At a school playground where ethnic minority children line up for row call, near Sapa. Sapa, was a hill station established by the French in 1922, is situated 350km (217 miles) northwest of Ha Noi but a world away from civilization, a cool mountain resort nestled in the mountains at the western edge of Lao Cai province near the Chinese border. Nearby finds Mount Fansipan, the tallest  peak in Southeast Asia at 3161 meter (10,372 feet).