Vietnam At Its Best

     Last week we embarked on a three day, two night cruise to the spectacular Halong Bay. Just as everyone says it is some of the most beautiful scenery in the world, in my experience, and although the tourist movement there has become somewhat overwhelming, it remains well worth a visit to experience its grandeur. As you leave the dock on your big wooden junk, the sleeper boats used for all tours here, massive limestone karsts begin to rise all around in amazing teetering and flowing formations that require lots of camera work. What really made our particular trip so fun, however; was the group of twelve people that made up our boat, the Duong Song. As usual, and on this trip more than ever, the people around us continue to make all the difference, despite the location. Our boat consisted of travelers from Germany, Singapore, Australia, Belgium, and one crazy Russian.  He felt obligated to buy the boats stock of wine(8 bottles) amongst many beers to ensure everyone had a good time during our night spent on the boat, afterwich I felt obligated to free the bird that was caged on the bow of our boat. The second night was spent on Cat Ba Island in a great hotel right near the beach. It was a really fun trip and we were sad to say goodbye to our new friends.
     That said, I looove Sapa. It is my favorite city/town that we have visited to date. Located high up in the mountains, yet still surrounded by even larger mountains, Sapa is breathtaking. Its beautiful old buildings are backdropped by splendor from all sides and the flowing stair-stepping rice paddies covering the hillsides are stunningly green and concentric, reminding me of the lines that make up our fingerprints. On top of that, we got the deal of the year at a great hotel with a great view and staff, even bartering for two free breakfasts each to accompany our room. The town is full of great restaurants and cafes and the people are friendly. The most surprising, but my favorite, aspect of Sapa were the droves of hilltribe women wandering the streets, trying to sell their handwoven goods. Many of them speak fluent English, which they learned from tourists alone, none in school. Their people, the Black Hmong, live extremely difficult lifestyles, comparable to that of native Americans in the U.S. a hundred years ago. They live completely off of their own crops and weavings, in dirt floored wooden huts. They are opressed by the vietnamese people who call them cats and have zero respect for them. We found them to be more friendly and smarter than any Vietnamese we have encountered. We had the privelage of joining two of our befriended hilltribe women, So and Csi, for lunch one day in their village. After buying some food at the local market, we hiked three hours up to their house through dense mist. Upon arriving we found the house empty except for Grandma and the youngest daughter of So. After twenty minutes ten more family memers had arrived, straight from the fields where they spend their entire day, even the 10 year old boys and girls. After about two hours sitting around the wood fire, cooking lunch, we sat down to a delicious meal, men at one end of the table, women at the other. Throughout the meal any time someone said "How", everyone took a drink of rice wine. DO NOT be decieved by the name wine here..this stuff is lethal. Rice whisky or 100 proof wine would be a more appropriate name which we found, and experienced quite quickly. We should have known it was trouble after grandpa stumbled out of his room at 11:00 am, already drunk as a skunk, almost falling into the fire. I was lucky enough to sit next to him at lunch as he rambled on in Hmong dialect, to nobody, for two hours, before stumbling back to bed. Impressive for an 86 year old. Our second to last day we took a moto to Bac Ha for the Sunday market where we saw buffalo, pigs, and dogs being sold among other craziness. We spent five days enjoying this great little spot and I wish I could stay longer. Now its off to catch our flights to Taiwan for our last stop. Miss you all and hope everythings great back home. Love Mas
p.s. Happy Graduation Kenyonites!!