Thursday 18 March 2010

Sa Pa, the mountains in North Vietnam


SaPa itself is not a particulary interesting town. The main road, where most restaurants and accomodation are can be noisy and is very turisty. Its quite westernized. But it is a great starting point to visit the minority people in the mountains around. It can only be done with a guide who will take you through the mountains and it’s organized in small groups in order not to disturb the harmony of the peoples. So Miguelito decided to do a 2 days trekking with a homestay in a vilage...


First day, 12km walk for about 5 hours on Hmong territory and through several little villages. We stop at Ta Van, territory of the Giay people for a night stay. Second day, 3 hours trek through Giay and Dao territory.



'By fro'me!By fro'me!' Waiting by the Hotel entrance. Unfortunatelly you get countless hmong woman and girls in town, coming from the villages, insisting with you to buy stuff from them. You know how it goes: they arrass you so much you end up buying so they can shut up. But soon you will have another batallion trying to spend your money in stuff you will never use or wear.
And if make your point in saying No, they go: 'ok then! By fro'me, LATER?'
AAAARGH!!! Khong!!! NOOOO!!


The group gathered on the early morning: 5 of us, the guide and an aprentice. The weather conditions: not ideal, dense fog and cold. I don't think the cold wouldn't scare me off as we were gonna be walking anyway and therefore warm up a bit. But the fog was so dense that one could not see a sleeping buffalo right ahead.



















Walking along side us, this little group of Black Hmong girls would keep making conversation and be very helpful by helping us cross some areas with higher level of difficulty. It is amazing to see them smoothly flow through the narrow paths on her flat sole leather sandals, compaires with the hi-tech shoes of most travelers.













Of course they wanted us to buy something at some point and made that evident on the first 10minutes of trek. I smiled: 'Blah, I know you want something from us more then just make friends. Don't worry, I will buy you something when we get there, I will buy from you, but please don't make it too evident! At least, pretend you are here to make us company ok?' They didn't touch the subject again and indeed kept making conversation of all sorts and offering us little horses and hearts shapped from plants. I was quite pleasent, I am glad they came along! Each one stuck to one of us... though all would help when needed: putting out fires, flying over rivers, swimming under water caves, attacking wild animals! thx girls.
They walk miles and miles every day. No wonder they are small and light. Nature made them that way...
Ou entao e' porque nao bebem leitinho do bufalo!












Leaving home for work...














































through villages...

Va' lenha!!!!!


















































































The group: Margo and Sophie, the dutch girls. Tim, english brave warrior. and... Katsuta, japonese!
Katsuta... what a legend...
And some of the Hmong girls!













My Black Hmong guardian angel...
She was always smiling and would speak rather good english from someone who didn't go to english classes. 'I learn from the tourists' she said.
She stuck to me the whole way. Ok, most of the way... I fell behind and when I though I was on my own there she was... waiting! With a smile...
Isn't she beautiful?











Rice padies! Plantation season goes from May to September in North Vietnam. Some plantations can give up to 3 crops a year.


















































Children are EVERYWHERE on the way... They pop like mushrooms when you least expect.
It happens in most underdeveloped countries I guess... No concept of Johnies... Borrachinha!
Give them some condoms and they will make slingshots out of them! Fisgas pa ir ao passaro!!!












































Where the Hmong meet the Giay. Time to say goodbye to Blah (after purchasing some stuff I will never use) and be arrassed by the Giay girls now...
Not again!























...at lunch with Katsutaaaaaaaa!!! This japanese was traveling asia for a few months. He could not speak... at a normal sound level! He would shout on his arcaic english! 'So what's your name?' 'KATSUTAAAAAA!!!' In the beggining you find him a weirdo 'coz he can only shout, then you realise there must be something unscrewed somewhere and just accept it, at the end you are so used to his hilarious screams and then you get addicted to him! 'ARIGATOOOOO!!!'

The Asian V...









After lunch time we left Hmong territory and trekked for 3 more hours on Giay territory. They laughed when I pronounced Giay... The way I said it sounded like 'cock'! And the same word pronounced differently can also mean shoes... So careful when calling them: 'Hey you cock, how much is this? Tricky...



































Non-stop!!!
They will HUNT YOU DOWN!!!










Check out Tha Swing!!!


Ai ca partes issa' miuda!!!










The beauty and the beast. Thuy, our guide. Pleasent dude. Humble. Did a great job in leading us the whole way and in keeping us informed. But the worst is yet to come... and he doenst know yet...










Home stay at this house in the mountains... After a full day trekking, there would be no cold weather that would stop Miguelito to get on that dirty water! Repeat the dose the next morning, this time followed by big Tim! Was the best way to start the day!

We staied at this house at the back... with a view...







and of course... after a long day... freakn cold water to heal the pain!!!
Feeling like a million dollars!!















Met with another group (Claudia, american and her daughter Luana, hawaian; and Oole and Singh, a 60 year old danish cool couple) and had vietnamese dinner cooked by the guide and house owners. Delicious. Washed in with Rice Wine(!!): looks like water, served in plastic water bottles and kept in large petrol-like plastic containers. Served in shots with the food: Mot..hai..ba...Zooo. (zooo is pronounced Yooo, as in Wassup Yo!!!) À saude!






Oh no... not again...









They kept asking about Cristiano Ronaldo, i told them was better! At the end I tried to buy that bong for more money he could earn in one week and still he didn't sell it. Respect!


After food and 7 shots, Miguelito left the room to check on the kitchen and socialize with the viet boys. Not good idea... Phun, served me 6 more of this shots and we shared the peace bong! And the thing is: if they offer, one cannot refuse... It's cultural! Not the best outcome... ai ai ai... We ended up on karaoke singing viet music stuff... Disaster!


By the way... Vietnamese people LOOOOVE karaoke. Everyone thinks they sing great!!
I am hearing people singing loudly at some hut somehwere at the back AS i write this... And god... they are good...

Nite nite!



Note: by the time this post was finished Miguelito is far ahead on his journey. He’s already been through Laos and is now back to Vietnam. There’s a big delay and it will only get bigger. Every day is a full day, lots of stuff to see and do and it’s bloody hard to keep up...








3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Ó Miguel...eles não bebem leitinho do bufalo, mas tu bebes leitinho do boi!eheheh
    Por acaso disseste ao japa que eras dentista?? Não lhe talhavas aquele canino para uma coroa de metal precioso? Que maravilha!
    Olha, lindas imagens, belo passeio...
    Continuação de boa saúde!
    Abraço!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bela caminhada e simpática menina Hmong por companhia

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