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Published: August 7th 2007
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Up the Village Road
Walking through a Yao village. My overnight train ride to Sapa was more pleasurable than expected. Then train left a 9:50pm, I was asleep by 11:00 and before I realized what happened, I woke up in Sapa the next morning. Sapa's elevation is around 5200 feet so I immediately noticed the change in weather. Sapa was a whole lot colder than any place I've been so far. Luckily I picked up some extra warm clothes and socks in Hanoi so the cold was not much of a problem. Besides, the foggy mist that hugged the landscape created an creepy, yet peaceful atmosphere over the countryside. Sapa is certainly one of the most beautiful places I've encountered so far.
I arrived in Sapa with no pre-arranged plans or tour group to be a part of. I figured I'd be able to easily hook up with some group for the day and enjoy free transport to visit some of the local villages. [Side note: I guess that I forgot to mention that Vietnam is home to 52 different ethnic minority groups with a great deal of them living in and around the Sapa highland area. The most populous and commonly seen are the Hmong, the same ethnic
groups that I encountered both in Thailand and especially Laos. I also learned that a great deal of Hmong people, along with many Vietnamese, live in California and there's even a website for Hmong's in Vietnam to contact their friends and relatives in the US.] Anyways, along with the Hmong, another common group is the Yao people, whose distinctive red hats make them hard to miss in the grey and gloomy weather. We arrived at an area that was first developed by the French in the 1880's. Obviously the Hmong and Yao had been living the area for many centuries prior to the French arrival but it wasn't until the French built a hydro-electric power plant in the area that the place landed on the map. Today the power plant is only a skeleton of its former self and has long since been de-commissioned. Interestingly enough, we arrived in the peaceful Yao village to the sound of gunfire. Luckily we were all quick to realize that it was the Vietnamese Army honing their skills at the nearby shooting range. A lovely group of Yao women in their bright red hats warmly greeted the four of us as we got out
of the car. We spent the next two hours walking through the various villages, looking inside their traditional homes and gazing out across the mist filled countryside. The beautiful green landscape is uniformly terraced in order to support the nearly year-round wet rice cultivation that takes place around Sapa. Most of the fields I came across are in the process of being replanted for the upcoming spring crop. At the end of our wondering through the villages I conceded into buying a few bracelets and other needless handicrafts, but the few dollars I spent go a really long way with the Yao people.
The following day I broke ties with tour groups and hired a private guide. The route mapped out was a 13km hike from Sapa toward the village of Ban Ho whee I was to stay the night in a local village. My guide was a 26 year old Vietnamese man from Hanoi whose been leading private groups for the last year in order to save money and eventually return home. He spoke decent English so most of the day was spent chatting about the different perspectives we had about the US and Vietnam. The 6 hour
hike took us through 5 different ethnic villages, including another Yao village, several Black Hmong villages and one Tay village. When I arrived in Ban Ho I was warmly greeted by the owner and family of the home where I eventually spent the night. Ban Ho is primarily a Tay village/town with a newly built school and recently a upgraded electricity infrastructure. There was even a natural hot spring nearby the river in Ban Ho and soaking in the hot water was certainly welcome after an all-day hike. When I returned from the soak, a massive dinner preparation was well under way...
The Vietnamese Tet holiday, celebrating the lunar new year took place during the second of February this year. As part of the rich tradition behind this holiday, the Vietnamese have great feasts and slam down gallons of homemade rice wine to ring in the new year with good luck. One great part of this tradition involves celebrating with guests. The first guest to arrive in a Vietnamese family home is supposed to bring the family good luck for the upcoming year. Well, as my luck would have it, I was the first visitor to this home since
the celebration of Tet. Lets just say they wanted to make it a big deal. I helped the family chop vegetables and prepare some of the more simple dishes for dinner. I even got to select the chicken that was to be killed for dinner (there were chickens everywhere so it wasn't hard to choose). By the time meal time rolled around, nearly 15 men had gathered at the home for the feast. At my particular table sat the head of the household, his 23 year old son, my trekking guide, and the "bringer of good luck", myself. There was more food than anyone knew what to do with but by the end of the night we somehow (mostly me) managed to stuff it all down. I had a good 40-50 pounds on everyone there so out-eating them was done without effort. Part of the celebration is to take shots of rice wine all throughout the meal. The booze is made inside their home and its potency is quite high. I suppose it's nearly the same as Japanese saki but with a bit higher alcohol content. The phrase for "cheers" in Vietnamese is "joop soo quoy" and hardly a single
minute passed without me hearing someone shout it out. I managed to take down nearly 15 shots before I stopped counting and focused solely and not puking up the enormous amount of food I just stuffed down. The whole ordeal was great fun. The local villagers asked endless amounts of questions in Vietnamese through my translator/guide and I did my best to quench their thirst for answers. Several of the older men in the group fought in the Vietnam War and were quite eager to hear my take on the US-Vietnam relationship in the year 2007. In the end, everyone agreed that education and understanding of cultural and political differences is the best way to avoid tragic conflicts such as the one our two countries have in common. After dinner I was taken to the local primary school where some of the women were out to entertain some visiting university students with traditional Tay dancing. I took several photos of them dancing in front of the school, waving around with their beautifully colored scarves and ribbons. By the end of the festivities I was ready to pass the f*#! from a day that started with trekking and ended in lots
of drinking.
I woke up to a plate of bananas and a shot of rice wine to take the edge off. We hiked out of the valley from 9:30 to 1:00, stopped for lunch and then hopped in a car back to Sapa. Later in the evening I was transported to the train station to await my night train back to Hanoi. My overnight train ride was a painless as the ride up to Sapa and I got into Hanoi at around 5:30 in the morn. I checked into my guest house and caught a few hours of sleep before getting up to take to the crazy streets of Hanoi once again.
Tomorrow I'm headed off to Cuc Phuong National Park, Vietnam's first nationally protected forest. There is supposed to be an incredible primate rehabilitation center in the park that cares for sick and homeless primates recaptured from the illegal animal trade. Hopefully I'll have some great stories in the coming weeks.
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Mat Zalk
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Keep on Keeping On
Man, its just the road, huh? The further I go, the more I realize how long the damn thing is, and how many prongs a fork in the road may have. It looks like you're doing your thing, having a great time. You're definitely right, we'll have to meet up eventually, although the road might be taking me back to the other hemisphere. But phere not my phriend, I'll be back to Asia before too long. We'll have to see if the whole job thing even goes through. I guess I'll know soon enough. Keep doing it. Mat