Sapa

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Like the Chinese, the Vietnamese have a history of burying their dead twice - at least for those in rural areas where they have the land to do so. On the drive back from Halong Bay to Hanoi we stopped to see some first graves, often very simple ones with a rough plaque. After three years or so, the bones are dug up before sunrise, usually by the children of the deceased and with some ceremony, washed, and placed into a more permanent and ornate grave.

Although it was now early afternoon and almost 40 degrees, we were also able to watch a man and his wife harvesting a rice patch for another family. Apparently they paid him $10 U.S. for the work that took about 1 1/2 hours. The rice fields in the delta are flat and stretch as far as the eye can see so harvesting can be mechanized. Despite the machine, it involved a lot of grunt work hefting the heavy bags of rice grains and then pulling them home on a cart.

From Hanoi, we took the overnight train to Lao Cai, then drove on for almost an hour to Sapa. This northern area of Vietnam is cooler and we spent the morning walking several kilometres through terraced fields and two villages. Some of the villagers were busy pulling up rice seedlings and replanting them spaced out with room to mature. Men were preparing other beds for planting, some with a water buffalo pulling a plough. Many of the planting areas are narrow so the buffalo barely has room to turn around at the end. Even if the families could afford them, there is no room for harvesting machines on the steep mountain terraces.

Some of the women wore long waders. The men and boys mostly had bare feet and their pant legs rolled up. Squatting would mean dangling your seat in the flooded fields so they work bent over and must have sore backs by the end of the day. I would also hate to have to do their laundry with mud everywhere and no washing machines.

It was a lovely, peaceful morning apart from the fact that both in Sapa and in the villages two or three women attach themselves to you in the hope that you will buy some of their handicrafts. Some are good-natured about whether or not you buy but one became something of a pest and even gave our guide a hard time when we refused to buy from her.

Back at our beautifully situated hotel we had sore feet so made good use of the hotel spa. While we were having delicious lamb shanks in the hotel dining room there was a terrific thunder storm with heavy rain.

The following morning we managed to escape the ever-present sales ladies and went for a stroll around a lake just a few minutes from our hotel. After lunch we checked out and visited the spring-fed Thac Bac Silver Waterfall up in the mountains and two more villages. They were much like the ones we had walked through the previous day with black pigs, ducks, and chickens roaming, along with lots of scantily-clad children.



That evening we boarded the overnight train back to Hanoi. The air-conditioning wasn't freezing on this train so, despite lots of rocking and rolling and train noise, we slept a bit better. We arrived back in Hanoi at about 4:45 a.m and were surprised to see many people walking or jogging around one of the lakes we passed so early in the morning. I suppose, at this time of year, it is simply too hot later in the day.

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Photos

Harvesting rice
On the flat lands of the delta between Halong bay and Hanoi they rent machines to harvest the rice. Note the two grave headstones in the field.

Walking in Sapa
Frances with her followers

Sapa
The rice terraces in Sapa

Re-planting
The rice is started in small patches and then the seedlings are re-planted.

Preparing the terrances.
It's all hard manual labour.

Water buffalo
Roaming on the side of the road

Buffalo at work
Ploughing the terraces

Comments

[Judy Blagden]

Sapa
Some lovely photos - enjoy the rest of your time in Vietnam