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Published: June 16th 2009
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The Black Hmong
Friendly companions or vicious saleswomen? You decide. This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.
-Winston Churchill
At long last I've returned to Hanoi, not happily might I add. The past few days in Sapa and its surrounding villages have been unmatched in my days. I've come to find I love train rides but despise depots, at least in Vietnam. Aboard our locomotive in coach nineteen we meet some truly wonderful people, an Indian brother and sister from France who were visiting some relatives in Vietnam. We talked for over two hours about anything ranging from family to travel to literature, even a brief yak on the conditions of football (soccer) in the global scale. The man let me in on the secret of couch surfing, a global community dedicated to the issue of travel and accomadations. If you've never heard of it, look it up. But anyways the train traveled through the night arriving in the village of Lao Chai around five a.m. From here we took a bus to our destination of the Summit Hotel, above the city/village of Sapa. After a brief breakfast of bread and eggs we began on a two day trek through the most lush environments I've ever been engulfed in. The tiers of rice paddies were a
Ohio?
"What cities are in Ohio I might know?"...."Nope never heard of them."
Typical conversation with Europeople. sight to behold. Thinking of the years of effort and practice to produce these precision structures with only a shovel and hoe was/is entirely mind-boggling. The trails were not too tasking but with the added weight of the thirty-five pound rucksack grinding on my back, some discomfort, but in a good way, was endured. We hiked through bamboo forests surrounded by more butterflies than one could ponder until we came upon the village from which our tour guide hailed. She led us to the family who claimed the house we were to sleep in that night. The amount of food provided to the six of us on the tour could have fed ten, but none was left after the feast. After a bit of digestion, the lady of the house busted out the rice wine and the night got started. Now I'm not a fan of the liquor, but when you're in good company in the middle of God knows where, the rice wine seemed to taste like candy. We all had our share and called it a night rather early, partly from the trek, mostly from the rice wine. The next morning we awoke to pancakes and bananas before heading out on part two of the tour. We headed higher and deeped in to the thick of the mountains until we came upon the waterfall. The cool water flowed from the tip of the mountain down into a rushing river below. The pictures will tell of it's glory. After a lunch break we headed for home and the much-deserved comfort of a/c and a cushy bed. I almost forgot about the most enjoyable part. upon our departure from our home-stay a group of women from the village accompanied us. They all spoke some of the best English I've encountered in all of Vietnam. They had learned everything from tourists. They were a delight to travel with, asking our names, where we're from and how old we were. None believed I was only twenty one, most guessed twenty nine. I could say the same to them though, many who appeared to be only sixteen turned out to be older than I! They married at a very young age and by twenty were expected to have children. Now we all thought they were just having a good time but at the end of the journey we arrived at a shop. The entire bunch of them suddenly turned into some of the most ruthless salesmen I've seen. They pestered and pestered asking, "Will you buy this from me?" while holding up a bracelet or sack that was most likely produced in Hong Kong. I, as all the others, gave in and ended buying some little piece of "culture" from them. It was a little wallet type thing covered in machine stitching. The girl had given me little gifts of grass shaped into a horse or a stalk of rice fashioned into a cool little design along the trek so I figured I owed her something. They did lighten the mood on the trip but man I was not expecting the tenacity with which they tried to sell to you. The worst of it was a little girl no more than four years old who could barely talk. She followed me for two to three minutes murmuring, "buy this?" while holding up a bracelet. Needless to say, I gave in to that too. After we had all spent every dong we had, only then were we allowed to continue it seemed.
Even after all this the trip was still something I'll consider to be a moment of a lifetime. The morning after we traveled to a much closer village and encountered more, less savvy sellers. Upon our departure, I will admit I did feel a sense of loss for the fact that I'll most likely never return to this place. Though, if anyone is up for it at some point, I would like to go back and climb Fansipan, the tallest mountain in Vietnam. Just throwing that out there.
Our train got into Hanoi at around 3 a.m. this morning and we checked into a hotel...our time in our apartment is over. We decided it would be worth it to stay in a hotel for 12$ a night and stay clear of our rat-infested aircon-less shabby abode. I slept until noon, the latest I've allowed myself this entire trip but it was much-needed. I had stayed up on the train reading Atlas Shrugged for most of the night. That also happened to be about the only thing I've done today besides eat a delicious sandwich called the ASW. I could not tell you the origin of those initials but this chicken bacon and egg sandwich was incredible. Worth every penny of an eight dollar meal but was half that price. I don't quite know what is on the agenda for the next few days, we leave for Bangkok on the 20th. I suppose I might like to rent a bike and just cruise the city, it also may be of some worth to visit some of the sites that are reserved for tourists, but that's not really my thing. Well I hope you guys find this stuff interesting. I don't know if I would enjoy reading about other peoples' travels and not being able to be there myself but you know, it helps me to know that you guys are still around. It's weird, I've been hoping to run into an American out here just to talk about stuff like...Ohio, but everyone is Danish or Irish or Australian and has never heard of that weird little state in the middle of the U.S. and A.
If you find a contradiction, check your premises, one of them is wrong,
bnm
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Big Helende
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Those were my merchant women, and that was actually scrib jelly you bought. Enjoy the rip off, my women have mercantilism skills in the 90's!