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| We arrived in Sapa in the early morning, fresh off of the Victoria Express - a luxury train run by the Victoria Hotel Sapa, our home for the next 6 days. Sapa was originally a Black Hmong settlement, that was until the Europeans discovered the place in the early 1900s when it became known as the Tonkinese Alps. Sapa is a very small town with the Fansi Pan mountain range as its backdrop. The scenery is fantastic. Not only do you have the mist-shrouded mountains, but you also have the paddy terraces often with buffalo pulling ploughs through them, which makes for a stunning landscape. The place is made colourful by the mountain people (montagnards) who live there - the Black Hmong and the Dao are the ones we've seen the most of. The Black Hmong all wear indigo coloured clothes (to match their indigo coloured hands and arms - just a quick look at one of them and you'll realise that they don't set their dyes!)
We went trekking yesterday to two villages - Lai chai and Tavan - and got a look at how the Hmong people live. It sure looks like a hard existence. Inside their homes there are no signs of any creature comforts whatsoever. The men work the fields all day, knee deep in paddy water while the ladies are in town trying to compete with the hundred and one other Hmong ladies trying to sell handicrafts. But, it's all done with a smile and lots of laughs! The Hmong people we met were amazingly friendly and very keen to get some practice of English speaking in. It's always basically the same conversation, 'What's your name?' 'Where come from?' 'How many children?' (to which we try and explain that we've only been married a couple of weeks!!) and finally the big one 'You buy from me - look very beautiful'!!
We've used tonnes of photo reel here - the people are really photogenic. Earlier today I caught an elderly Black Hmong lady taking a nap on the side of the road. It's Sunday so they hang out in town all day, shopping and drinking this amazingly toxic rice wine (nothing like the Japanese version at all - this stuff would knock you out for days!!) She looked a little worse for wear, but her lined face should make for an excellent shot I hope.
I don't think we've mentioned yet (directly) how taken we both are with Vietnam so far. The people we've met have been fantastic and the sights and sounds have really captivated the two of us. This is everything we wanted our yearaway to be and it feels great! | | | | Previous Entry: | Next Entry: | | 9 May 2001 : Hanoi - Vietnam | 17 May 2001 : Halong Bay - Vietnam | | On the road in Nam | Where the dragon flailed his tail |
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