Day 9 (cont)

Stopping along the road up the mountain we checked out some ethnic minority girls selling lychee.

The hill tribes, or minority people, as our guides call them, still identify with their tribes although the government says they are now free to marry outside their tribe if they want. In fact, at a rest break shortly after the palace the owners were a local (Hmong tribe) man and a Vietnamese woman from Hanoi. They have two children and say they are happy.

The minority people still marry young. The girls at 14 or 15 and the boys at 15 or 16. They tend to be small in stature so sometimes I'll see a young mother with her child and think they are both children.

In addition to the lychee they also had fresh banana flowers.


Leaving that roadside stand we worked our way up the mountains to Sapa.

Sapa is situated at about 1500 meters (4921 feet) so as we got closer to the town the temperature dropped into the mid-seventies and with the cooling breeze it was quite comfortable.

Looking for a place to eat dinner we saw a man roasting a piglet on a spit over a charcoal fire. It was probably just an enticement to enter the restaurant since it wouldn't be done for a couple hours plus there wasn't enough there to feed very many of the large number of tourists in town.

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Day 9 (cont)

We said goodbye to the old palace and rode on down, or should I say up, the road.

Stopped for a rest break on the way down a mountain. Russ' pocket thermometer read 96. On down the mountain we stopped for lunch where the reading was 102. Hot riding even with the wind in our face.


So hot that Justin passed on lunch and took a siesta instead.


We were riding the northern, high road so pretty close to China. So close that around noon I got a text from Global Services welcoming me to China.

Back down the mountains we stopped in the border crossing city of Lao Cai. Admired the border buildings and then headed out for Sa Pa

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Day 9 (cont)

The paddy fields are watered using various methods, all operating on the gravity principle. We stopped to admire this system of bamboo pipes that brought water from a hillside across the road.



Next stop another old palace. Didn't have time to spend as much time looking as I wanted but did enjoy the tour.

The old kitchen.







Gun port worked intro the architecture.

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Day 9 Coc Pai to Sapa

Went out for coffee this morning and saw more fresh cut flowers.


The rose buds are wrapped with newsprint to protect them from the heat until the customer buys them. It's extraordinarily warm here this year so extra precautions are needed.


Also saw a cage of dogs on their way to meet their fate. We think it's sad but dog is just another meat to the northern Vietnamese and the hill tribes. I don't think I've eaten any yet but it's hard to tell about some of the dishes so I'm ordering more and more vegetables and tofu and less meat.


We climbed almost straight up the mountainside through switchback after switchback and several 11% grades. Topped the pass at around 4500 feet, well above the smog and smoke level.


There are terraced paddies wherever there's enough room to work them. All built, maintained, planted and harvested by hand. Some are only a few feet wide.

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Day 8 (cont)

Up the road a way we stopped for lunch. Duck pho (noodle soup) today. It was very good as was the cold beer.


For tourists and their four drivers enjoying lunch.


Foot operated threshing machine. Rice cut and stacked by hand, threshed with the straw going to the buffalo and the grains going to the guy on the right who is winnowing the rice from the chaff. After drying the rice will be polished to partially remove the bran for brown rice, fully remove it for white rice and polish even further for making high quality sake.

Checked into the hotel in Coc Pai around six and had that welcome shower.

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Day 8 Ha Huang to Coc Pai-Xin Man

I left you at the tea processing plant. Here they take in the fresh picked tea, dry it and pack it into the large bags.






Scenic overlook on the way down a mountain.


Buffaloes taking a break. Water buffalo seem to be somewhere between cows and horses on the intelligence scale.


Local bus working its way up the mountain. People inside, baggage, ducks and chickens on the roof. This kind of local bus occasionally goes off the road and tumbles to the river far below.

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Up close and personal on the back of a motorbike

I like this mode of travel. On good roads in and near cities we can go as fast as 65kph (40mph) but once we get back on the mountain roads our speed drops to slow and slower depending on the condition of the road. These roads are one lane so we sometimes stop for the infrequent oncoming truck or bus or wait for a wide spot so we can pass a larger vehicle going our direction.

