and head to Sapa for a few days to cool off...
May is the time the local ethnic tribes commence planting the rice terraces and there is a lot of action in the fields.
We hope to see you in Sapa soon
www.saparooms.com
At Tet Lifestyle Collection we invite you to experience the unique exotic culture of Northern Vietnam. Wrap yourself in nature and escape to our ultimate mountain hideaway retreats in Sapa. Dine in our restaurants to experience home style Vietnamese cuisine, which nourish your senses and tantalize your taste buds. Live the energy and age-old traditions of the capital city in our boutique hotel in historical Hanoi.
Discover the breathtaking scenery of Vietnam’s premier destination aboard a vessel which exudes charm and luxury! Now choose from the beautiful Bhaya or the new luxury Au Co cruise ships.
Halong Bay is a legendary world just waiting to be explored. Bhaya Cruises combine oriental style with contemporary luxury. Together these are the perfect recipe for an enchanting and relaxing experience. In 1917, Emperor Khai Dinh plied the waters of the Bay in a wonderful wooden junk. Almost a century later you too can embark on a voyage through time – in a vessel recreated from the original designs and with impeccable service fit for an Emperor. Reside in one of 20 luxurious cabins or suites, wine and dine in style and enjoy a relaxing – or exhilarating – array of onboard activities. The choice really is yours.
Refresh mind, body and spirit. Live the Legend – Cruise Bhaya.
Email today to book yoru Halong Bay experience.
The theme for World Malaria Day 2012 - "Sustain Gains, Save Lives: Invest in Malaria" - marks a decisive juncture in the history of malaria control. Whether the malaria map will keep shrinking, as it has in the past decade, or be reclaimed by the malaria parasites, depends, to a great extent, on the resources that will be invested in control efforts over the next years.
Investments in malaria control have created unprecedented momentum and yielded remarkable returns in the past years. In Africa, malaria deaths have been cut by one third within the last decade; outside of Africa, 35 out of the 53 countries, affected by malaria, have reduced cases by 50% in the same time period. In countries where access to malaria control interventions has improved most significantly, overall child mortality rates have fallen by approximately 20%.
However, these gains are fragile and will be reversed unless malaria continues to be a priority for global, regional and national decision-makers and donors. Despite the current economic climate, development aid needs to continue flowing to national malaria control programs to ensure widespread population access to life-saving and cost-effective interventions. Long-term success will also depend on investments in on-going research and development to combat emerging threats such as parasite resistance.
Sustaining malaria control efforts is an investment in development. Continued investment in malaria control now will propel malaria-endemic countries toward near-zero deaths by 2015 and achieving the Millennium Development Goals, especially those relating to improving child survival and maternal health, eradicating extreme poverty and expanding access to education. courtesy of WHO
At Tet Lifestyle Collection we invite you to experience the unique exotic culture or Northern Vietnam. Escape to our ultimate mountain hideaway retreats in Sapa and wrap yourself in nature. Dine in our restaurants to experience home style Vietnamese cuisine, which nourish your senses and tantalize your taste buds. Live the energy and age-old traditions of the capital city in our boutique hotel in historical Hanoi.
TET Lifestyle Collection is a boutique hotel management and development company with properties throughout central and Northern Vietnam. Our mission is to provide an experience, which is both unique and memorable. Our properties harmonize with the surrounding environment, culture and traditions in each of our locations, allowing our guests an authentic connection during their stay. Our décor boutiques are operated in some of our properties with further expansion planned, this allows us to extend our reach into our guests’ homes, so they can enjoy the memories of Vietnam at home. All our décor is hand crafted with locally sourced products.
Sapa Rooms boutique hotel
Escape the city and everyday life by nourishing your senses and spirit with a true mountain getaway.
Situated right in the heart of Sapa town, occupying an unprecedented corner location, overlooking the stunning terraced valleys of Sapa. With the local fruit and vegetable market only meters away, guests enjoy reclining in the restaurant and lobby lounges, enjoying the energy and vibrancy of this very special boutique hotel.
Hmong Mountain Retreat
At Hmong Mountain Retreat we invite you to discover a new passion. Indulge in rare quality time with your loved ones in this natural setting. Curl up with a good book, join our daily Vietnamese cooking class or head out on a trek to stroll the mountain buffalo trails to enjoy the panoramic views.
The Retreat is made up of a number of buildings. The large Stilt house, 5 rammed earth bungalows and one 70 year old Hmong House. Right from the beginning, the local ethnic minority people were incorporated into the construction of Hmong Mountain Retreat. The Retreat is not a foreign element; rather it is integrated into the region. Our staff team are local people trained in our hotel vocational training program.
The Large stilt house is 80 years old and was relocated from a small village 150km North East of Sapa. This is a very special structure as there are not many Stilt houses left standing which have a full thatched roof. The reason for this is the costs associated with thatching. Considering there are more the 40,000 palm leaves on our Thatch Stilt house it is a very expensive exercise and little wonder local people have moved away from thatching to more modern materials. Unfortunately asbestos roof sheets have started to become cheap alternatives over the past few years. Let’s hope an alternative is found soon.
