leaving Vietnam

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AS always, I hope you and yours are well!

Well it has been a while since my last travel blog so I thought I would let you guys know what I'm up to (as if I know). My plans have changed and I will be leaving Sapa, Vietnam very soon (less than 36 hours) and will start to head for China via Thailand. Chinese new year is the 14th of february this year and I don't want to be "traveling" through China during this time period. besides, I don't have a visa for China yet. When I leave Sapa I am going to go to Thailand for a couple of weeks via laos. I am hoping to go back to Burma for a few weeks before going to China to teach "Chinglish".

The weather in Sapa has been nothing short of perfect - sunny and warm. This winter was a mild one with only a few cold days. I'm sure it will be getting hot by the time I make it to Thailand.

I didn't take too many photos this time while I was in Sapa. Instead I spent my time trying to help some of the locals. things didn't go exactly as planned but such is life. I did make it to Bin Lu, only twice and I didn't drive a motorbike so I wasn't able to get around as I would like to have. I did buy quite a few hand embroidered blankets from some of the Lu women. Hopefully I'll be able to upload some photos of the blankets. One thing I hadn't realized before is that the Lu ladies are quite funny and like to joke around. They haven't learned English yet and they don't interact with tourists every day which means they haven't learned the "sales tactics" of some of the local minorities such as using guilt - "you never buy from me ...."

Here are a some links to a few galleries I have created with shots from my stay in Sapa.

BIn lu fotos

lung khau market fotos (thanks again Lorrie)

some more fotos from sapa, start at the end and work forward

I wasn't able to take my time and pick photos to add to this blog entry - I randomly grabbed a few and I noticed I grabbed a few photos with Lu women in them. They are the ones with the "black teeth". The Lu is a small minority group, maybe 4,000 or so in Vietnam. They speak a language very close to Thai lu. They rarely interface with tourist, a few will come to Sapa every now and then but usually when they do they sell their "blankets" and weavings to the Vietnamese who make purses and wall hangings from them. I have included some fotos of their "blankets" which they use to carry their babies.

I will be leaving tomorrow morning and I am planning to head to SIn Ho for a few days before heading to Dien bien phu. I will probably be out of email range for a week.

Dave/Yogi

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Comments

[Mike]

been a while
hey we met on the plane to seoul, checked your picks out, hope your doing well, and you have some great photos, keep it up and keep livin the dream!

[wayne]

Greetings from Grayslake!!
Rammmbbooo! What up dude. Nice pix! I see you have continued your pursuit of the local townsfolk using existing light. Hope you're staying safe and healthy as you pursue your passion. Just finished-up with the Olympics...GO USA. Watched the US hockey team lose a great game to Canada with the family over Sunday. We're looking forward to Spring now that March is here. I'm sure you/ve heard the winter here in the states has been pretty bad...global warming ney sayer's are having a field day! Looking forward to your China pix posts. Stay in touch and keep out of trouble. regards, Wayne