Northern Vietnam

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20/11/06

Start my Vietnam trip today, finally left the project behind, not that I gave up on it, just need a break as I did what I could, there wasn't much I can do more at the moment, perhaps when I come back next March, yes March next year! By mistake they got me a 6 months visa for Vietnam, no reason to waste it right? So I decided to spend a little longer over there. Again...the road to Hekou fxxk up, so...need to detour through Gejiu, Mengzi and Pingbin, almost 8 hours on a bus with uncomfortable seat. Hekou was more welcoming in winter time, you can sleep without aircon. Time to eat after find myself a room, my favourites is steam rice roll, my feet knew the way to the shop, but I saw Vietnam spring roll before I got there, too big a temptation to resisted, I sat and ordered 5 pieces of those crispy roll, taste not bad, for 1 kuai a piece, I wouldn't complain. Then I carried on to the rice roll shop, 10 pieces I ordered and savored it like a long lost friend. But I was over estimated my stomach, 3 rolls had to left behind on the table when I paid the 5 kuai. Walk out with my stone hard belly I noticed there were a lot of Vietnamese signs which I hadn't seen before, even I can heard people speaking in Vietnamese, mean there are many Vietnamese inhabitants now in Hekou. Walked into the human-meat market in the Vietnamese merchandise center, still the same, business as usual on the 2nd floor, only now it invaded the 1st floor too, and the girl got more young and prettier. Looking over the river on the other side, the different country of Vietnam, quiet and in darkness, perhaps they all came and work here on this side now.

21/11/06

Rain the whole night, weather not very promising this morning, I got my money change in the street, 1 to 2045, same as bank rate. border crossing was smooth, nothing unexpected happen, perhaps the only unexpected was nothing had happened, strange, they didn't even try to squeeze money out from me, just normal checking, not even a question asked. Sun broke through after 10 o'clock, hot though, decided to stay in Laocai today, as it was probably one of the town in Vietnam received most tourist, but not many had ever looking into the town, they just do the transit either to Sapa or Bacha. 1st I got a motor took me to the train station where I find out the bus station nearby only serve bus to Bacha direction, so I told the driver took me to another bus station where bus go to Sapa, which is right in the center, when you came out from the custom, after crossing the bridge, the center is on the right side. So...at least got some orientation of the town, I walked around with my backpack looking for room. Local style guesthouse are quite basic and charge about $4, while the same in China I won't pay more than $2. most new guesthouse charge $5 to $10 with toilet. Finally got a room on the top floor with window facing the church near the market, 70000D, not bad for a big and clean room. Although not much to see or do in Laocai, but I enjoy it perhaps because it was my 1st day on the trip, anyway...people are nice, motor driver wasn't that difficult to deal with, say no and they drove away, you won't have this pleasure in Hanoi or Saigon. Of course walking on the street made me a target, as not many Vietnamese walking, they either by bike or motor. Saw 2 red Yao near the market, so I walk behind and followed them, strange was the local took no interest in them, but they find me a stranger, they will look at me, you can tell by their face "who are you? Where do you come from" all registered there on their faces, see...2 minority women dress totally different from the rest of us cause no attraction, but a normal guy with simple outfit caught everybody eyes, perhaps I should enter movie business! I also find Laocai peaceful, you won't find that rampant sex business here like in Hekou, there even a row of roadside cafe in a small street, life is slower on this side of the red river, lot of shops closed up in noon time, and look at our Chinese brothers, we stationed still in our shop, chewing and swallow lunch, hoping no business will pass by. That's our art of living!

22/11/06

Minibus to Sapa cost 25000d, it took about an hour to get there, faster than I expect. Settled myself in Queen hotel as there were other travelers on the bus heading there, so...just follow the group. Anyway...$4 for a room is what I looking for, and they got one and I took it, save myself from walking around with my backpack. Weather was lovely, sunshine but cool, I had my mind made up for a slow and easy tour here, not really want to try anything hard. The hardest thing so far is to deal with food, I mean the problem was the reputation of Vietnamese... Cheating... They just like to over charge foreigners, so... Subconsciously I was on guard whenever I order or buy anything, there was no trust between me and them, I really didn't like it and try my best to dismissed the prejudice, but sometimes it just wouldn't work when I felt like a fool to smile back even I knew I was being rip off. So...I find myself walking from food stand to food stand with an empty stomach , thinking people were over charging me and refused to eat. Gonna find a way to deal with this situation, then I decided to spend money, go to place have menu with price on it. I start with Baguette and Chocolate cafe which is a place to help and train street children get work and somehow they can survive in the society, a bit expensive for my style though, but I had decided to spend, so...18000 for a coffee and 15000 for a cake I had order, and felt good about it, sometimes it was great for not being worry about money! I spend the afternoon searching for the hiking route I had done 7 years ago, but the area had changed, road had been built, luckily I still recognize some scene and surprisingly I did find the trail. Not trying to walk that today as it was a bit late, but I was so happy that I located it back. It brought back some sweet memories.

23/11/06

Another lazy day, of course I woke up at 3am to watch football. As it was unproductive staying here, better looking for more cheaper room, so I move to another guesthouse charge less than $3/room. Weather was a minute sunshine, a minute foggy, at least no rain. Tire was my excuse for not going anywhere. Find an old Vietnam LP in the guesthouse, so spend the time read a bit and plan my trip later on.

25/11/06

A few days of relax and not so relaxing(uninteresting walk) days in Sapa, tried to did some hiking by myself but couldn't really located any good trail, I was walking uphill along the main road, thought I might eventually spotted some trails tee off into the mountain, the environment was lovely with strange shape of hilltop, but something was missing, there was no villages, no wonder there wasn't any trail, tribal lived around the valley, and I could easily spotted it from above, now most of them linked up with cemented road. I kept on along the highway until the waterfall which is on the side of the road. Not really the season for waterfall as there wasn't much water there. I took the long and tiring walk back down the same road, villagers along the road are friendly though, I even gave a short English course to the shop owner about numbering, which she insisted me to teach her while I savouring my coca-cola in her shop, which we began with 10000...15000...20000....think that was the price for most of her merchandise, she kept wrote the sound and tones down in Vietnamese, and surprisingly she could recited it all right away. Finally I was allowed to leave when she was satisfied with the resulted. Another walk was tracing down the trail to Catcat which I had done 7 years ago. But now there was a new concrete road linkedup all those villages in the valley, nothing was the same like before, all I could do was digging deep in my memory for something to savoured. And most of the time I spend on people watching. Then I automatically compared it with Yuanyang, will yy became another Sapa? Would it be good? Look at the hilltribe here, are they better off than before...before the tourists arrived? Tourism has started more than...say what...more than 30 years here... right? And the minorities are still dirt poor, how come? Thousands and thousands of tourists fog in every month, hand made handicrafts became product, every visitor seem to buying, there are business and the tribal should be making some money, was there something in between the business chain that drained the benefits of the minorities? Sapa getting bigger, more posh shops and restaurants, but seem like more and more of the businesses are own by outside businessmen. O yeah...I knew why, that was how we preserved the minority way of living, by keeping them poor as usual and they dress the same as usual, kept working with handicraft and won't think of switched to other business, right, should be the reason. Market are the same colorful in Sapa, but in winter there wasn't any big night market as I had seen last year. The only change I hate was when a hilltribe approach me and asked"do you want smoke"... "opimum", that wasn't exist last year, why it should be like this whenever a minority area turned into a tourist destination? I couldn't imagine any of the women I know in Yuanyang offer drug to tourist in the future.

26/11/06

Everyone heading to Bacha, for anti-climax, I opt for Moung Hum, a place somewhere north-west of Laocai. Didn't know what it would be like there, only thought about go some place else. Early bus back to Laocai, just in time to caught the 8:30 bus, for 20000d the 45km journey took about 3 hrs, and to negotiated the last 6km of the trip costed us an hour, a narrow dirt road wind round the side of the hill, bus in Vietnam are bigger than the Chinese one, and as old as any car in any village of China, it wasn't any easy journey especially in rainy day. Market in Vietnam always fall on Saturday or Sunday, and when we passed the town BatXat, it was crowded, I could see red hat Yao and some Miao. The road became dirt track after the village Ban Vuoc, we inch forward like ant, it was market also when we passed Ban Xeo, scene became more familiar with minorities dress in village background, here I saw Tay, also the red hat Yao and the Hmong like in Sapa area, also Miao dresslike those in China. Market in Vietnam start early, by the time I got to Muong Hum before noon, people was began to leave. Market was still active though, together with all those tribes I had seen on the way here, there are the Jinping Hani too, most the Yao women wrapped their head with the printed fabric red cloth, the one people used for bedding or table clothe. But they also had a silver mesh like chain laid on top of their hat. As the digital film became more popular and cheaper, the only photo shop in the village received a lot of attention, young boy ang girl dress up for picturing. I was surprised to see 2 big group of tourists(more than 10 people) and 2 small(3 or 4 people) when I got there, seem like many people like anti-climax too! the market was very typical Vietnamese style situated inside a communal market square, people are absolutely friendly here, I just lifted my guarding about watch out for cheating, but in fact, they were so honest as all price are the same as in China. The bus heading back to Laocai will be at 2, so I had good enough time to enjoy the rest of the market.

27/11/06

Came to Bacha again after 7 years, not the small single street village that I had seen before, it was more a small town now and still expanding as I could see many construction work is going on. In fact...I couldn't really recognized any of the scene here. No idea where to stay so I used the same trick, eat then left my pack in the shop and look for room. It wasn't that difficult as there are couple of tourist cafe with menu, they seem to used to see traveller and were rather friendly, there were more than 15 guesthouses in town, of course I wouldn't check all of them as I will not thinking about look into though has a decorated that said money, or those look shabby that even cheap-cheap-me wouldn't give a try, so...after some investigation, the average price for room are 80000 to 100000d, and I did negotiated one for 64000, and the owner and her friend even spoke Cantonese. The guy name Lam had be in HK as a refugee in the 70s, then he immigrant to the US, now with family and 4 childerns, he thinking of started some business back here(his home town) for the benefit of his childern, kind of paving the way for them. Lam came back also to help his puppy lover, the owner of this guesthouse, a traditional chinese housewife, almost lost everything to an unfaithful husband, with Lam help to fix paperwork, she at least could claimed the right of this guesthouse, otherwise she would left with nothing. Anyway...just another unfortunate story in life, I pity her and hope her business will be ok in the future, at least she had a good friend Lam care about her.

