Sapa

General Impressions
The scenery around Sapa is stunning. Terraced rice fields and mountains as far as the eye can see. Indigo clad women sitting on the side of the road selling peaches, buffalo, fabrics. Sapa is a great relief from the heat in summer (but on weekends in the summer Sapa will be very busy with local tourists).
Sapa is however a place that has become a tourist mecca. Every second building is a hotel and every person is a tourist guide or "original hand made" whatever saleswoman. (funnily enough they all have the same "original hand made bags", the same pattern, the same colours, the same exact design...... in fact, it looks just like something that would be made in a factory in China for very cheap.

Where I stayed
Kenpass hotel
I do not recommend! The room was clean, though the hot water was more... tepid rather than hot.
The main memory I have of this hotel was washing to yelling at 4.30am
It would seem they allow Vietnamese tourists to book one room for entire families. The family who for some reason were leaving at 4.30 in the morning had at least 4 adults and 3 kits in the one room. This leads to a major increase in noise levels! Now, normally I wouldn't blame a hotel floor other guests being noisy. But it is obviously due to the over stocking off rooms. Also, it took around 45 minutes of yelling for this family to finally get the hell out of the hotel. Their voices were echoing through the whole hotel. At no time did any staff come and tell them to keep it down.
Secondly, the rooms have large glass windows on the doors. They have made a half hearted attempt at privacy by putting some sheer curtains up. The hotel staff then disregard this privacy by looking at us through the gap in the curtain at 6.30am. I was lying in bed and looked up to see a man looking into our room. I have no idea what his deal was. But that is unacceptable, especially when I realized he was staff.
It is in a temptingly central location, and it is cheap.... but the location losses points because it is actually directly opposite the concert park..... and Vietnamese people like their concerts loud!

Trekking
If you go to sapa, doing some sort of trekking is pretty much mandatory. We trekked with Sapa OChau. I would say that your trekking experience is absolutely dependent on your guide. And to be honest, ours wasn't really all that talkative! Actually, just outside of town a young man (turns out he was her husband) met us and walked with us. He didn't speak any English and our guide spent most of the trek walking and talking with him.
Where we spent the night a group from Sapa Sisters was also staying. Next time I would trek with them! She was talkative, informative and social. Definitely more fun!

Bac ha markets
If you are around on a weekend, the Sunday Bac ha markets are worth the trip! To get there from Sapa you have to go back through Lai Chau so it is actually easier to get the train from Hanoi Saturday night and bus to Bac Ha as soon as you arrive, or get the train back from Sapa Sunday night and just ask the tour bus to drop you at the train station on their way back to Sapa. If that doesn't work for you though, you can do a day trip from Sapa to Bac Ha and back again. Every hotel and tour agency has a version of the tour, I am pretty sure that they are all the same (and prices do vary) so it might be worth asking around.

The markets here are a major event, people come from many surrounding villages to buy and sell. Most minority people are dressed in traditional costumes so you can even compare that different groups. Make sure to walk up the hill at the back to also see the animal market!
The Bac ha market is full of women trying to force Chinese made bags/souvenirs on you, which is a pity. But as soon as those markets are packed up you are free to walk around town or the country side totally harassment free! In fact we enjoyed walking around Bac Ha much much more than Sapa. While we walked we were totally ignored - except a few friendly people yelling hello!

There is a restaurant who organises treks and tours. And if I had my time again I would probably forgo Sapa and head straight to Bac Ha for trekking. Just for the sack of avoiding people constantly trying to sell us stuff! Plus, the trek near Bac Ha look like they would be much more devoid of tourists and touts!

Somehow, my friend and I seemed the have "No" pheromones. We got asked to buy things maybe twice while eating dinner, and when starting our trek a woman followed us for about 5 minutes. Then I said in Vietnamese. We will not buy anything, we are walking not buying. (I practices that line :P)
She then left.

We saw other tourists getting followed by groups of 6 or more women. Or getting asked repeatedly and harassed to buy things. Sometimes if you refuse they eventually start the sob stories.
Personally, I don't understand this technique. The more you follow me and get in my way, the more annoyed I am.... and the less likely to buy anything from you! But it must work or they wouldn't do it.
So Please don't give in and buy from a woman after 3 hours of being followed. If you want the bag either buy it straight away, or buy it from someone in a shop, or sitting down not harassing tourists. Don't encourage the following people to make a sale, or the disrupting people's meals.