Hill tribe history

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Today Thanh (T-ang) our tour guide took us to a small weekly market. The drive took over three hours, but the scenery continues to take our breath away. Every time you turn a corner (which is often) the whole country side looks differently. We have taken about a hundred pictures and I still don't think that we could adequately capture the sights or the smells.

It is difficult to describe what traveling is like here. The vehicles really follow no rules and honking is the only way of telling people to get out of the way. They tell us that accidents are not very common, but yesterday mom and I heard the crash of skooters right behind us, and today we saw a truck that had driven over the side of the mountain. The jeep was driving so close to pedestrians and other drivers that we could have reached out the window and touched them. Driving without a horn would be like not having a steering wheel!

We all continue to be impressed by how hard-working the people are. Manual labour is the way all things are built, right down to the roads and ditches which are built with picks, shovels. Trucks are loaded by hand. Asphalt is melted in tubs with wood fires and poured onto the rocks which have been laid by hand and pressed flat with one of the few machines used. Track hoes are used only where absolutely necessary. Roads are wide enough for passing, just. Children play on the road sides and are trained to move at the honk of a horn. Even dogs and chickens know what to do. The whole experience is quite the culture shock. Its hard to unpucker your butt cheeks when you travel here. Pic's to follow!

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