28/11/06

Lam help arranged a motor driver, for 120000d he drove me to Coc Ly market today. The whole trip was a dirt track, and when some part became muddy and slippery, I got down and walked. On the way I was picturing an exotic market with only me...the single traveller, as I didn't saw another tourist in Bacha yesterday. after we drove across the narrow steel hanging bridge into the market, 8am, and already many people, then I saw some makeshift shop with all those handicraft, same as what you can buy in Sapa, and I knew it wouldn't be just a simple market in nowhere, and by 10 o'clock tours began to appeared, load of them, compared to the size of the market, and then a boat trip down the Song river to Bao Tan, car will be there waiting to took them back to wherever the tour was started from, say...Sapa or Laocai. Anyway, the market was great, good atmosphere and lively, 90% of them are Hmong, the same style of dress like in Yuanyang, with all the cheap polyester materials, also some Tay, and some Yao. The main business in the market are livestock, buffalo, pig, sheep and chicken. And also like Hung my driver said it yesterday "this market is for food", and right, almost 1/4 of the market area are food quarte, which was composed by many wooden shacks with only the skeleton and some benches, it was next to a small stream where they executed livestock right away. people did come for food and it was busy, in between those shacks you could find alcohol and tobacco stands, and the rest of the market lay out down the small dirt road where everything mixed together. With Hung I finally ate a soup noodle for normal price, 5000d, where in Bacha they charged 8000d. But what I love the most was the deep fried sticky rice cake, and of course the purple sticky rice too. People started to thin out by noon, and we took another road back, at least in a bit better condition. Back in the market I was wondered why there are so many handicraft(most of them are factory made) stands, look at the number of tourist, many but not a large number, most tourist hang around not more than an hour, market from start to end were 5 or 6 hours, what business in there? More than 10 handicraft stand and they all sell the same thing(mostly), beside, they didn't look like from around the village, came a long way early in the morning, setup and wait for business, there should be big profit behind, wouldn't it?!

29/11/06

Hung drove me to another market in Sin Cheng for another 100000d. The only problem with Hung was he doesn't speak any English or Chinese, so...rather boring without someone to spoke with the whole trip, and more frustrated when I need an answer for something interesting. We drove over the mountain up north into Simacai area which is bordered with China, again the shape of the mountain and hill were different from southern Yunnan. From Simacai we switched to a gravelly road for another 10km then arrived Sin Cheng market. not big but lively, most of them are Flower Miao, but then I realized they were all wearing long skirt which I hadn't noticed yesterday, across the border in Yunnan the Flower Miao wear plaited knee length skirt while here they wear ankle lenght skirt. Beside the Miao there was another hilltribe which I had seen in Maguan(China) before, in China they call Zhuang, here they call Lung, they dressed in all black, with a towering head dress which was rather stood out from the rest of the tribe, also had another sub-group wearing color shirt and simple head dress. This market mainly for clothing as I seen a big portion of the market hall were selling clothe, and also many stands dealing with Miao costumes, the rest are food stands and other usual market merchandis. Today I was the only outsider in the market, market in Vietnam are more gentle and welcoming compared with in China, people are friendly, shy but open, they didn't mind your camera(I don't mean there was anything wrong if they complain about our photoing, as they have their right) which I appreciated and took for granted.

30/11/06

Bacha was a rather boring town, not that I like to stay here, but there was no guesthouse once outside the county township. The surrounding was pretty, but the town itself was hell, all because of of the big construction work, a really big project to built a in-town lake together with a compact area with apartments, shopping center and tourist center, so...now the town was filled with dust whenever the truck drove by, you wouldn't wanted to go outside if not necessary, no mention sit on the sidewalk cafe or just a slow strolling after meal. So...mostly stay indoor and chat with Lam whenever he had free time, and staying in this guesthouse make thing to easy, of course the biggest advantage was spoken in Cantonese, but for their generosity and hospitality was more worse, I never got a chance to went out for dinner, every time I was stopped before the door and got invited for dinner(yamyam...the homey tofu was lovely), what can I do? I couldn't hide inside my room all the time as there was nothing for me to do outside, see...I hang around most of the time. But once I got the hand of their dinner hour, I came down after 7pm. Not easy for me as the sky turn dark at 6pm in Vietnam, and I used to feed myself when it got dark!

03/12/06

Friday finally saw some tourists show up, and Saturday in Can Cau market was infected with tourists, the market was totally Miao dominated, half of the stands are for handicraft souvenirs and the other half are for Miao costumes, of course there was foods stand and other usual market stuffs, but only a small percentage. The weather was overcast and misty for the last few days, luckily I done a good hike on Thursday while sky was still blue and sunny. One thing I noticed while out in the country side around the villages, there was many schools, and all look pretty neat compared with that in Yunnan mountain area. Bacha town was lit up on Sunday, loaded of tourist group came for the market, and disappeared as quick as they arrived in the afternoon. Market was big but mostly because of the souvenirs handicraft stands, it occupied almost half of the market area, still...the Hmong are the majority, there also some Lung people too. Market scene were the same, kind of you see one and you see all, only the Xin Cheng market had a different hilltribe. And here in Bacha market they sold firewood log, a pile weight over 50kg of wood cost only 80000d, should have pay them the sum and tell them stop cutting tree! Perhaps still cheap than the money they spend in deforestation campaign. Round and round the market I suddenly realised what was the economics behind the hill area tourism, I noticed the tourist groups are the one do the shopping, if all travellers were same as my type, never spend any money on shopping, whatever handmade products the the hilltribes created was useless, perhap I should began to cultivate in the mass tourism area, there should be a way out between ecotourism and mass tourism.

5/12/06

What a long ride from Laocai to Thai Nguyen, was it about 400km? Still I didn't expected 11 hours bus trip, from 5 am till 4pm, and only costed 70000d, incredible! Sleep on and off on the bus, but I did noticed when we were drove through Yen Bai area, there was a tribe look similar to the Yao in Maguan, only there was a section of embroidery in front of their chest, perhaps that was the White Dao they call in Vietnam. Compared with the meagre choice of foods in Bacha, Thai Nguyen got many to offered, especially the sidewalk snack, with spring roll, fried potato pencake and different fried snacks, the sandwich was good, the best I like was congee in the evening, some with shellfish and some with mincemeat. Beside the town had many nice looking cafe, and some good hotels too. The only reason I stay in Thai Nguyen was for the ethnic museum, right in center of the town, local entrance are 1000d but foreigner charge 10000d, it was written there in black and white at the ticket office, think it will soon gone like it was in China before. For a small town, this museum for minority group was rather good, separated in different sectors showed the differences life style of different ethnic group, its also included the tribe in other part of Vietnam, I got a brief idea about what different tribes located in certain area, would like to check it out if ever near there, some Yao I had never seen before, and some I now knew their tribe name, like the one in Bacha I thought was Lung, but here I find out they were PuLa, and also from here I did confirmed some tribe name as they are the same in China, like the Hani in Jinping, the Hualo and Lolo in Wenshan. Through the tour inside the museum, its gave me an idea how our Window of Yuanyang should displayed our articles,we need to had subject and content for the showroom, of course we are in small-scale but could steal the concept and idea.

7/12/06

Came to Cao Bang yesterday. It was connected with a very good road from Thai Nguyen, with a F1 driver and good minibus, the bus made the trip in 5 hours and cost 60000d. The trip wasn't like any minority hill area, the highest pass we drove through was about 700m, and finally we arrived Cao Bang which was merely about 200m altitude. And I hadn't spotted any hilltribes along the way, I was already a bit disappointed when I got to Cao Bang, and with no information and idea about the town, I was lucky to find a room for 40000, although outside bathroom but room with riverview. With a lot of difficulty to made the guesthouse owner understood what I want...a market place, she mentioned a name Ha Quang, 51km from Cao Bang, so I was looking for a way to get there around the bus station by 8am, I did saw a bus had destination marked Ha Quang, but showed no sign about when its going, so I switched my attention to motorbike, priced quoted from 90000 to 60000d, and I killed it at 50000d, think I was smart but soon find out I wasn't. The road was good and flat, an hour or so later he announced our arrival in Ha Quang, but...no market was in sight, and I notice the sign he showed me mean we were just entered Ha Quang district, not really the town yet, then he trying to complained about it was too far the journey for 50000d, I heard nothing of it and insisted we kept going, yes... Ha Quang after 10km but still a quiet town, asked some locals and said a market were another 5km further to the Chinese border, actually...there were minibus run this trip from Cao Bang to the border, I made a mental note I will wait for bus on my way back. I paid the driver 50000 when we arrived, but he said no... More! Yes...my mistake was not able to made it clear at the beginning that the destination was market place, so...from Ha Quang he did drove me further here, so...I unwillingly gave him 20000 more as that was the smallest bill I got. Don't want to wasted time as I noticed the market was almost finished even it was just 10am, a quick tour in the tiny market, saw a Yao, although no hatdress, but the 2 red feather pile in front of her costume gave out her identity, and it wasn't the same style as in China, the dress were the same style but with a piece of rectangular embroidered cloth hanging from the back of her neck, not many hilltribe in sight, only one other Miao in dark long dress, I guess is Miao, will find out later. Not much to do, so I followed a group of Yao people out of the village, it turned out a nice walked uphill with an open view for the whole valley, but as I knew we were only 3km from the border, just don't want to risk crossing the border unintentional. So I back to the market after I had enough of the walk. Most people could managed couple of Chinese word here, so I could at least check out the market around here, as it was today here, is Soc Giang, and tomorrow will be in Ping Mong and then in Pac Do, but then he told me those were on the China side, dame...not for me then. Bus back to Cao Bang cost 25000d, and it was jammed pack with goods and people, the highest record was 16 people, some scene along the way were pretty like in southern Guangxi with those karst mountain and river, and one of the busiest market according to what I had read from the guidebook was on this route too, so...I can come by bus next time, and I will start early from now on.

08/12/06

Gave a day in Cao Bangand forgot about market today, as I had already planned for the next 3 days. Cao Bang town spread from both sides of the Bang Giang river, a rather dusty town as it seem many road construction work going on at the moment. It was an easy going and friendly place, at least I find people are rather honest, two market places not far from each other, one are typical asian market which sold everything and the other are mainly for clothing and shoe. Nothing particular to see in town, find a church which was build in 2003, an unknowing hero grave and a temple which had 2 bronze bell date back 200 years ago. Many cafes and hotels here, and internet seem like a new business for families, there are many and the connection was fast! As usual I would switched to foods when there wasn't any thing to do, although there wasn't many choices compared with Thai Nguyen but still has a fare amounts, especially in the morning, sometimes I blamed myself only got one stomach! Fried sticky rice cake, streamed rice cake, steamed rice roll, all kind of noodles, deep fried snack and egg roll, sandwiches...then you had sweet drink with red bean, jelly rice...then in the restaurant you find streamed chicken, roasted duck, and the best was roasted pork which got the crispy skin like we got in Hongkong, for bbq they were same everywhere, corn and potato, also they got yam which was my special favourite. And when night fall there will be congee among with the usual food fare on the street. Still I missed real meal...mean...I could order dishes which would prepare right away, not like those fast foods style took whatever they got on the kitchen counter. Anyway...just enjoy being around the market, the refreshing smell of a lemon being squeeze, the sound of snack in hot oil, the hey hey from moto driver and hello from childern, that was the combination of street and market scene.

