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Published: February 28th 2006
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It is about 12:00 noon here the 28th of Feb. in Sapa. We are in the Hoang Lien mountains of Northwestern Vietnam. We will tell you more about this incredible place later in this post but for now we will catch you up on our travels.
Sat. we spent the day on our own in Hanoi. We visited the Ho Chi Minh Museum. It was pretty interesting. Of course the museum spent a fair amount of time discussing Ho Chi Minh's political beliefs and his life. What I found interesting was that more time was spent dealing with the liberation from France and very little time discussing the "American War". I have asked our guide and others about this and they are more proud of the defeat of the French. It seems that the Vietnam war was just one more step in the liberation of the country. After the museum we viewed Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum from the outside because we got their too late to go inside.
After the "Uncle Ho" we walked around the Ancient Quarter of Hanoi. You can really feel the French influence here. Very crowded streets with scooters, cars, people all vying for their
share of the road. We have seen things here that you would not see in America. Haircut and shave stands on the streets, women carrying rice cookers to sell. People cooking their meals right on the street. It seems the cyclo and xe-om (scooter drivers for hire) followed us everywhere. You don't dare even look over your shoulder because they are right there trying to get you to get in or on.
Sat. night we took the overnight train to Lao Cai then a two hour drive to Sapa. The train trip was about 8 1/2 hours. Our train was very nice and civalized but then we paid for that. Hot towels before we boarded and a welcome drink once on board. Our private berths were pretty comfortable and we did sleep.
We met our driver in Lao Cai and had a quick bite to eat before we hit the road. The first stop was the Bac Ha Sunday market. The drive to Bac Ha was very trecherous. Narrow, lots of switchbacks, road washed out in places, pot holes all along the way, and so foggy you could barely see the road. The best way to describe the market is to imagine a more crowded and very muddy Pike Place market. This market is mainly for the Flower Hmong to sell the products they make and then barter amongst themselves for their necessities. The Flower Hmong can be distingueshed because of their very colorful clothing as vibrant as flowers. We saw everything at the market. Pigs, chickens, dogs, and trinkets, purses,bags, jewelery. It was a sight to see all this color amongst all this mud.
We were now on our way to Sapa after a brief stop at a beautiful waterfall called Silver Falls. Sapa was built by the French in 1912 high in the mountains to be a retreat for soldiers and civil workers. In 1954 as they left Vietnam they bombed the city. So, except for a few buildings most everything here was built after 1954. This village has the feel of any small village in the Alps complete with a bell tower. Sapa is also close to the villages of the Black Hmong. They are called black hmong because their clothing is primarily black.
We checked into our Hotel the Victoria Sapa. It would not be out of place at Crystal Mountain or Whistler with its Ski Lodge feel. Wood beam construction with lots of red and exposed wood beams. At night we walked the village of Sapa. Because we are so high here, it is very foggy while we walk in the clouds. In contrast to everywhere else we have been it is very quiet at night. All we could here were dogs barking and roosters crowing.
Monday morning we treked to Dragon Jaw and both Heaven Gate 1 and 2. These are the two mountains that overlook the village. THe weather cooperated and gave us spectacular views.
We should spend a little time talking about the Black Hmong. They are short because they continually carry their products on their back. The weight of these baskets stunts their growth. They are everywhere here in the village tryig to sell you what ever they have. One followed Tom for quite awhile trying to sell him a blanket for 15 dollars when he was only willing to pay two, primarily to get her to go away.
Today Tuesday we visited a Black Hmong village called Cat Cat. Another treking trip but this time Michelle was ready with her new found "treking pole". Lots of climbing up and down and several river crossings on rickety swinging bridges. Michelle was not too excited but she did ok. Michelle saw a deer's "calling card" and thought it was coffee beans. We have been laughing about this all day. This afternoon we are going to visit another village of another ethnic people, stop by the Chinese border for a "photo op", then drive back to Lao Cai for the night train back to Hanoi.
We arrive back in Hanoi at 5:30 A. M. then catch a flight back to Ho Chi Minh City. From there we fly to Nha Trang where we will write again.
Until next time,
Tom and Michelle
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debby
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michelle went hiking?
Tom it must be love if you got michelle treking....