Rice Dreams

Cute Black Hmong Guides ...

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... they follow us around all day with their umbrellas, in the hopes of selling us some of their handicrafts. It's amazing watching them navigate the rocky, muddy trails in only cheap flip flops, taking the more difficult routes so that they can get ahead of us and help us through tricky parts. Though we were dying of thirst, they barely break a sweat, despite wearing the thick, black clothing that gives the Black Hmong their name.

Me and My Entourage ...

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... we matched in both skin tone and choice of accessory, as this group of Black Hmong women followed us around in their traditional woven backpacks.

The Final Bridge ...

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... I can't remember how many bridges we crossed on our final day of trekking, but this was the most welcome sight - the final one, before we could board a bus bound for Sapa, and most importantly, a cool shower!

Traditional Hmong House in Cat Cat Village ...

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... one of the big tourist draws around Sapa is visiting the villages of the local hill tribes - reminiscent of Central American villages, where corn is king. The exception here is that the corn is used as animal feed, and is not typically consumed by people. One of the challenges faced by villagers is the poor design of their traditional homes - poorly ventilated and cramped, the interior is black from the cooking smoke. You can only imagine how polluted their lungs are ... Interesting when we toured the house, and the owner was chatting away on her cell phone - it may be a traditional home and way of life, but the modern world always finds a way in ...

Grubs ...

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... locals hack into these bamboo stalks searching for the tasty critters living within.

Sapa's Next Top Supermodel ...

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... we were laughing along with this guy, a local tour company's sales rep - he had enlisted Quang, our hiking guide, to take some promotional photos. He was really working it for the camera!

Even in the Villages of Northern Vietnam ...

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... Ronaldo is still a big draw!

Idiot Tourist ...

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... this was dumb on a few levels - first off, why would you chase these cute little piglets, let alone in jeans and sneakers, into the filthy mud? Even worse, the rather-sizable mother of the piglets was lurking nearby, ready to defend her children.

Watchful Mother ...

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... in a fight, I'd take this mudder over the idiot tourist, any day.

Simple or Touristy ...

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... lunches during the two days of Sapa trekking were in very simple local restaurants. It was typically mediocre and bland - we weren't sure if it was the touristy nature of the locations, or the fact that the local food is just plain and simple. Of course, after such unexpectedly difficult hiking, anything would've tasted good!

Pork Or Vegetable ...

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... it probably says a lot about our dinner at the Sapa Panorama Hotel, when we couldn't tell if these were pork or vegetable spring rolls. They weren't too bad, but were soggy with oil and pretty pasty-looking.

Bland Western-Style Vegetable Soup ...

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... reminiscent of a terrible soup experience a few years back in South Africa's Port Elizabeth, where the hotel served up a meal worthy of multiple episodes of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. This soup was better here despite the bland taste, as it appeared to be freshly made that day and not simply reheated like it was in Port Elizabeth. It was more the inclusion of a slice of a Wonder Bread-like slice of bread that reminded us of Port Elizabeth.

30 Seconds Later ...

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... our mains showed up about 30 seconds after our appetizers, and smelled fantastic on their sizzling iron plates. Grilled honey duck and pork with lemongrass and chili - they were both ok, but were drenched in oil, with sliced onions the only included vegetables. The pork wasn't very aromatic like you would expect of a lemongrass dish. The duck dish was far more aromatic, with the lovely scent of something reminiscent of ... nail polish ... Neville, our guide for the Last Great Taste of Hoi An food tour, was correct - Sapa is a bit of a black hole when it comes to food.

Hoping For Something Better ...

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... we didn't finish our dinner at Sapa Panorama, and wandered back up the street to the fancy Victoria Sapa Resort & Spa, where we had spent the afternoon after a hot day of hiking. Their extremely-expensive massage treatments include swimming pool access, which was a perfect way to cool down. The expensive prices extended to the food at the Ta Van Restaurant, however, and our desserts were comparable to Western pricing. Billed as a hot chocolate cake, we think it was actually an overcooked lava cake, so that it lacked the molten chocolate filling - it ended up being more like a pasty brownie. The lemongrass creme anglaise was the big selling point for us, but it ended up being a very runny vanilla sauce devoid of any lemongrass flavour. The mango sorbet was decent, though it was chunky with ice.

Exotic Tiramisu ...

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... with excellent diced mango and a nice passion fruit sauce. Much better than the chocolate cake, but nothing like a tiramisu, with whipped cream between layers of cake, and not mascarpone. Should've been called an exotic fruit cake, instead!

World's Biggest Espresso Maker ...

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... it's hard to tell from this picture, but this thing was massive, with a capacity of maybe a gallon or two. Surprising to see something like this in Vietnam.

Another Simple Lunch ...

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... both included onions and peppers and some rather basic seasoning - I think one dish was chicken and the other pork. After another long day of trekking, we would've gorged on anything that was placed in front of us!

Hmong Handicraft ...

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... somehow, while they were hiking through uneven terrain, our Hmong guides had managed to pluck some foliage and fashion a makeshift heart for all of us. The dish of stir fried cabbage and veggies in the background was perhaps the highlight of lunch, as our diet had recently been lacking in fresh produce.

Less Pasty This Time ...

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... the spring rolls were properly fried at Sapa Panorama tonight, giving it a much better texture and taste - it wasn't saturated with oil! We also confirmed that yesterday's spring rolls were in fact pork, as tonight's had the exact same texture inside.

Fried Instant Noodles ...

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... the middling service at Sapa Panorama was even worse tonight - we had both ordered burgers after witnessing how poorly the Vietnamese dishes were executed last night, only to be told that they had one burger left to sell. Instead, I ordered these fried noodles - the flavour was actually pretty decent, but it was obvious that it was just instant noodles. After this dish arrived, and a good 20 minutes after ordering, we were told that they had run out of burgers completely - it would have been nice to have been informed much earlier! After perusing the menu, nothing else stood out, so we ordered a second plate of fried noodles. The restaurant also managed to forget our desserts, and brought us out a lemon juice instead of the watermelon juice we had ordered - all in a good days work at Sapa Panorama!