09/12/06

Cloudy and small rain today, before I heading to Tra Linh market, I went to ate breakfast in a place an old woman who can spoke Chinese. I was there last night eating sweet dough ball soup, and she and her daughter wondering where I was come from, then started talked with me in Cantonese, said not many people could speak Chinese around here, and she hadn't spoke it for a long time, none of her children speak this language, and once the conversation went on her Chinese became more smooth and completed, the old woman seem very happy to spoken in Chinese with me, also her daughter was glad and surprised, perhaps she seldom heard her mother spoken Chinese. the old woman asked me to came for breakfast so here I came, it was steamed rice roll stuffed with mincemeat, the roll was so smooth, almost as good as in HK, they even stream it with egg, that was something new, in fact alot of local eating there, one of her daughter prepared the roll and another daughter prepared soup, the old woman help cleaning and talk with old customers, the rule was eater sat around the table where the stream roll stove were, table fitted about 6 to 7 people, the roll will presented freshly until you said enough, and soup with luncheon meat kept refilled, the other will wait and sit nearby, untill someone finished then the place will be filled. It kind of busy in breakfast time, so I didn't searched conversation will her, also I gonna hurried for market too. Minibus run the 40km trip to Tra Linh for 20000d, it was about an hour traveling time,Tra Linh was about 7km to the Chinese border, once over will be Guangxi province, and the environment here was the same karst landscape, rather pretty. Market was big compared to the other I saw 2 days ago, many money changer doing the Yuan to Dong business, the first thing attracted me was the flying collar of the Miao, it was like the tail of a swallow on the back of their neck, the rest of the costumes was the same as the metallic Miao in Malipo area in Yunnan. Other tribes in the market were the King, and the Lung which I had seen everyday in Cao Bang.

10/12/06

Although no rain, but still cold today, went to Trung Khanh for market, a 2 hours trip over 60km for 30000d, it could be travelled in Guangxi as the scenery was almost the same, karst formation rock dotted the area, Trung Khanh was also near the Chinese border, and it was on the way to the beautiful waterfall which marked the borderline between the 2 countries, I had seen it many years ago from the China side, here you need to hire a car or motor to bring you there. Some westerners showed up in the market as they were on the way to see the waterfall by their motorbike. Market was big and busy, but with no hilltribe, most of them are the King Vietnamese, and they spoke the language like Thai in Thailand, at least very similar.

11/12/06

Na Giang was the last market I planned to see here, as the lonelyplanet said it was the busiest market around, but perhaps was the weather, cold with dusty rain, I like this market though, here the sold more of their own products, not those wholesale merchandise from the outside. Cotton cloth and thread, even got handmade shoulder bag, weaving products, their rice, wine, tobacco, beetlenut leaves...and young pig seem to be the main trade here as I didn't see it in other market. And up the main road out from the market, by the entrance to the village was the market area for buffalo, those big animals could sold for 3,4 millions Dong a piece. not much hilltribe in the market, only the Miao with the swallow tail, and of course the Vietnamese King and the Lung. Language barrier was the big problem so far, I know there should be more market around the area, but just couldn't made it clear to whoever I wanted to asked, still I did well so far for market hunting with my limited Vietnamese, beside even I did got more market information, still the transportation was another issue, hired a car was out of my book, I wouldn't mind to walk, but then another issue appear...there was no accommodation once outside the township, that made visiting out of the way market a bit difficult. Anyways...6 days in Cao Bang was relaxing and pleasant, most important was the cheap room charged(see..money always the reason haaaa...), although Cao Bang got not much to offered, but I did set myself into a routine to passed the time, went to market early in the morning, came back by noon, a quick ice red bean and jelly rice drink in the local market if the weather was hot, then siesta, as usual...I got to smile and say no and thank to the Lung woman before I arrived to my guesthouse, as she just like to asked me to buy orange from her since the 1st day I had arrived, now it just became a hello in different form between me and her. Woke up by 3:30 and out for Vietnam coffee in the same table in the same cafe, also grasped a baked yam in the bbq stand by the street while waiting for drainage processes of my coffee. The woman would greeted me "moi ngan?" mean 1000d as I will only picked the small one for 1000d. Went to internet for an hour, back to rest and read a bit in my river view room. Came back outside before 8pm, spend 4000d on a sandwich and the owner would greet me with the word"ham-gulf", mean Hongkong. Then I would walk to one of the street food stand for congee, the woman would greeted me with "jiao?" mean congee, of course she knew what I want as usual. It came with small bowl of different vegetable and leaves, some ginger, it filled me a bit, I would took a strolled afterward around the government quarter where an uncle Ho statue had been erected, just followed the local folks there as they walk the round everyday, just the same as I did back in yy every morning, I was never alone. Left the walker after a while then I would went to the old woman place for sweet dough ball soup and spoke some chinese with her, and finished my round trip for the night before 9:30. See...a day was full of elements, right?! Just for 6 days I was accepted, a regular in their place, I was so easy and didn't have to worry about being cheated(that was why I went back to the same places after the 1st time when I sensed the honesty, although there wasn't many conversation between them and me, but with my single Vietnamese words came out all the time, laughter was always the ingredients. What I really missed so far was a real meal, something warm, hot and freshly cook, think I need to learn to speak those words quick.

13/12/06

Carried on my trip westward and came to Lang Son yesterday. The road was better than I expected, an 5 hours trip costed 40000d. it was market when we passed through That Khe, and it look very busy and big. Weather changing better when we arrived Lang Son. Really got no idea about what to do here, only read something in internet last night, but no help. Walked around trying to bargained for a cheaper room, but the best I could get was 10000 per night, think it will be more costly from now on till Hanoi. At least there was a guy who spoke Chinese in the hotel, a businessman just happened to be there, so I took the chance to squeeze some info from him, not much though but still got the orientation for a start. The town was famous for its caves and the karst formation hill, also the markets as it was right in the trading route from China, anyway...just looking at the hill tops and walk that direction, yes...find the caves but too many Vietnam tourist at that moment, so...passed and I went looking for the up hill step I had seen on the way here. It was a great setting and they built steps to walk up the top of the karst hill, great view, 3 hill tops and 3 different stairs. Actually this hilltop held an old fortress from the Mac dynasty, I didn't know which century as there wasn't any info about that, you could still see some ruined part of the city wall there. Lang Son is big and the daily street market was big as well, plenty of vegetables and fruit which I hadn't seen in other market so far, and there must be a big consumption of dog meat here as I saw at least 6 dog on the street stand(I only counted the heads as they were all disconnected). Grilled french bread also a speciality here, do the way as the kabba. Finally find a map for Lang Son area before dark, at least I can tried to plan something or see if there was something interesting to see and do in the area. So this morning I went to cho Chi Ma as it was show on my map and the guy from the reception said "yes, there is market everyday", no difficult as minibus run this trip regularly, it passed through Loc Binh then cross a restricted aeea barrier, I was worried as I hadn't my passport with me, but the officer stay inside the box, no checking, so...I just let it flow the way it went, 15km further was the border market Chi Ma, a very dusty place as it looked like a big construction work was undertake, probably upgrading the market place. I find out there was no market, very quiet excepted the loading truck, asked the driver in my perfect Vietnamese, he understood very well and said "2,5,8,12,15..."that was yesterday! Very disappointed, perhaps for compensating me he told me Loc Binh market is 1 and 6, Na Duong market is 1,4,7. Ha...at least I knew where I will go tomorrow. I asked him drove me to Loc Binh but he charged me double as he knew I didn't want to wait there,he was right and for the market date, I let him go. he was trying to sell me a tour to MauSon as well, said to be very beautiful mountain area with tourist facilities, he insisted on 200000d, but with no knowledge about what it was and the cloudy sky above, I better kept my money. Loc Binh was a small town by the main highway, I find a small locked church, and couple of small temples, everything happened around the market place in the center, surprised to find many people able to speak Chinese here. Almost lunch-time but I better catch up for breakfast first, saw a sandwich place on the street, the old woman told me 1000d each in Chinese, how they all knew I was Chinese, I could always heard "zhong gou...zhong gou" while I walking on the street, they just know. Was it because of my size? XL in this country, hey hey...I am not kidding, and I'd heard a Chinese said before, "eating in Vietnam not just expansive compared with China, the quantity was small as well, look at the noodle soup, you need 2 to be able to fill up, no wonder they(Vietnamese) are so small and thin! " see...my huge and strong body gave my identify away I guess! Anyway...I swallowed 2 sandwiches then I saw she got sticky rice too, why not, it was so tasty with the mincemeat and silk portmeat, also together with some dry shrimp. Yummy! We talk a bit and she confirmed all the market date and said "yes, there will be hill tribe here, many but not sure about the Dao", will see. Ok, time to go for lunch, so I walked into the market, quite a few choices but I picked the duck meat noodle soup because there was full of eaters. And it proved corrected choice, good taste for only 6000d, so far I guess I like this place, perhaps I would wait for the market 3 days later.