The children yell hello and wave. Sometimes they will stand out in the road with hands extended trying for a hand slap as we roll by. Justin brought some soccer balls so on occasion we will stop near a group of kids and he will pump up a ball and give it and a pump to the kids.

At our slow speed it's easy to spot wild flowers (including orchids), butterflies and birds of many varieties and follow the state of the various crops as we move up and down through the growing zones.

Yesterday we started at 104 meters and went over two high passes (gateways to heaven) that were well up into the pine climate areas. None of our party brought an altimeter but I estimate the passes at approximately 1500 meters so that would be an elevation change of 1400 meters or so (4500 feet +/-).

Another reason to value riding on motorcycles is the skill of the drivers and their ability to steer away from places where the road has washed out leaving a sheer drop down many hundreds of feet or other hazards of the mountain roads.

Our chief guide, Wing, calls the local buses "moving coffins" because every so often one goes over the side.

At night the bikes roll right into the hotel lobby for safekeeping.

So down the road we go with the wind cooling us a little, enjoying the sights and smelling the smells and saying hello to all the children along the way.

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Day 8

Went out early this morning for coffee and saw a little chihuahua in a cage guarding the front door. Cage to protect against dog snatchers.

Many of the produce stands carry fresh flowers.

First stop was the money changer (jewelry shop) since I've just about gone through the hundred dollars I changed at the airport a week ago.

Next stop was the 0 km marker for hwy 1.





Next stop a tea processing plant.


Standing outside near a typical power pole.

Next post will have tea plant photos.

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Repost

I posted an update this morning that covered day 7 afternoon but the pictures wouldn't upload and it looks like the whole post went to the Internet big black hole.

I posted a test awhile ago and it seems to be ok so I'll post the end of day 7 again.

After lunch we stopped at castle of the Hmong king. It was built around the early 1900's and was a marvel at the time. Still is for that matter. Constructed of marble with posts and beams of ironwood, it has carvings at corners and support points.





We visited another minority homestead and then wound our way through switchbacks until we came to an overlook.


If you zoom in at the area between the two hills the trimmed shrubbery reads, "Mountain of the Two Breasts" or so says our guide.

Will try this again. Hopefully it goes through.

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Test

Testing WiFi connection.

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Day 7 Lunch Break

We stopped for lunch at a street side restaurant in Yen Minh.

We had fresh eggs scrambled with green onion, tofu with tomatoes and ginger,parboiled water spinach, rice and chicken. The neighboring table treated us to some corn wine and we had some draft beer. The best part was they had WiFi so I could post an update.

Photos below are from this morning.



Fine fabrics and knives at the sa
me table.


Hmong girls in traditional dress and cell phone.


Foot powered machjust like grandma used to use.


Hand woven baskets average price around six dollars US.



Fresh tofu sold by the kilogram. So fresh no refrigeration required

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Day 7 Monday Meo Vac to Ha Gaing

Today is Sunday here in VN so it's market day. Our guides tell us that some of the Hong (local minority people) started walking to town at 0100 or 0130 this morning.

We had our bowl of pho for breakfast then went into the market. After we finished with the market we saddled up and headed out of town. After ten kilometers we were still passing Hong people walking back home with their purchases, women carrying the heavy loads Wirh the men sometimes carrying something light but often carrying notihng.

Random shots of the market follow.











Free samples of home made rice wine

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Day 6 (cont)

Glenn trying out a pipe.


Kitchen in a minority house along the way.


Same house. A shot out the back door


Over the edge of the road.


Bikes parked in the hotel lobby.

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Day 6 (cont)

We sampled boiled-in-the-husk corn. Not bad
.

Minority women stitching clothes while tending there wares for sale.


Buffalo snack time.


Dicey ball gift from American Justin to minority children.


Hams carved chair with pipes alongside.

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