Jenny's adventures in the mountains...

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Hi everyone,

As you may have realised I flew out to Vietnam before Izzie, so this is a quick update to explain what I did with my time before meeting her in Hanoi...
I essentially flew in and then caught an overnight train up to the mountains in the Northwest of Vietnam, in a place called Sapa. It was originally established by the French as a hill station, and it was incredibly bizarre being offered crepes everywhere for breakfast. Although the train was comfortable and clean, sleep was not forthcoming and the cosmopolitan and bustling city was a surreal experience in my sleep deprived (and jet lagged!) state. Climatically suited to Scottish weather, I was soon happily pottering about in a rain coat and hiking boots as it poured every single day I was up in the mountains. I knew that Vietnam was going to challenge my expectations, but the sheer number of tourists and the commercial scale of the treking available truly startled me. Everywhere I looked there was another group of European or Antipodean travellers clutching their Lonely Planets close to the chests and wanting to have a "real Vietnamese experience."

I was one of the masses and had dutifully decided to hike for two and a half days and to stay overnight on a homestay with some of the local villagers, as recommended by the bible (ie - The Lonely Planet!) The landscape was just phenomenal, and despite the every present rain and mist, photos and words simply cannot explain how gloriously lush and dramatic the mountain environment was. Paddy fields with water buffalo were surrounded by towering peaks, whilst small dirt tracks wound across the valleys from village to village. My tour group comprised of 8 people, all of whom I liked and got along well with, making the walking pass quickly as we chatted and started to get to know each other. Xong (spelling no doubt iffy there!) our guide was from the H Mong people and explained in excellent English about the different ethnic minorities and cultures within the mountains. Each can be identified by their unique style of dressing, language, way of walking, way of constructing houses... the list is endless. Although the different minorities live in such close proximity there are few shared values, and only the traditional agricultural existance can be seen as the basis for any form of comparison. I was fascinated by this, and asked Xong many questions about how she had been brought up, how it was different to the neighbouring tribes and if there has been a great amount of change because of the influx of tourists to the region.

I suppose the fundamental impact of Western tourism on such a closed society can be understood in its positive influence by Xong's staunch feminist refusal to settle down and marry like the majority of women her age (at 17, she was considered 'old'😉 and her determination to earn enough money as a tour guide to allow her to study more - ambitions unheard of and unachievable before tour groups like mine started marching up and down the mountain paths. The homestay however, was such a sanitised distillation of living within the village that I came away bemused by the lack of interaction I had with the other local people, and it occured to me that the tourists such as myself had created a safe haven from which we could view the exotic and unusual minorities from afar - without the inconvenience of having to interact with them.

On reading this back, I'm struck by how bitter and cynical I sound! I don't mean to be, but I was so suprised by my time in the mountains... I truly loved it, and the people I met and travelled with were a glorious (but substandard!) substitution for Izzie. I was away from Hanoi for about 5 days and caught another night train back into the city where I went and woke my fellow traveller to greet her first day in foreign climes (see blog no.1). I've uploaded an assortment of photos from across the entire time (I don't think they are all showing in the text so have a hunt across the tabs at the top of the page) and despite my rant they should give you a slight indication of the vibrancy, colours and life of the mountain tribes. x

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