14/12/06

Stored my backpack in the reception this morning before I heading to the market in Na Duong, as I was think of staying there afterward, right...perhaps room could be cheaper. Later find out that was the right decision by not taking my pack with me. The problem only hope the front desk really look after my luggage as I'd never left luggage in a hotel before in Vietnam, they are friendly enough to me, think it would be fine. Caught a minibus right away, the same road from yesterday only go further after Loc Binh. And then suddenly a railway on the right appeared, never know there was train line here, then remember read in internet that this town had a coal mine, and this should be for transporting coal only. The 30km trip cost only 15000d and the market was already on when we arrived. It was a good market, got all the market ingredients, chaos and traffic jam. Young pig and chicken was the main live stock trading here, and an open air operation center was right in the middle of the market, what operations? Castration...for pig and chicken, people brought their pigs or chickens in the market then bring them here for castration, not sure why but should be getting better quality of their meat. Pig was being tie-up on a wooden tripod stand, the screaming was deafening and horrible, especially when the knife were being used, once the object was being pull-out and cut then the screaming stop, just like that, chicken was more quiet, only yelled one when the knife cut in on the back, that was all, and the man work like treasure hunt, a small instrument like a pair of mini size chopsticks link with a thread, once the testicles had been find and pull out, operation completed, no stitching work needed, and operation fee was only 2000d per case. Foods wasn't the main issue here like in most other market, only a couple of stands occupied a corner somewhere, but here they had good roasted pig, meat was soft and tender(wasn't it because of the operation?), the skin was crispy and taste so good. For 10000d I got fair enough portion and ate in the noodle shop. Loc Binh township offered this type of Dao people actually I saw 2 different tribe, one with a box like head dress, mostly wrapped with a towel cloth, long dress like all the other Yao tribe, but the tone was in orange color, with stitching on the back and on arm area, ankle length trousers with stitching on the rim, some old women still wear vest full of silver buckle on the chest under the long dress. Another trible were more like the Blue Yao style with indigo long dress, no head dress had been wearing, but there was a tiny vest underneath the long dress with some pleated design, very unique. Long white girdle with embroidery, cotton trousers with leg dressed, but the number of people was little, I only saw 3, and they all selling herbal medicine. And the rest are Lung, Tay and Vietnamese. Market kept going right after noon time. I had been walking around a while but see no hotel there, actually the town was far more smaller than Loc Binh, but Na Duong was in province level while Loc Binh was only a district town, even in Loc Binh I saw a couple of hotel yesterday, that was why I was thinking of stay out here today, luckily I didn't came with all my luggage, anyway...I decided to walk down to Loc Binh...the Plan B...only 8km, a flat road with not much to see, but...got time and exercise. But the standard of accommodation in Loc Binh either too expansive or just didn't want to take me in, as all hotel seem like brothel style, think I should go back to Lang Son...the Plan C! Why not, the only down side will be coming out here again on the same road to Chi Ma market, again... Time is all I got left. Back to the My Son hotel, "ba ngai?!?(3 days?) "was the first word the receptionist asked with a big smile in surprised to see me, as I told them I should return in 3 days when I left my backpack on the front desk. "yeah...no hotel there and beside...I love it here" I said and took the key that she already hand out.

15/12/06

Was a bit worried about going to Chi Ma this morning, because it was at the border, can I go there? trying tell the receptionist about it but with no succes, with my dictionary, word like custom, border, checkpoint etc, but he only made out that I want to go to immigration, to hell, I asked him for my passport just in case there is problem. Ran this road the 3rd times, still seem like a new route to me, probably I was sitting on the back all the time, you won't see much scene mostly, that why its always look new to me. Strange...not many passenger, I was the only one after Loc Binh, same dusty and deserted in Chi Ma village, only a couple of women selling vegetables, "where's the market? "I asked the driver when we arrived, he pointing northward to an open area, I could see a chinese flag on top of a building, "there" he said. I smelled something wrong but saw some local walking that way so I followed, through the dusty working site I saw 5 or 6 people set by the road side with all their merchandise, further on the road was a policeman stand by his motorbike, baton in hand, I think you can pictured the image! Mean no sneaking into the border market from here. Some people turn around to where the big building were, should be the custom house, hngggg, now it would mean crossing into China, tried to asked people passing by but they just ran and skipped away, probably too sensitive to talk to a stranger as suspicious as me, then a plain cloth officer came forward, with some chinese word, he thought I was sneaking in from China, of course...who will understand I was coming to see hilltribe in the market. No way into the border market so I switch to another market I had seen on the way here, only 10km from Lang Son, arrived in no time, it was very busy when I passed through this morning, but now...still ok, 1st thing 1st, breakfast! I picked streamed rice roll, also with egg too, the best actually was the sauce, after 6 rolls and the egg, "how much" I asked, and the answer was 5000d, I nearly felt to the ground, what! I didn't said that! Only 5000d! What did I say few days ago? Foods in Vietnam was expensive? Gonna ate my word! quickly hand over the dong and thank her. Toured a bit inside the market, as usual only the clothes section still on, meat stands also there, some women selling incense sticks, atmosphere were peaceful, the main tribe was the Lung, but they used colorcul material for their dress. Some Dao appeared but the costumes not as sharp as those in Na Duong. I decided to move on after back to Lang Son, also yuanyang was calling, the trip to Sapa will be right after X'mas, think I better turn my way back from here to Cao Bang. Perhaps I can check out Ha Giang area afterward, hurried to bus station and caught the bus just leaving for That Khe, nice started and no time had been wasted. But 1st the bus went to a workshop to picked up more stuff, and then more along the way out of town, once we got to Dang Dong we stop to delivered those goods, 30 mins was gone for that but no one really mind, why should I? In fact I was surprised by myself lately, I only lost my temper 2 times during the trip, and those are very minor incident compared with my normal temper. Think I had learn, or...was it just getting old? Bus got to That Khe by 2, said no bus further to Cao Bang today, another came forward said "Cao Bang" and pointing to himself, indicated me to followed him, said he knew a bus going to Cao Bang, 1st he stop for bbq corn by the road, curiosity arouse the people about me, it happened whenever I stop for whatever. They all knew I was Chinese, seem like it was the password to enter the crowd, not much conversation flown between, but I did find out the market date for That Khe, it is on 2/7, and Dong Khe is on 1/6, mean tomorrow, ha...I know where to stay tonight. Caught the last bus at 3 and we arrived an hour later, Dong Khe is a small town surrounded by karst formation hill, everything work around the market place in the center, not much choice for room, only one hotel in town for steep 100000d/night, and it was like a prison once you are in, then locked, the young owner had arranged a time to picked me up in his restaurant, as I want to do internet, "come to eat at 7, then to sleep, ok? and his thumb up. ", he cook good though, the deep fried kabbas with lemongrass, served with soya sauce with garlic, I finished 3 bowls of rice. After collected room fee and my passport he then took me to his hotel, 500m around the corner, 5 story building, look new but...don't know,...just seem empty, and of course...I was only guest there, room ok, what should I say, better than the worse at least."6 o'clock morning?" he asked me, I told him no, 7 or 8 would be fine. His thumb up then shake my hand and said ok. Door had been closed, to be precise...had been locked. Why not, nothing you can do outside, sleep was the best option I guess.

16/12/06

I was released at 8 am sharp when he came and opened the front door. The market was right at the beginning, the main trade was agriculture produce here, I could see buyers from outside came to purchased rice, crops etc, again, clothing attracted more customers in the market, a quick look around, saw no costume dressed hilltribe, bit disappointed, I was hoping for some compensated from the over charged room by a multicoloured market. "I am Hmong"said the hotel owner, those are Tay, Lung and Hmong out there, but now didn't wear any costume. Caught the 10 o'clock bus onward to Cao Bang, there was couple of wedding banquets seen along the way, almost everyday I saw wedding since I started my trip, that was very typically for the agricultural community to choose to had wedding in this season, harvest had been finished, and crops had been sold, people got money and free time to attended wedding party. In Vietnam they just set up a canvas shelter outside any restaurant to got more space, and they started dine at noon time, I had seen 2 more banquets in Cao Bang today. Anyway...it was quite similar to the Chinese, only skipped that ear blasting fire cracker section. And of course I went back to Tuong Van guesthouse, hoping to get another 40000d room, they just gave me the same room without a word, so I assumed it was the same price, same bedsheet, same pillow case, and it not even re-prepared from the last check out guest, but...what do you expected for 40000d, when the owner asked me how long I would stay, just couldn't say I want just one night, so I told her 2 nights. automatically I went into the same routine, people was surprised to see me again, but it was difficult to explained my travel intention to them.

17/12/06

Very cold last night and the power went off as well, so..there was no electricity for the day, I saw my way out, told the owner if there was still no electricity by noon,"I think I will leave, I need to recharge the battery of my pda." took a walk outside for the sunday morning sun, and the market seem more busy, Vietnamese like to cruise around with motorbike, so the whole town was roaming with scooter noise. Back to guesthouse and the owner told me electricity will be back by 6pm, so...I said I will leave and go further to BaoLac which the bus leave at 2pm. A packed one, same size as the Iveco bus in China, we squeezed 22 people inside together with whatever goods and 2 bottles of compressed gas. I cursed myself by talk me into this long bus trip, especially the one will arrived after dark. But the driver and the conductors were rather nice, they charged me 60000d that was even cheaper than the official that written inside the bus station. They told me no worried, there are place to stay there, "20000d/night" that what he said. Great then. The first part of the road was paved, but the last 70 or so km was dirt road, bit bumpy, it was up on the mountain pass after we left Nguyen Binh, and the view are open and superb, karst hill in wild sharp combined with terrace field, very beautiful, then it became dark and the only thing to do was trying to sleep, to forgot about the uncomfortable situation. Finally we arrived BaoLac by 8pm, what the town look like I had no idea, a mystery to clear until tomorrow, but there was a place to stay for 20000/room, very chinese style, even some chinese were there, and some other local did spoke some chinese, that made thing a bit easier, settled and began my required, soon they all knew what I was looking for, talking between themselves...then...I got my itinerary for tomorrow or even the next 3 days, we then communicated in Vietnamese and Chinese, as long as we understood each others, finally market route had been set for me, start from 8am tomorrow morning a hired motorbike for 100000d will take me to a market call The 22km, from there I will be taken to BaoLam where I can visit another market for the next 2 days. Great and sorry to BaoLac, think I will not have time to check you out.

