Vietnam (Part 2)

We flew from Hoi An to Hanoi ($36) and transferred via city bus to big bus station for Halong Bay. Next time we will take a cab rather than a city bus, which was totally packed. The driver even charged us extra for our bag. Luckily we had the help of a student who personally walked us to the correct bus and got us pointed in the right direction. Halong Bay is located on Vietnam's coast, about 5 hours east of Hanoi. Halong Bay has just short of 2,000 natural limestone karsts that rise high and vertical above the bay. These karsts are scattered with caves, beaches, and lakes. The rock formations reminded us of the Lao Islands in Fiji. It took us a morning to filter through the scams and find a boat that would take us out on the water. The rickety old wooden “junk” boats in Halong Bay depart with visitors on day and overnight cruises. The captain of our junk boat casually sipped tea while we bopped around the bay. Luckily we had good weather and we able to see the karsts in the bay and enjoy a little sunshine.

Back in Hanoi, we caught up with our family and made our long list of October 24th birthday calls to Brian's dad, Lauren's dad, and Lauren's sister. Hanoi is super smoggy, but the streets are filled with people going about their daily lives wearing face masks. Obviously, the highlight of Hanoi was the 25 cent beer. Every one sits along the street hanging out and drinking cheap beer... so of course we had to partake. There are over 3.5 million motorbikes in Hanoi. Life is just so plain chaotic its hard not to find it comical.

The highlight of our time in Vietnam was definitely the time we spent in Sapa and the “Tonkinese Alps.”. We heard great reviews from a friend about Sapa Sisters Trekking, a company locally owned by local Hmong (pronounced Mong) women living in the remote hill villages of Sapa. We stayed a night in a hotel in the main town of Sapa, which also offered to store our larger bag while we trekked in the countryside. Cho, our Sapa Sisters guide works once or twice a week, depending on how many tourists are in town and rotates with anywhere between 6-10 guides, all women.

Before leaving on the private trek, we sat down with Cho to go over our options. There are many small villages in the hills of Sapa and the trek routes have varying difficulties. With a little hesitation, we chose the most challenging route that led us up and down steep (and slippery!) sides of mountains. Navigating us up, down, and around the slopes, Cho scampered like a mountain goat. We managed to keep up with her and Lauren came very close to taking a tumble in a massive pile of buffalo poo. She slid about 5 feet and managed to stop still standing. Everyone got their laughs. See the picture to get yours... The views of mountains and rice terraces on our trek was breathtaking. Because of the altitude, the air was cool and the perfect temperature for days of walking.

Cho, taught us about plants growing along the paths that are essential for medicine, food, and clothing in the Hmong Villages. She showed us which plants were poison and told us that it is common for women to eat poisonous leaves when they are not happy with their husbands. We had already noticed that the local women in the markets had blue hands and Cho showed that crushing the leaves of the indigo plants in our hands would leave a blue stain. Hmong clothing is made by twisting strands of hemp to create a thread and using a loom to weave. Marijuana plants are plentifully grown around the villages and are the primary material used for hemp textiles. The indigo leaves are crushed with water and used to create a navy blue dye. Traditional Hmong clothes have neon embroidery on the navy blue material. Patterns and designs are made on the fabric using beeswax before the dying process. After the cloth is dyed, it is put into boiling water and the wax is removed, leaving a white pattern on the indigo.

Like most Hmong, Cho spoke almost perfect English, but was unable to read or write. In the villages people speak Hmong, but also English and a little Vietnamese. Cho was 21 years old and already was married with a 2 year old girl and an 8 month old boy. It's not uncommon for people to marry young and have children. Responsibility to the family is a strong sentiment. When girls are married they move to the husband's family. The family is the center of life in Sapa's Hmong villages and many generations inhabit the same home. Cho told us how important it is to have sons because they marry and care for the elders of the family, while girls will eventually marry and leave the family. Husbands are very involved in cooking and cleaning and most of the women are the ones that have jobs outside the home. Men are greatly involved in supporting the women and raising children. All families grow rice at a minimum.

We were very lucky to have perfect weather for our days in the Hmong villages. Rain frequents the mountains this time of year and the steep slopes can be very slippery. During our trek, we stayed at a homestay in the hills that provided a bed, bathroom, shower, food, “happy water” and a valuable cultural experience. Our room in the homestay was a bed in a simple framed pen with a mosquito net. We befriended a group of American flight attendants who were also staying in the village between trekking. They had picked up a few souvenirs in the marajuana fields. In the evening we joined them at the little beer shop up and road. The non-existant menu was sparse, but included opium. We stuck to local beer.

While the flight attendants had their fun, we sat around drinking happy water and asked them about some of the weirdest thing they have seen on planes. We are recently coming off three straight plane rides in close proximity to crying babies. One of the girls told us a story about a man who had no arms and was flying in company of a service monkey. When it came time to eat the monkey started feeding the guy, as usual. But there was something wrong with the monkey and he was stuffing food into the guy's mouth faster than he could chew and scratching the man's face in the process. When the guy began choking, the flight attendants noticed the monkeys strange behavior, still stuffing food into the guy's mouth and clawing his face. One of the flight attendants grabbed the monkey by the neck and threw him into the restroom and locked the door. The monkey trashed around the first class restroom in panic. The pilots even hear the scuffle since the restroom shared a wall with the cockpit. Luckily a veterinarian that was on the plane suggested that the monkey was suffering from the pressure in the plane and needed oxygen. They got the monkey out of the restroom and gave him back to his owner with an oxygen mask and he acted normal the rest of the flight (as normal as service monkeys on a plane could act). It may have been the “happy water” but everyone got a huge kick out of the story, including the Hmong women. We just had to include it in the email since this is the most absurd story we have heard in almost a year of traveling.

Returning to the main town of Sapa, was fun as we fast tracked through the hills on motorbikes with Cho, her husband, and their little baby boy. Cho took us to the market so we could buy a meter or two of indigo hemp fabric dyed with beeswax. Her mother owns a stand at the market, but was not there so we purchased from her neighbor.

Our adventure continues in Laos!