Dec. 26-27, 2012 - Tribal Villages of Sapa, Vietnam
We took the night train from Ha Noi to Sapa. Ah, well, the train stopped is a town about an hour from Sapa and we took a bus to the actual city. We were in 4 bed bunks on the train. Aside from one lady continually getting up to talk on the phone it was a pretty nice ride. We arrived at the pre dawn time of 5:30am. They wake you up by playing Vietnamese music very loudly from the speakers right by my head! The tour bus was there waiting on us, so we hopped on and slept til we reached a hotel in Sapa were we freshened up and had breakfast.
At 9:30 our local Hmoung Tribe guide showed up and we began the very long walk to and thru 2 tribal villages. I guess during the whole this is what you will be doing on this tour speech I totally missed the "you will be hiking 8 miles in the mud" part. However, it didnt rain on us and the scenery was stunning, so I didnt complain. I just wish I had worn hiking pants instead of my jeans.
We hiked down for the first few hours, looking over all the rice paddies. In fact, for as far as you could see it was rice paddies with a few houses dotted throughout the fields. The route was a bit slick and very steep at some points. A group of tribe ladies followed us along the entire route and helped us through the steep parts.
We had lunch at one of the villages. It consisted of pho, pears, and yogurt. During and after lunch throngs of ladies and young girls tried to sell us necklaces, bracelets, earrings, scarfs....anything they could really. I ended up with a silver (in color, I'm sure it isnt real silver) bracelet and I received one woven bracelet for free! These go well with the bracelet collection I have growing on my right wrist.
After lunch we carried on to the next village. This hiking was less down and more gentle hills, but still crossing through endless rice paddies. The rice paddies are terraced along the hills and are quite complex and thought out. Each rice paddy terrace must remain full of water for the rice to grow. The water flows from one terrace to the next one just below via path ways cut into the earth. Its a lot like a giant water fountain and it sounded like it too. Once the water in the upper paddy reached a certain height it was allowed to flow down into the next terrace and so on so that all the terraces remained full of water. The water flowed through channels, sometimes underneath the walking path, sometimes through piping from one to the next little paddy. It was very intricate.
We stopped at a dye and clothe making shop. Here we saw the indigo dye and the clothes they had dyed and sewn into the tribal outfits. The water channels at this shop were used to drive rice pounders. It was a lot like a see-saw. A big scoop on one end was put in the path of the water so it would flow into the scoop. Once the scoop was full of water it would drop and empty into the lower part of the water path. On the other end, as the scoop would drop the pounder part would rise. As soon as the water left the scoop the pounder would come down and smash into a big wooden bowl of rice. Nifty.
We finished our hike at another village. The 6 of us on the tour stayed at a local families house. The house was a modest barn looking place. It had large living room which housed the TV and 3 beds, the families beds. A room off the living was use as the kitchen where they cooked over a wood fire on the floor. They also had a gas burner. Above the living room was a loft area that ran along 3 sides of the house. This is were we slept. They had basic mattresses on the floor with big heavy blankets (it was cold) and mosquito nets.
The family welcomed us with tiny cups of green tea and we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the porch looking out over the rice paddies.
The stay with the family was fairly interactive. I got to help make the pig mash (yes mom, the pig mash is for the pigs to eat). This consisted of slicing the truck of a banana tree into thin slices, putting it into a big bowl, pounding it with a big stick, then boiling it. I also tried on the tribal leg warmers worn by the ladies and I tried my hand at spring rolls.
Dinner was fabulous. We, of course, had springs rolls, a variety of chicken, pork and beef stirfries and rice. Dinner was followed by rice wine. It is served and tastes a lot like sake. Its served in shot glasses, drank in shots, it just isnt warm. The family makes their own rice wine and sells it to others in the community. Its made by cooking rice then letting it ferment and then distilling it. We got to try to raw rice wine as well. This is basically the rice mash that is left to ferment. It was not very good, it tasted soured, which I guess is exactly what it is.
The group stayed up for a while talking but all were in bed pretty early due to the looooong 8 mile hike that day. It rained through the night and was delightful to hear on the metal roof. Sleep was good. Except for the time I woke up to something pulling off my covers. It turned out to be Liz sleep walking. I screamed when I realized the covers were moving and I think this woke her up, she apologized, but I was still freaked out for a while. We had a good laugh about it the next day.
The next morning was pancakes (which I also go to try cooking, these are different than American pancakes) with bananas and honey. Delicious!
There the tour van took us back to Sapa for showers and dinner. Then they hauled us to the train station were we caught the 9pm train back to Ha Noi.
What I have learned: When it rains people still go out on their motorbikes. They actually have rain ponchos for the motorbikes and themselves. It goes completely over the person and bike and even has a clear plastic part so the head light can still be used.
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