18/12/06

Another clear day, BaoLac at a altitude no more than 200m, but the morning chill was quite strong, not a very attractive town with a single street, also the main through fair for all traffic, a small market outside the market hall selling vegetables, I could see Miao and Yao right away as I knew the costume by heart, the Miao are those swallow tail tribe that I'd seen everywhere in CaoBang district, and the Yao, they call ShanQi here are similar to the white thread Yao in Malipo area in Yunnan. Long indigo cotton dress with a stripe of red along the rim of their clothe, married women wrapped their head with dark turban while young women laced it with white thread. Hilltribes here seem in more poverty state, especially the Miao, alot of them were barefoot and in ragged clothes. we drove out to the market at 9 as the driver said not much people there if too early, the road was better than I'd expected, the Gam river on our right all the time, a pleasant sight all along the road, all life depending on the river, bamboo rafts still the main transportation between villages, also for fishing, river trap and throwing net are still practicse here. The mileage stone indicated 22km and I saw the market, it was right at the main highway between BaoLac and BaoLam, a very small market, mostly are Miao here, buying and selling Miao readymade costume made with polyester cloth, just look at what they put on their body, not a costume, it was a uniform, dress sewed up by pieces of cloth, not a bit of stitching or embroidery, only the long girdle around their waist see some hand stitching patterns, and the small part on the swallow tail, who could blame them, life was hard, with time they better work more for money, why waste it on thing that you can buy it readymade and cheaper!there was some Yao in the market too, that was the tribe with 2 columns of thick red feather thread in front which I had seen in Soc Giang before, and now I knew they call ManDoi, also some Lung and Tay people around, how amazing they all knew and use their own tribe name, it should be like that in China before the republic found, for more convenient to evaluated and keep track of the population, the government put many tribes together according to their linguistic link, finally we cut it down to 52 minorities group as it was now. Not much a market scene and the driver urged me to go, back on the bike and we did the rest of the 20 something km to BaoLam, the surrounding slightly better than BaoLac but smaller, there got many karst hill around, also a dusty one street town, the driver took me to a guesthouse but it was full, full?? Never heard of, but it was true as I had heard the owner said "head-fong" mean no room. So we went across the street where I saw a Nga Nghi sign, yes have room, "80000d" the woman said, why not and what choice I had, check the room and it was ok excepted the building work outside the window, anyway I took it as I had a worsen room the other day. Out in the single street town for a walk and I saw a Miao girl working on a plaited skirt, although it was the cheap fabric, and she was sewing those plastic sparkling buckle on it, it was modern style for Miao skirt as it should be lines design to tell the history of the Miao migrated story, somehow we should in-step with the world, perhaps that's the way its go for the new Miao costume. BaoLam so far is the only district town without a single internet place that I saw, even BaoLac got one. All in sudden I met the guesthouse owner from BaoLac, she also got business here and will go to the market tomorrow, she told me there was a bus going there tomorrow at...4:30am, be there... pointing at the bus standing in front of a shop, good, could save some money for hiring motorbike and also save my ass from suffering ! but...Jesus...4:30!

19/12/06

4:30, I was out by the bus, no one there, so I wait, soon people came and loaded their merchandise into the bus, got myself a seat as there wasn't that many people, we went to Ban Bo about 16km away in Thai Hoc area, they were talking happily and laughed all the time, sometimes I heard the word China then I knew it was about me, of course, who wouldn't wonder about a strange face sitting on the back of the bus, we got there by 6 and the sky just began to light up, that was the most freezing moment in a day, 10000d they asked for the trip as I left the bus, fare, surprised to see a group of ShanQi women waiting there when the bus arrived, I wondered why they wait here so early but no way to ask, perhaps they were looking for labour work to help carry thing for the merchants, but no action had made, they just stood there in the cold watching, sometimes they exchanged some words with the vendors. Everyone was busy in setting up their stand, I walk inside the market and saw those Yao women was already bee around 2 stand, curiously I went over and they were choosing indigo cloths, by coming earlier they could buy and choose the better quality one, they were really checking like a QC in the factory. saw a main road uphill so I decided to walk a bit as it was really cold, although not much a good scene but still you got a pretty clear view of the market, and most important it dose warm me up, then I followed villager back down to the market, now as motorbike was more convenient, not that many people walk. and they had an new item to buy in town now was gasoline, you could always see horses troops carried containers out from gas station back to village. People are coming down from the trail I could see, seem like there were path for each tribe, most Yao came down the same way I just did, the Miao from the hill on the other side of the river, and the Tay came up from the main road. Children were on their way to school, their breakfast was dry instant noodle, just ate it from the pack, very healthy?! 8 o'clock and suddenly disco music blasted from one of the stand inside the market, a woman swinging her body with the music, and kids on the way to school saw it and laughs innocently, just that...happiness could be just like that, so simple and easy.The market mostly are the ShanQi Yao, also saw a couple of ManDoi and Lung, the rest are Tay, not a very big market, mainly for clothing and crops trading. Every once in awhile the passengers for the bus saw me passing their stand, they would said something and smile, should be some kind of greeting, and back in the bus later they would greeting me again, kind of saying "are you enjoy the market? ", it made you feel good about being accepted, being acknowledged, you are not alone but one of them. What a comfortable sensation.

Got a message from Eddie said he was in Prague this October, said it was a place should see, yes...I heard so many good word about Prague, perhaps I should really go back to revisit Europe, beside I had never see the Eastern block, 2008 could be consider, just switch my market hunting(named by dear Eddie) travel to something different, oh...they do have market over there as well! Anyway he mention about the political unstable situation while he was there, that I should had heard about from TV, nnggg...actually I knew nothing about it, or most any other news, espcially now in Vietnam, I didn't even knew about the typhoon hiting here, only until read someone mention in a Vietnam travel forum then I knew, luckily it was on the mid and south Vietnam, didn't affected here. I didn't watch much TV now, and let's talk about TV here in Vietnam, as I only choose to stay in low budget guesthouse, so...cable TV was out, and there seem to be only 2 channel and a county channel if there is one, pure Vietnamese spoken, so...unless I really wanted to learn the language or I was fxxking boring, otherwise...better sleep. The most interesting I find was when showing foreign movie, there would be one person reading the script on the background, not the same like we did dubing. And the worse was you still could here the original sound from the film, and the rest of the programs were either news or the want to be millionaire style program, but amazed me with the live football every weekend, and also the European champion by midnight, but the problem was in Vietnam I need early start quite often, just couldn't stay up that late, beside...by staying at cheap guesthouse, the quality of the TV set was different, here they still had those tv with the built-in antenna which I need to adjust their position all the time, sometimes I even need to hold it in my hand to be able to got a clear image, no...just too much trouble to my eyes and also my arms, so...I really quit TV lately, perhaps by the time I go back to China I will be cured... The TV and even football addicted...a new man haaaahaaaa....! But...what's on tonight?

20/12/06

not much surprised for BaoLam market, it was the same minorities I had seen in the last few days, only more. But the buffalo trading part was more organized, villagers need to paid for participated, a 5000d entry, but in fact there were real buyers there, lots of them checking the animals, made them walk, jog, made u-turn, kind of like in beauty competition, if there was real intention for purchasing, both buyer and seller will walk out from the crowds and discuss, think the 5000d was worth here. Market now act as the place to send wedding invitation card, I saw this task in the last few markets. There was 2 buses ran between BaoLam and HaGiang, 6am go and 12pm back, but today is market so the bus made a few village-run for extra bonus, so we off by 2, the 80km cost 50000d, and the bus never drove in straight line, no...I didn't mean the driver skill, the whole trip was all in curves, up and down, fortunately they were paved road, and thank got the driver was skillful by ran this trip everyday, there was so many hairpin curves in steep slope, once we out from BaoLam district and the scenery change from karst hill to big mountain, then I realised we actually crossed over from GuangXi into Yunnan...if we are driver across the border on another side. HaGiang setting in a vast valley and it look big, the scene from above when we descenting for the last 10km before we arrived was awesome, a few karst hill right in the middle of the valley, and surrounded by some wild shape mountains. The bus station was a kilometre outside town, tried to look for small nha nghi but saw only hotel sign, walked in one but charged minimum 120000/night, and no smile, so I kept walk a bit but seem hopeless, so I walked in another hotel nearby, think I will just stay there , they all had price list so it should be about the right price, same price but I tried to bargain a bit as I saw nice friendly smile from the guy. "2 days I will stay, can cheaper?", he thought for a while and gave me a room for 10000d, felt some achievement and I shake his hand. And the room turned out very nice and clean, white wash with a small balcony although it was shared with the room next door, but still a balcony, in fact...every room here got balcony. I had never stay much in hotel, I mean something more standard, not those type I'd always check-in. So this room worth more than any hotel room I had stay in so far in this price. Perhaps I could stay longer if there were something to do around here, will see as it was dark already, tomorrow got a whole day to check out.

21/12/06

HaGiang said to be one of the poor district in Northern Vietnam, but from the scene in the district town, a big town with wide street, they even got taxi here! Perhaps I would see the poor side once out in the country. Still...won't took me long to made a round trip in town, not much interesting here, but glad to have a day off from market hunt, also need to calculated the day to approach Laocai, there was no more bus operated between here and Laocai, didn't know the reason, so...need one more day for the trip,, and should return to HaGiang no later than the 25th from MeoVac. Exactly one month had gone since I started this trip, I did kept a good budget, spending less than more USD$300, I couldn't even made this balance 7 years ago, I was getting more cheap cheap haaaahaaaa! What I think about Vietnam so far? not much I can tell as I was still around this northern part, couldn't judged the whole country, but around here the hilltribe live similar to China, excepted spoke differently in language. General living standard and many other thing are same compared with China, room fare seem a little cheaper here, but for food I still think I could eat cheaper and better in China, public transportation was cheap here(even after you was over charged). One subject I would like to mention is honesty, people you ran into with no business to you would be very hospitality and helpful, but whenever they were sellers most of them would want more money out from you, whatever you call it over charge, cheating or whatever, that leave your traveling some dark shadow, you were always on guard, never trusted the quoted price, you stay away something you would like to eat or try, you always not happy or even ruined you day. I always wonder why? The whole country seem doing the same practicing, no one really think there was something wrong, it was cheating, if cheating and dishonest was put before as a rightful matter, then where would morality stand? one of the reason could be the double pricing still practicing in this country, I remembered one day I ate noodle in a market, I knew and I saw local paid 4000d, but the woman charged me 5000d, I argued a bit and she said something...I guess..."they are Vietnamese and you are foreigner," if so, why didn't gave me cleaner bowl and chopsticks, cleaner table and chair and better services!!? no matter what I still didn't like it, didn't like the feeling being cheated and still got to smile and say thank you. We are just extra human being appeared in their life, our being here only gave them more money from their normal income. Read a post in the Vietnam travel forum said people were so poor there compared with us so we shouldn't argued too much over a dollars or 2 matter, someone even claimed he would paid them more whenever over charged present in front of him, said he wanted them knew he knew they were cheating him by giving them more, I really couldn't see the logic from this. I was talking about honesty, if poor gave you the reason to cheating the others, then you can go robbed the bank there without any guilty feeling, because you are poor and there was a lot of money. Luckily there was still some honest people doing their business everyday under some small corner of the Vietnamese sky, they are not rich, but they can behave, why all the other couldn't, the reason of poor cannot stand now, it was the greedy of the human heart, and the worse was they all think it was the rightfully thing to do.

