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Published: October 24th 2012
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Rice terrace art, Sapa
Fantastic shapes of human made rice terraces After a 7 hour bus ride from Ha Giang in the north of Vietnam, we have finally arrived in Hanoi Charming Hotel in Hanoi. What a ride. The cost was only EUR 6,- pr. person. Rather cheap in our view. Included in the price we got a little local charm by a tied up pig in the luggage compartment, passengers getting motion sickness and constantly threw up (we don’t really think they are used to drive) and a driver who must be a huge favorite to win next year edition of Paris Dakar. Well, we also survived this part of the trip, and we are now quite optimistic regarding our future survival chances.
The mountainous northern Vietnam is now a (well)finished chapter. To briefly summarize our experiences the headlines must be a trilogy of the nature, the local people and the food.
The nature is overwhelming. In Sapa and surroundings you’ll find the most fantastic rice terraces that we have seen. On a clear day, it is really a sight for gods. After Sapa we went on a private trip with mr. Anh (of Lonely Planet fame). We went to the Ha Giang province and
Topas Ecolodge
Rice terraces surrounding the Danish owned Topas Ecolodge Dong Van. In Ha Giang we had two interesting days. A middle sized city, where westerners are a pretty rare sight. A very different experience compared to Sapa. No sales people trying to push us into buying their merchandise (“you buy shopping from meeeee?”). We didn’t have to negotiate every price and we only met friendliness. Ha Giang is bordering some very beautiful areas of nature.
Mr. Anh picked us upon day 3. He had allied himself with an English speaking guide, Hung, and a local white hmong pathfinder for our two trekking days in Dong Van. The drive to Dong Van took us most of a day, inclusive of many photo stops.
One of our stops made a big impression on us. In the village of Hop Tien Mrs. Mai has started a small textile cooperative. The really special thing is, that she takes care of local women who had the misfortune of being kidnapped and sold in China a mere 6 km away. Price: USD 1.000,- (a water buffalo costs USD 1.500,-). Some of the women have managed to escape back to Vietnam. Unfortunately many are outcast by the local community. They are considered as having
Sa Seng trek
The magnificent valley of Sa Seng near Sapa put shame on the family. Hung told us, that some of the women are shared by 5 Chinese men. Maybe as a result of the one child policy, where boys were preferred to girls and therefore outnumber the girls. Mrs. Mai has given some of these women a home and a job opportunity. Her textile production is now such a big success that other of the women in the village also works for her. It was an emotional experience to meet Mrs. Mai. It is fantastic that there are people like her, dedicating their lives to help other less fortunate people.
Hop Tien was not the only place that made an impression on us. In general we had the view to a fantastic nature alternating between dramatic limestone formations, rolling hills and big mountains. A very good introduction to our 4 days in this area.
The Dong Van Karst Plateau is a Unesco protected area. It primarily consists of fantastic limestone formations and is mostly inhabited by different ethnic minorities. In this area the white hmong is the dominating tribe. The hmongs are living spread out in far away valleys. Some of them don’t even have electric power
Red Dzao children
The children never smiled when posing for a photo. Afterwards they were one big laugh. and toileting is in the outside. We did two treks in this area and got a good feeling of the grandeur of the plateau. The famous 18 km Ma Pi Leng pass connects dong Van to Meo Vac. The road was constructed between 1959 and 1965. It is one of the most beautiful roads that we have driven, and we have driven many beautiful roads in the Alps and the Pyrenees. Not really a drive for people with weak nerves. The vertical distance to the river in the bottom is rather big and the road is narrow and winding.
Day 4 was yet another transfer day. Again we were visually bombarded with a great deal of magnificent sights. Now in a completely different landscape. Green rice fields in valleys with the limestone rocks a beautiful backdrop. Mr. Anh and Hung really delievered. A fantastic trip with a lot of inside information on the geography, the flora and the people.
The last section in the trilogy is the food. In brief, the food in Sapa was nothing special but okay. In general without too much taste. In Ha Giang and Dong Van it went downhill. The food was bad,
Ha Giang
The beautiful surroundings of Ha Giang almost disgusting! Maybe we were a bit colored in our opinion after having witnessed meat lying in the heat on the local markets. Guts, meat, bones and cow legs with hoofs mixed on the tables. For example the chicken was prepared by chopping the whole animal up with a big knife. The result was more bones than meat. As our Spanish friend Miguel said: “They don’t give any love to their cooking”. On a positive note, we somehow avoided stomach issues, so they must have done something right.
Today we had a good meal in Hanoi. To add a little spice, we saw a small interesting alley close to the restaurant. It became less interesting when we noticed two fat rats running around. We decided to stick to the main alley and walk on.
Now we look forward to two exciting days in Hanoi before we move on to Halong Bay.
We hope the photos can give a small impression of our experiences (sorry, it was too dark to capture the rats on a photo).
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