Blogs from Mai Chau, Hoa Binh, Northwest, Vietnam, Asia

We left Hanoi for the four hour drive to Mai Chau on a small tourist bus, US$18 a seat, and it was not the most comfortable trip as the seats were small, made for tiny Asian frames. And they are small people. Even in today's modern world with different eating habits and more money they all are lovely and slim. The rest of the passengers were young backpackers on a two day tour to the region - as usual they slept all the way or fiddled with their phones. Not that there was a lot to see for the first couple of hours as we were just driving along the main highway. The Mai Chau valley is 135 klms from Hanoi and is renowned for its' stilt houses and rice fields. The small town of Mai ... read more

Moc Chau Während wir auf Jan's Visa warteten, packten wir die nötigsten Sachen für einen 2 Wöchigen Ausflug und liessen den Rest bei Hang und Sa stehen. Auf dem Weg Richtung Moc Chau genossen wir die schöne Landschaft mit Reisfeldern, Bergen/Hügel und die verschiedene Einheimischen. Wir haben in Vietnam bereits so viele Zuckerrohrdrinks getrunken und nun haben wir zum 1. Mal die Pflanzen selbst gesehen. Wir waren uns nicht einmal sicher, bis wir die Verkäuferin gefragt haben. Man muss das Zuckerrohr zuerst schälen, bevor man es benutzen kann. Wir haben ein ganzes Zuckerrohr für 10000d gekauft. Die Verkäuferin schnitt es in kleine Stücke für uns, damit wir einfach den Saft heraus kauen können. Auch sahen wir, dass sehr junge Kinder (ca. 6 oder 7) schon die Büffelherde bewachen. Ganz kleine Kindern werden in einem Korb hinter ... read more

Wednesday 2nd March We are off to Mai Chau which is a district of Hoa Binh Province in the northwestern region of Vietnam. The district is located at about 160 km from Ha Noi. We are picked up by a 4x4 outside the hostel and already theres a Canadian lady and her daughter sitting tightly in the back two seats. We are now sitting in the middle with the tour guide and the front two seat are occupied by the driver and co driver who's role is still unclear even to this day! This is going to be a rough ride and its not long before we're hurtling down the bumpy highways towards our village in the mountains. Two hours later at the halfway mark has us at a grim roadside cafe where the toilets were ... read more

The morning after arriving back in Hanoi from Halong bay, it was battlestations again for our trip to rural location Mai Chau, 150km southwest of Hanoi. We'd left Birgit in charge or organising this and she did a great job booking us down there in a 4WD vehicle complete with English-speaking guide and accommodation in the White Thai village area. Things didn't start so well when the guide failed to pick us up on time, but after Birgit put on her teacher-voice at the tour company headquarters things were underway. We arrived in Mai Chau and were really pleased to find we'd be staying in a Thai style stilt house, the likes of which we'd seen at a museum in Hanoi. Lukas and Phoebe were thrilled and set about stick-fighting immediately on the thin bamboo floors, ... read more

Le retour sur Hanoi s'est effectue par le train de nuit depuis Lao cai (ville frontiere avec la Chine). L'arrivee dans la capitale a lieu au petit matin (5 heures!) et nous fumes reveilles par des chants patriotiques diffuses par un haut parleur bien chevrotant. Bref, le jour se levait a peine et la ville s'animait : motos petaradantes, sonnettes en tout genre, bref l'animation qui, la nuit s'estompe, reprenait de plus belle. Le passage fut bref puisqu'a 9 heures, nous reprenions la route vers Mai Chau situe un peu plus a l'ouest de Hanoi, 130 kilometres environ soit plus de 4 heures de route. Nous avions un guide a l'anglais plus que rudimentaire et un chauffeur ne parlant que le vietnamien...nous etions donc entre nous !!!! Quitter Hanoi en voiture est une chose extraordinaire. Un ... read more