22/12/06

5am bus again to MeoVac, we pull out from the station in the dark, the trip was fast and smooth on a paved road, we crossed the first valley into QuanBa, the view was very pretty when we approached the town, then I remember I saw this image in a shop, a double cone shape karst hill surrounded by terrace field. Sky began brighten up and morning mist prevailed, further we crossed another valley into YenMinh where we stopped for breakfast, just right next to the market place, so I left other passenger and went exploring, got myself the deep fried sticky rice cake, took double because I was plan to get off at DongVan and walk from there to MeoVac, so better eat now. Here mostly are the ShanQi Yao, and the Miao, also some Tay in the market. Back on the road and it took the right turn through LungPhin to MeoVac, I thought it will be through DongVan, now I knew why the price were the same for the two places. And there was not public transportation between them, anyway...I was prepared to walk, said it was about 20km, so, 5 or 6 hours the most. The scene from YenMinh up was wild and stunning, crazy sharp of karst hill sprang from the earth, and the road snake around the hill, up and down untill we arrived MeoVao, I couldn't wait to see the DongVan pass as it was the main reason I came here, but now plan had change, perhaps start walk after market tomorrow. MeoVac was a nondesript small village at about 900m altitude in a flat valley. Travelled light this time as I kept my backpack in the hotel in HaGiang, so look around for a best room deal, when I finally choose one and hand in my passport, but something wrong, they wanted other thing, but we couldn't understood each other, so she call the police and later I knew I need premit to came here, and should be done in HaGiang, now, the same thing happened again like in Yunnan 5 years ago, actually just right over the border in DongGan. "go HaGiang! "the police said to me back in the station in his limited English, what could I do but pretended no understand, soon every policeman came inside the room, took turn invested my passport, pushing each other forward to spoke to me, kind of like child play, each spoke one or two words, but I gave no respond. "how are you? "suddenly someone asked all in a sudden, I was surprised why suddenly asked me this, so I just said fine, and they all cheer and smile to each other, now they confirmed I understood English and they could spoke English. At least a progress! I stop pretending as I knew there would be only one solution as they wouldn't issued me a permit here. "go now, motorbike?" the police said, no I showed him my wound on my leg and refused, but there was no bus now, so he said I stay inside hotel room, only allowed came out to eat, and leave with the 1st bus tomorrow morning, which mean 5 am again. What can I say, couldn't communicated with them was the problem, there should be other solution out, I was disappointed but surprised I wasn't sad or pissed, perhaps I had already got away many times without premit in the last 2 weeks along the border area. I was lead to a hotel opposite the station, kind of pick any room I like, I took the room on the roof, at least I could see the sky when I was being kept in their custody, a great room actually, got the whole roof top balcony for myself. The owner was rather nice to me too, changed the new bed sheet and pillow case, the 1st time in Vietnam so far, and it only cost 60000d/room, of course no bathroom. Then I said I need to eat, and the police took me with his bike to a local place, made sure the owner watch me and send me back to hotel after lunch. Again...people are very friendly there, all trying to asked me all sort of question, and they thought Miao language was the same Chinese and kept shooting at me with words, I did figured out one or 2 but not what they were saying. Great fun, and the owner just pointing they way to the hotel when I left and motion with his hand that he wouldn't go with me. I shouldn't gave them trouble, should I, perhaps there was actually big trouble for that policeman in charge if something happened to me, then he would got in to big trouble for letting me stay on without sending me off immediately. So...I walk straight back to my room, made some coffee, enjoy the sun on my private roof top balcony, "why not! "said to myself, a resting day, perhaps I would miss the market, wasn't I had seen it all before on the other side of the border? I will go back to HaGiang tomorrow and slowly move on to Laocai. Went out for dinner and no one really kept an eye on me, perhaps they believed I would-be a good boy since this afternoon, I walked into a restaurant and saw the German guy who was travelled by motorbike, "did you got a permit to come here" is the first thing I asked him. No he said and he had checked in the hotel where I had 1st looked into when I arrived this morning. And they just let him stay without a word. everything would not be the same if I just stay there when I arrived, the police wouldn't dare to question you as they assume you will had permit already. And beside...why asked for work? Damit... Now I was angry and not happy as I replay the word the German guy said"the DongVan pass is the best and most beautiful scene I had seen in the last 6 months I had drove through in Vietnam".

23/12/06

What the hack...then I remember I need to leave today when someone knocked on the door. "Mr Tam, go HaGiang." I went opened the door and that nice policeman was there greeting me, looked at my watch, 4:50, right."3 mimutes I would be down there". Saw the policeman inside the bus as well, and he said he would go with me to HaGiang so he could help me get the permit in the station, beside his home in HaGiang, just an weekend visit. How thoughtful and caring. I then remembered how I tried to explained to him I love hilltribe, and came a long way here to see, wishing he would just turned a blind eyes and let me stay on. He was really caring and on my side, but regular is regular, so...here I on the same bus, drove back on the same way for another 5 hours, but worse, I was sick, throw up a bit, think it was the rotten dates I'd ate yesterday. My stomach was upset, I didn't even feeling got off the bus when we passed through a market about 40km before HaGiang. Had no energy, shivering, I just lay down for the whole afternoon, and perhaps I would need to rest one more days here, not the kind of X'mas I expect though.

27/12/06

I was in transiting for the last few days, slowly got closer to Laocai, my body still weak, throat infected and a flu, at least no more throw-up, the route was HaGiang to TuyenQuang, a big town so I pressed on to DoanHoung where I could caught another to YenBai which was coming from Hanoi. what YenBai was like I wouldn't know as I spend most of my time there sleeping, in fact 2 days. I was wondered what'd happened to me, was it viruses of unknown. Not until I went to the pharmacy for drugs then the most obvious reason got pointed out to me, "your clothes are too thin! " the woman behind the counter said to me, I never realized it myself, I dressed like this year round in Yuanyang and never really sick like this. So I put on my wool sock, the only wool fabric I got, one more pullover and...anything I got in my backpack, and yes, it felt better, at least my feet not cold anymore. Perhaps I would recovered soon. You never know, mischief always come in double, my knee was in pain this morning, no sign of anything from last night, or was it that slightly twisted? It was really killing me, the pain was immense, I couldn't walk properly, there was pain even sitting down, the bus ride to Laocai was unbearable together with the running nose and infected throat, and I decided to heading back into China for treatment, here with the language barrier might made thing worse. Beside my visa is for multi entry, so I could come back together with the group...if I could walk! The x-ray said there was spur in my knee bone, common nowadays in middle age generation, not much they could do but take medicine, now I had difficulty to walk, and my knee was swallowed up like a small ping-pong, hope it will get little better tomorrow, otherwise, my Vietnam trip will be over. Back in China my TV addict came back right away, caught up with all news, there was earthquake in Taiwan with 100 of after quake followed, it ruined lots of cables underneath the ocean, no wonder the internet connection was so bad, and said it would take few weeks to fix it.

28/12/06

Still pain like hell in the morning, worse was the squat toilet, I could imagine the pain of the woman while delivering baby, the prolong and linger pain ran deep through to the inner heart.I decided to visited the doctor again before I met our group by 1pm, switched to a senior doc and he checked my one day old record, "that was right injection, should work, do one more today! "he looked confide and send me out with his inscription, 2 bottles hanging upon my head minute later and my fluid injection began, same feeling for an hour and more, nothing seem getting better. but doctor insisted I would be alright with one more ointment for my knee. The magic feeling came by 1am when I felt I could bend my knee a little, and with every hour pass I could walk more easy, and by the end of the day I was walking almoat properly, I was smiling....I saw my Vietnam holiday kicking!

30/12/06

Our group composed with 3 Ngo staffs, 4 from the government, and the rest are the Hani and Yi women, their costumes turned a lot of attention to us while in Sapa, "who are they"? Many people asked. Westerners came took pictures of them and I took the chance to explained and promoted Yuanyang. We stay the 1st night in a Sha(Zhuang) village, which we were last year, did a short hike the 2nd day and visit Catcat valley, and left after the market on the 3rd day. Same like last year, everyone were so excited, they all wanted build yy better than Sapa. And I only hope this little trip would help them broader their mind and imagination, I only gave them my opinion and our direction, see what it would become after 3 months when I come back to them. Send them over back into China after 3 days visiting trip, I stay on in Laocai, not wanting to stay in Sapa with the cold and rain. Back on my own again by the end of the year, but I got market to entertain me tomorrow.

31/12/06

Muong Khuong is about 48km from Laocai, surprising good road through nice country side which took only 2 hours for the journey, supposed to go further to PhaLong for the market, but the bus just stopped in Muong Khuong and made no intention to move on, I hate to travel the rest of the 18km by motorbike, so I stay on in Muong Khuong as it seem like busy, and it turned out it was market day also. Here you could see the same kind of hilltribe on the China side, where MaGuan area was located. But here you could see them all in one market while you need to ran through 3 market places in Yunnan. The majority are the flower Miao and the white thread Yao, the Zhuang(Sha & Lung), some Buyi and Dai, those are the same hilltribe as in MuChang market near MaGuan in Yunnan. This market last till afternoon. Saw a guy selling a monkey which is an endanger type, I didn't know the name of it, a very tiny size with round big eye, brown-gold colour fur, move in very slow pace like the kola bear, kind of like those I had seen in Philippines many years ago, the guy said the price is 50000d, only 25 yuans, I could had buy it and set it free, but...where could it go in its slow motion? It won't take awhile it will back into the devil's hand. Poor thing, this is Asia, choose a better continent in your next life! It was the end of this year, gonna rewarded myself, so I brought myself a pairs of new shoe, cost me 60000d in the market. Although alone by myself in new year eve(nothing new), but I got a live match to watch by midnight and new shoe for the 1st day of 2007. There was improved I guess as I couldn't even remembered what it was last year.

01/01/07

No new year resolution, and in fact there had never been any in all those year. Nothing going on last night in Laocai, no fire crackers or fire work at midnight, that was what we used to had in YY every year. Anyway...I slept early because there wasn't any signal for the football match! Quiet in town this morning as it was a holiday, the bus to LaiChau left by 9am and it drove passed Sapa, then over the HoangLien mountain range into LaiChau district, it was so foggy when we were on the top pass which supposed to be very scenic, down we was into the hilly area in northern Vietnam, the development had been registered as I could see from the landscape, lines of earth brown in between the green of the mountain, or face-lifting mountain cliff because of the digging for stone and rock, it seem very easy, people live on one side of the road, and live off the hill on the other side by digging the earth to made bricks, it seem logical as well, after some year of digging, there will be more flat land to build bigger house, by this they need more earth for building material and they will keep on digging, another version of sustainable business? Since few years ago there was quite a few townships name had been revised in LaiChau area, it was rather confusing as they actually switching from one to the other, so if you got an old map then it would be a disaster, my destination today was LaiChau, and 7 years ago it was call TamDuong, and now a new TamDuong was a small village about 23km away from here, and later on if I want to go to the old LaiChau which I had visited 7 years ago and I will need to ask for MuongLay. Headache...so I will just stick to all the new name from now on. Anyway, bus trip take no more than 4 hours from Laocai to LaiChau, and the bus station is somewhere out of town on the main highway, LaiChau seem big and without a center, and of course because of many construction work was underway, the town was expanding. I was tricked by the sign said LaiChau something, seem like mean center, so I took the left turn and walked on, on the right there was some guesthouse signs but I didn't wanted to stay by the main road, and if the center was on the left, I would preferred to stay near there, 2km the sign said, but then I find out there was just the government building on the wide crossroads (next time I will remembered the sign), no town, no center, yes...there was a special market setup for new year, no wonder so many people walked on this road. Walk all the way back and find out the town center was actually there, a small market place, couples of hotels, find myself one for 100000d/night, all settle then I went out to explored. A small hilltop caught my eye and I made it up there by followed some young boys, now I got the orientation of the place, LaiChau just spread out in a huge plane in between karst hill, now it looked very simply to me and see if I could made some short walk tomorrow. Saw some hilltribe in town, mainly was the blue Yao whose wrapped a wide headdress, there also 2 tribes of Miao, and one of the tribe wore trousers, I saw some Sha Zhuang, and there was one group I couldn't name, think they should be the Thai.

