Sa Pa

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We were woken up by a knock on the cabin door at 5:25am, and arrived at about 6 am, met our guide, and headed to the Cat Cat hotel in Sa Pa. We got there around 7 am and had breakfast and then were shown to our rooms. Ronald and I slept until our 1:30 pm meeting with our H'mong guide.

Our 16-year-old guide took us through a local village, into some of the people's houses, and back up to our hotel. It was really interesting to see these people on a Sunday working really hard to build a house together -- barefoot. We also saw a woman making shiny cloth by rocking back and forth on a smooth stone. I wish I could really experience their lives, but I think it would be impossible unless you contacted on of them directly and were with them for a while. We learned that there are many tribes and they get their names from the color of their clothes. They finish school at 15 or 16 and usually marry by 18. They have tons of kids and they have bad teeth.

After we showered and then went out for a nice dinner and then went to a wine bar, bought a bottle, and played pool with some of the employees. Tomorrow we're off to hike with our guide again, but this time we'll be going around her village.

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Photos

making shiny cloth
for the new year