Hill Top Bungalows in Hmong Mountain Retreat:
Retreat to the serenity of your hill top bungalow and experience Sapa in its true beauty. Your home away from h
ome is made entirely from sustainable products from the land. A mixture of clay walls, palm leaf thatching and palm tree wood flooring gives a true sense of being wrapped in nature, while the hand woven cotton bedding made by the indigenous tribes of northern Vietnam and Laos ensure comfort and warmth. Slip into a deep slumber.
Private 2 bed room Hmong House at Hmong Mountain Retreat:
Reminiscent of a traditional Hmong village your private 2 bedroom authentic Hmong House is 70 years old, relocated to the property by buffalo from 45km away and constructed by the original owners to ensure authenticity in every detail. Immerse yourself in a once in a life time experience as you discover all the comforts of our nature retreat.
The Hmong House is made from the original hard wood, doors and roofing frames. We revitalized the house with new clay walls, flooring and thatching. Oh and some electricity and ceiling fans from the 1940’s, they are real beauties.
The Stilt House in Hmong Mountain Retreat:
Hmong Mountain Retreat is the ultimate mountain hideaway. exclusive property, offering a gentle adventure and a wholesome vacation experience in a natural setting. The eco property is located 6km outside of Sapa overlooking the famous Muong Hoa valley and Lao Chai hamlets.
This is our common area for guests to gather for breakfast and dinner as well as our very popular daily Vietnamese cooking class. Make sure you discover the upstairs space.
This week at our Ma Cha school our resident handy man Mr Tony completed a mamouth task of re-roofing the entire school. Over the past 7 years the quality of the roof in our school has deterirated, often the children sat in puddles of water while they studied in class. Tony volunteers this time to give back to the students in our school and project manages many of our revitilization works we have.
My team and I are so grateful to have Tony with us again this year and we have two more large projects to complete. One is to build a wall around the school to stop looting, the second is to build a hand washing facility - specail thank you to David Forgay in Canada and his team of doners for their generosity.
No doubt we will be keeping Mr Tony busy again this year...
Thank you
It was a very busy week in Sapa and at Ma Cha school this week. On Tuesday we delivered 120 jackets and sweaters to the students and teachers. If you have been following our BLOG over the past few months you will understand this was the final step in a 2 month process to raise the funds, purchase the jackets and deliver them to the children at the school. Tuesday was very rewarding for all the guests, my family and gererous donners involved. Thank you so very much. We now have 120 very toasty warm students in our school.
This week we also had a visit from Anh Do, an Australian comedian. As part of his upcomming TV special he spent two days filming with my team in Sapa, cooking a soup kitchen for our students and generously donating 120 rubber boots and sandles for each student as well as three months supply of school stationery for the entire shcool. Thank you Channel 7 Australia, you have made some children very happy...
Make sure when you come to Sapa you drop in to say hello to our team. We would love to meet you.
In January and February this year we ran an online campaign to raise awareness for Ma Cha school in Sapa and to publicise our "Help Keep Us Warm This Winter" campaign to purchase a warm jacket for each child in Ma Cha school.
I am extremely pleased to advise we raised enough funds to purchase not only a beautiful new warm jacket for each child, we raised enough to also purchase each child a very warm wool sweater as well. The children are going to be so happy in their new clothing.
I want to thank all the wonderful people who genersously gave from their wallets and hearts to help make some children very happy and warm this winter. Just to let you know today is only 1 degree in Sapa.
The items of clothing have been purchased, ready to distribute to the children on Tuesday 21 February. Please drop back on Tuesday to view the photos of the children.
C’mon in, pull up a chair and get comfortable as you check out all the antics we’ve been up to lately
Thank you for visiting the TET Lifestyle Collection official blog – Sapa Stories. I am the story teller, Pete Wilkes, the owner of TET Lifestyle Collection, the parent company of a collection of boutique hotels and eco retreats in Northern Vietnam. Our properties include Sapa Rooms, Hmong Mountain Retreat, 6 on Sixteen boutique hotel and our latest venture Fragrant Path dai lai.
Sapa Stories Blog was created as a means to communicate directly with our past, present and future guests as well as other people interested in my ramblings and our properties. There's always something new happening at TET Lifestyle Collection, so check back often for the latest postings. I plan to include blog postings from some of our many guests who stay in our properties, regular updates on our properties, staff team information, our community work updates, photos and video of the areas we operate in.
We believe our organisation has a responsibility to give back to the local community in Northern Vietnam, to help those on whom we rely as our suppliers and guides. Throughout our properties we encourage our guests to make conscious decisions which impact their holiday destination in a positive way. By staying, dining or trekking with our properties our guests choose to travel with generosity and give back. By buying direct from the ethnic minority people we promote free trade and support positive change. We think socially aligned sourcing is a step in the right direction for positive change.
Your valuable comments and feedback are more than welcome so please join our discussions by adding a comment underneath an entry. I hope you enjoy Sapa Stories and I hope to hear from you soon.
Happy reading
Pete