02/01/07

Laichau was a dusty town on the altitude about 900m, good climate and especially today had a clear blue sky. Although not on market day, still got minorities in town, and I saw those tribe which was the same as in Jinping area in China, the Sha Yao, the Red Yao with the cylinder headdress, the NanDian Yao same as in YY, and the Flower Miao, and there was a tribe call Lu, wrapped long turban with white stripes, dark costume with long shirt open from the right side, long skirt with patterns stripes. See...quite a lot different hilltribes here, but mostly one or two, then I realized that most of them was come here for hospital as it was the township, so alot of them were living in other area. I tried the road behind the bus station and kept go upward, there was couples of mining site along the road, it was rather dusty, all the plantation was covered with thick dust, there was tea and paddy field in this mountain top, but think they preferred to made a living out from the rock and stone. After passing through a Miao village, and left the digging and drilling noise behind, then there was normal village scene, people preparing their fields, walk their buffaloes, children climbing tree and women mending, still saw LaiChau in a distant so I asked if there was a way down without going back the same route, yes, a boy made a round with his arm and pointing down to LaiChau, so I walk further and turned left and find a school, the teacher said hello and with very limited english, still good enough to understood my destination was, but they point me back the same way I was coming from, no I said, I showed them I wanted to walk from here, this way down and pointed to the town far below. They talked to themselves and perhaps they agreed that I could tried this route, took me outside and "LaiChau, go this way" the teacher said, so I started downhill and this trail turned out a very nice walk, and it lead me right back in the town center. But through the hike my knee complained a bit to me, yes, I should took at least some care about it, I wasn't anywhere near recovery, shouldn't tried too hard to walk.

4/1/07

No luck for market hunt, so I moved further 30km to MuongSo yesterday, a small village 3 km off the main highway, and gateway into China where NaFa in Jinping area. 2 local guesthouses on each side of the river, also acted as brothel I guess as the owner soon asked me if I need special service while drilling his index finger into a hole formed by his other hand. Sometimes it was frustrating in Vietnam about wanting to asked questions, trying to learn more, but the language barrier really stop everything, I was really interesting to know why people came here, as there really nothing in the area, what was local people live on? Hadn't seen any industry around, many small question but no way to ask. MuongSo was about 300m above sea level, pretty warm weather here, with couple of streams and river wounding around the village, which offered many good picnic spots and walking trials, the villages around MuongSo were mostly Thai, they live in wooden stilt houses which reminded me a lot about Laos and northern Thailand. People are very friendly here which gave a relaxing and pleasant stay. I told the hotel owner I might want to go to DaoSan this morning, and he told me only one bus leave at early morning"5 or 6 o'clock "he said, a bit too early I guess and I wasn't sure what was up there actually, just thought which might gave me something to do today. But I would skip it if I slept through. And someone knocked on my door, "time to go to DaoSan" I heard, our hospitable owner really woke me up, look at my watch it was not yet 5, but I couldn't hurt his feeling by saying I wasn't going, so I put on whatever I need and went, as the owner waiting to let me out and told me bus was by the bridge before locked the gate again. Not very cold and with full moon above, although quiet but since my visual was clear, my spirit was up. No bus in sight and my watch told 5am, but strange, there are people in the market already, shop owner setting up their merchandise, motorbike shipped in people and goods, but why so early, I didn't see anyone came shopping yet, perhaps just a habit to wait up early. Bus didn't showed up until 6 and wouldn't leave after 6:30 after collected whatever needed to send uphill. DaoSan in Chinese mean Yao mountain, same as any YaoShan in Yunnan which inhabited mostly by Yao, it was about 30km away on the altitude 1500m high and connected with good road, same, not understood why only one bus a day and why so early, the journey took only bit more than an hour, but yes, not many passenger and demanded while most people had motorbike nowadays, along the road lived mostly Thai which was near MuongSo, further up hill and you see more Sha Yao and some red head Yao with pointy headdress. DaoSan is a small settlement on top of the mountain with a small market place which served the basic need for the villages around, here you could find some Hani, the same like in Jinping township. Not many people in the market, perhaps too early or just because not on market day, a woman who could spoke some Chinese told me the place where people do market are near the border, "go to XiaoXinJie, Chinese came to buy and sell there, asked the motor driver bring you there" she said, I asked her how far away, and she gave me a very interesting answer, "about 5 streets(or roads) long" she told me. What was this unit? It was the first time I heard people described a distant in this measurement, and she couldn't explained what that compared with km, just said 5 streets is 5 streets lenght. great! Some Miao women carried wood logs to sell in market, a man indicated to one of the old woman that he would buy her pack, which was about 10 logs on her back, guess the Miao woman couldn't speak Vietnamese as the man held up 7 fingers, the old woman was considering awhile then followed the man to his shop and unloaded the woodlog, when the man handed her 7000d she seem very disappointed and she just kept saying something and held up one finger, I guess she wanted 1000d more, or...she wanted to sell it for 10000d...which I wouldn't know. But from her worried and sad face, it enough to gave me a moody morning, god...7000d, 3.5 Chines yuans for that pack of wood, which the woman carried from whichever village I had no idea, that was all her business for the day came all the way in town, only for 7000d! Even now when I was writing this and the sadness on the old woman face still in front of me. What is 3.5 yuan to me or to us? Bus only stay in DaoSan for an hour, which wouldn't gave me enough time to walk further outside. I could've just walked the 30km downhill but I was a bit tired, as I didn't slept well last night with the noise in our wooden guesthouse and then this 5am wake up call! Instead I went back to sleep and took another walked in relaxing pace behind town along the river in the afternoon.

06/01/07

Stay the night in MuongLay yesterday and I came to MuongTe today. A difficult decision to made, as for Sunday there would be market everywhere, so I put my bet on MuongTe. Bus said to be at 8am but not turned up until 10. If not the receptionist in the SongDa hotel called the bus station said the bus was coming, I would be just stay another day there. The 90km trip mostly run on dirt track, which went parallel to the SongDa river coming down from China, and it was call the LiXinJiang river in LvChun area, although I saw a lot of logging going on along the road, still the area are covered with huge virgin forest, but it was sad to see many fallen trees laying around. There was couple of villages along the road, but only very basic huts with not much facilities. At last MuongTe appeared after the bus turned into another valley, a new town spread out very long along the river, could be 2km from end to end, kind of split into 3 small villages. Nothing cause any interest here, only saw some Lahu, the same type right over the border in ZhiMi area in China, long dress with the sleeves patched with ring of different colour stripes. Saw some flower Yao too. And the rest was Thai. Took the long walk from end to end and started to enquired about the market, but everyone told me there would be no market in MuongTe. The same small market will be on everyday though. I was a bit disappointed as I blamed myself for the wrong choice. Nothing wrong with the town, people are as friendly as all other town I had came across in the last few days, the hotel was clean and comfortable, also the tv was working! and the best was no barking dog near the house, think I could sleep better tonight. You know, normally when in China, I would just stay and explored the the mountain area if there was no market to be visited, but here in Vietnam, without the language to spoke with, I find it quite difficult to ask direction, to learn thing and to better understand the area. Beside most of the time I was in the border area, rather sensitive, better just act like a normal tourist. So perhaps I just took the 6 o'clock bus back to MuongLay for the market there...if I could wake up in time.

07/01/07

Again, someone knocked on my door this morning, "10 minutes...bus come" the hotel owner told me, see, they was very reliable even I didn't really said I would leave today, but just couldn't made her understand I would leave if I could wait up, so she might thought I wanted her to woke me up to catch the bus, and there I was standing by the street at 5:30 waiting for the bus. We got a full bus loaded with human and bag of whatever they were travelled with, almost half of the passenger was stuck by car-sick, the conductor was busy in handed out plastic bag, the woman right fitted behind me got couples in hand, the sound of puke wasn't anywhere near the sound of music, but couldn't blamed her as she got no room to moved or turned, all I could do was tried to shut my ear and thought about something else, or...just went to sleep! It wasn't an easy ride, bags of rice underneath my feet, and my backpack was between my leg, another sack on top my keen, someone feet was stuck out underneath someone elbow on my left, and of course, the woman was sick behind me, all windows had been ordered to shut because of the dusty road. The 3 hours trip seem like a lifetime! But actually people did having fun, the making joke to each other, of course I didn't know what was they talking about, but the laughter need no explanation, those sittung on the back made hurray noise and huge laughter whenever we rode over a bumpy path, perhaps that would teach me another lesson how to got through uncomfortable situation, squeezed delight out from miserable situation like these people instead of grumbling. Got myself the same room in SongDa hotel, then I hurried to check the market. But...nothing near any market scene there. People said they had market everyday now. So that was it, still got some hilltribes, mostly was Miao, the local call them Her-Hmong, wore headdress with embroidery in a way like the bow of a ship, the front was higher than on the back of the head. long sleeve shirt with decoration, also on both side of the lapels, front and back apron, some wore trousers and some wore skirt, perhaps was different tribe. MuongLay today was different from the LaiChau 7 years ago that I had visited, I couldn't traced anything back, only the short market street long a bit familiar. I didn't remembered saw any hilltribes back then, and not that many motorbikes, perhaps there was any transportation back then for them to came out to the township. I was enjoying my walk 7 years ago just around town, but now...traffic got on the road, many dogs, I wouldn't say I enjoyed it this time, yes...the place was still relaxing but not as highly placed as they described in the guidebook. See...tourist business could be very simple and easy once its made the name, like the loop route from Hanoi, Sapa and Laocai, kind of like the must do if you visited northern Vietnam, got a motorbike and be on the road, like the 2 French guys I met here, came here last night and left this morning, didn't really took in anything here, just because it was a must-do trip, but in my opinion, the scenery along the route so far was ok, but not anything near magnificent or stunning, and with the upgraded good road, there wasn't the challenging like many years ago, but still...as I said, once its made the name, tourist will just followed the flow I guess.

8/1/07

TuanGiao was my destination today, but since there was no bus run directly from highway 6, so I need to went around through DienBien, a hundred km more from this route. There was all Miao inhabitants along highway 12, the tribe wore plaited skirt, look the same as the Miao in TongChang in Jinping area. After the village MuongCha we began entering DienBien district, and then became Thai dominated region. The dress was the same as in Jinping area, long sleeve shirt with a column of silver buttons in the middle, and they kept the beautiful headdress which wrapped with a long turban, both end had cross-stitch pattern. The valley here were more flatten and wide, some paddy already had seeding done, gave a lovely layer of green. Been to DienBien before and not really like it, together with the comment from the man in the bus"good town, good cafe, good girl, good make love! ", right, think I should skipped it. Didn't wait long for the bus to TuanGiao, another 70km or so, but there was so many construction works going on along the main road, it took us more than 4 hours. We got a bus full of Thai women, and almost all of them got sick during the ride, mostly hide their face inside the plastic bag and...! The driver wasn't really help as well, drove like a snake and some women spilled the content from their bag, what a mess, soon the bus filled with smell of people gut, and all in a sudden I realized those strange smell whenever I was in a bus before. Luckily the road wasn't that dusty after we entered TuanGiao area, so I could open the window a bit. And the scene after the village MuongAng was rather pretty as there was some karst hills dotted within the paddy fields, life was alive as the villager were busy in plantation work, sun was setting at the backdrop, water mill rolling in steady motion transiting water into the layer of green carpet, farmers walked on the ridge, women busy in caring seeding, childern running along side the bus. I did forgot about the smell inside the bus. We rolled into TuanGiao before dark, Hotel TuanGiao right across the road from the bus station. Didn't want to bargained too much as it was already down to 100000d, so I took it and think I will stay another day to see what the area is like.

09/01/07

Quick look around town and the market this morning, yes...mostly are Thai, and also some Hmong, beside the plaited skirt Miao, one tribe with headdress full of red thread ball. Walked the single street town from end to end, couldn't find anything interest to filled in the day, and those dogs in town were so annoying, perhaps... right, I asked and someone told me bus to Sonla direction would be around 10, still got 30 minutes, so I packed and caught the bus head out of town. 30000d for the 80km trip, now I became very sensitive about the smell once inside the bus, first thing first..masked my face with my handkerchief! There was still couple of road work going on, same...windows shut and people puke inside! Approaching Sonla and I really couldn't recognized any of the place, it was huge a town now, compared with 7 years ago it was just a street with couples of houses, where the bus would stop right in town, now...we drove pass and the conductor asked me where I wanted to get off, no idea and he suggested "the bus station? " why not and we drove along further, and...further, almost 5km then we stop inside the station, frustrating and with all the motorbike drivers storming around me, not in any amusing mood, settled myself in a corner inside station hall, what to do now? Either going back in town, looking for room or leave, right, too big a village to enjoy and tracing back old memories, and checked the bus schedule there, MocChau bus would leave right away, consulted my map,it was on the way to Hanoi, I was there before, but only stop over for the night, never really visit the town, so paid the 32000d and we set off for another 100km journey, a big bus and fresher, and...no one was sick in the whole trip, we drove into MocChau in less than 3 hours, a small town 750m above sea level set within some rocky hills, no wondered I was shivering once outside the bus, and my first impression told me I would like this place, so I bargained the room price for 70000d/night as I would like to stay at least 2 days. The best about this hotel was the young owner could spoke some English, and by quick enquired he said there were some walk I could do in the area, see what he would suggest later.

10/01/07

Waterfall, cave, dairyfarm and tea mountain and hilltribes villages, sound attractive when the young owner told me all these, he draw me a simple map, noted all the distant, great, thought I would skipped the waterfall as it was a bit too far and he said it was right by the main road and wasn't a big one, so I started this morning up the cave as it was right in town, ha...the same kind of cave like in LangSon, converted into a temple, save my 5000d as I had voted not to visit any cave like this ever again. The walked to tea mountain and the dairyfarm was slightly better, but mostly on the main highway, dairy products was famous in MocChau, their milk and yoghurt are very good, we went inside a farm house and saw how they milked their cow, and they send it all to the factory nearby afterward. Further on we entered they tea mountain where tea dunes pop up in the landscapes around, but now wasn't the season for tea picking, not much action there. For minority villages, here mostly are Thai and Hmong, took a walked out of MocChau in any direction you would caught a Thai village, and they was quite tidy and clean, the one south of town was rather pretty while setting next to a huge flat valley with lovely paddy field, although the scene for the walk today wasn't anything special, but the people made it a pleasure and enjoyable walk, the smile any friendliness filled my day with content. MocChau seem to attracted some travellers nowadays, there was 4 French people stay here as well, and which gave me some company for the walk and most important... Can shared the meal together, I hate to eat alone!

11/1/07

My other object beside market hunting was study those tourist spot which used minority culture for their selling point, that was why I came to MaiChau, about 50km further from MocChau, a Thai village turned into a tourist village for homestay. Story started with a traveller stumbled into MaiChau some years ago while it was still a sleepy village without any facilities for tourist, but that traveller got accepted to stay in a local family house, the hospitality and friendliness of the people here caused him spread the name of MaiChau, and the name for off the track destination travel fast, now the village BanLac had more than 26 families offered homestay, and the lanes inside the village was full of souvenirs stands which usually belong to the homestay guesthouse, with the tourist boomed the economic, the village was rather clean and tidy, saw couples of tour group here today, and some individual travellers, with tour group, there would be dancing show at night, and my homestay owner told me to followed her to watch the show at 8pm, I asked her how much it cost, she said free and took me to another guesthouse which mostly served group, so I just slipped in as a guest. The show was inside the sleeping quarter which was just a big dormitory hall, all the guesthouse here had the same style hall, only same are bigger, the show last for about 45mins and it was a standard fare, no surprised anyway. about the accommodation here, a dorm room, you picked your space and the owner will partitioned it with curtains, so you got your own quarter, anyway...I was the only guest today. And for staying in the village, meal should be taken in the guesthouse unless you willing to walk the 2km into MaiChau town, and for a big fish, loaded of spring rolls, some vegetables and a banana, it cost 40000d, I think it was fare too, and for my bed I paid 50000d/night, it should be less in my opinion, and it was 60000d to started with, until I mention that I might stay a bit longer than a day. I arrived here in the late afternoon, so...will see what more I could learn from this place tomorrow.

12/1/07

In fact...the nearby village also joined in the business and some houses co-operated with travel agency for group. One thing I like about this place was the safety, they didn't need to collected their handicraft back indoor at night, and dogs didn't bark that much here. The thing to do here was hiking, you didn't really need a guide, but of course with a guide you could reach more destinations, I just took to the road by instinct, pretty comfortable walk as the area are mostly a flat valley, but I did some climbing for the view. Villagers were busy in ploughing their land, the other thing I like about this place was people just go about their daily life, not much affected by the tourism. The walk actually reminded me of PuZhiHei in Yunnan, but we developed it into something commercial, we Chinese only want big business, big investment, big resort. If they would created something like MaiChau, it would be a wonderful place to spend time with the lovely scenery there. Today I was the only tourist in BanLac, strange to walk within all those handicraft shop with only myself.

13/1/07

Weather was a bit overcast this few days, otherwise the view from whatever hill top on the valley would be wonderful, especially the view from along the main Hanoi highway was magnificent, the whole plane of paddy fields, made the 1207 steps to a cave by MaiChau town, the view wasn't that great but still rewarding. Weekend see more tourists came to stay, especially Vietnamese holiday makers and foreign students from Hanoi, BanLac was alive again. Although the village has became touristic, but...there was no way to stop it! Still it maintained its charm, the peaceful surroundings, the friendliness of the people, together with the standard elements like handicraft and traditional dance, sure it will became more popular in the future, a village could made it that far without much supported from the government and any organizations was a surpeised, of course it wasn't perfect (what is perfect?), there was no garbage and soil water management, it might posed as a big problem once the tourists arrived in full force, now some nearby villages always got guesthouses services, that moment wouldn't take long. And logging was quite immense in around the area, I saw tree trunk being push down from hillside everyday, and almost all the hills in the area had a logging track for sliding down the woods, you could spotted it clearly as it was a straight line on the surface of the hill. Anyway...BanLac confirmed my believe, you didn't need a lot of investment to start a tourist site for minorities culture, all you need is a pleasant environment, honest and friendly inhabitants, be natural and be themselves, and together with those standard elements I had mention about, don't rush and in time you will see the fruit. But for BanLac there was an important factor, I hadn't seen any competition and challenging with the neighbourhood themselve, no one came to pull tourists to stay in their house, so far only one family wait for arrival bus, and that was how I end up here, the village function in a very harmony way, I didn't know how they got this quality, if the villages back in YY had this quality it would be easy to start our project.

16/1/07

Finally made it to Hanoi, seem like no way I could bypassed it, but told myself I should had skipped it after 2 days. I still remembered Jim once commented about Hanoi "the most Asian city in Asia", but with the new development and more buildings, Hanoi just another Asian city now, although the old quarter still got the same feel as it was 9 years ago, only more cars, amazing how bit by bit its came back to me while I was walking around all those small lanes, but still...I got lost everytimes I was inside the old quarter. Now the town was bigger, once I could find quietness immediately outside the old quarter, but now...new shops, new buildings, more cars...Hanoi became a business town now. Street life was still lively, women carried their merchandise for sell, lots more street food stands, but with all those motorbike, just horrible! And at night in weekend there was a walking street all the way up to the Dong Xuan market place, very busy though. And the thing I didn't like now was the friendliness of the people had disappeared, instead now there were only cruel faces, business like smile, greedy and dishonest. Looking for a budget room was a tough job, here seem like 10 to 15 USD was the standard fare, and the demanded was big, so they just gave you a room in whatever condition, sometimes it was the restroom for the receptionist, some of the rooms not even clean yet. All I mean they just dumped it to you and said 12 dollars, as they knew room rate were the same everywhere, unless you go for more higher rate hotel then perhaps services would be good. Oh now...again...money talk, with my cheap cheap travelling style, think I should avoid all capital city. Be it my prejudiced or not, I just felt that, unfriendly! Anyway, came to Hanoi for the more easy connecting transportation down south, and the TV was great, got all the football I wanted. First time travel by train in Vietnam at 19pm to DaNang where I will start my trip into the central highland.

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Comments

[ddheritageworld]

Wooden Handicrafts
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[3xuok]

thank
glad to know someone like to read the story.