From Lazy Laos to Crazy Vietnam

I had hoped to send a new entree to this blog on the 15th of August in order to wish all the mothers - more or less new in this wonderful occupation – a very happy Mother´s day. Also to the ones still preparing for it… Unfortunately, the Internet connection was so terribly slow that it would have taken me 6 hours instead of the usual 2. Still, I think that congratulations to all you special mothers are in place any day of the year, aren't they?

En ook effe de grootmoeders speciaal in de bloemekes zetten. Deze is voor jou Alice, echt waar gezien op een marktje in Luang Prabang!!

Ik twijfel er niet aan dat je kleinkinderen hier volledig mee akkoord gaan…

1-4 August: From Luang Prabang (Laos) to Sapa (Vietnam)
Yes, it took us 4 days to get from Luang Prabang to our next destination, Sapa. We did the whole trip by local buses: Luang Prabang-Oudomxai-Muang Khoa-Dien Bien Phu-Sapa. (The Spanish guys we met, Luis and David, were convinced everyone was talking about the “loco” buses, and therefore they didn´t dare to get on them, until we clarified things for them) These buses really do not offer the best travelling conditions, but adventure is always guaranteed!

Since this is an unusual way to get from Laos to Vietnam, partly because this border opened for foreigners only one month ago, there are no VIP night buses that take you straight from one point to the other. There is only one bus a day, leaving in the morning and arriving in the next town in the afternoon or evening. There you find out that there is also one daily bus to the next town, that leaves in the morning. So, we had to find a place to sleep every time, get up at 5 in the morning to catch the following bus, etc. In Muang Khoa, a bus left only every two days, so there we were even lucky to arrive just the day before it left!

Anyways… Local buses provide you with continuous surprises…

- We arrive in Muang Khoa, go to the ticket office and ask for the bus to Vietnam, the guy doesn´t speak English, but shows us a sign that says “every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at 7.30”. Ok, we say, fine, from where? He makes a lot of gestures and points in a direction, which doesn´t really help us, because we don´t see any busstop. In the meantime, I go and look for a guesthouse and fortunately I find some other foreigners, who tell me we have to take a ferry to cross the river and that the bus leaves from the other side. I forgot to ask them how théy found out…

Main street of Muang Khoa:

- In Dien Bien Phu, we are lucky again. Just when getting off the bus, we run into a French couple, who had been in the same guesthouse as us in Tadlo (Laos), but with whom we hadn´t really talked, apart from “Bonjour” “Bonjour”. They are travelling around for one year, so they are also on a very-low-budget and have more experience in bargaining. They led us to their guesthouse, where we also got the same good price they had achieved. In the evening, we had a nice dinner with them and they gave us many good tips for our travel through Vietnam, where they had already been.

- On the bus (minivan) from Dien Bien Phu, a Vietnamese girl comes and sits next to me, and immediately starts talking. And yes, although she does not speak English and my Vietnamese is limited to “Xin Chao” and “Cam´On”, we actually have a whole conversation, she shares her fruit with us and we offer her biscuits. I find this really nice in the beginning, until she decides to nestle closely against me, fall asleep on my shoulder, afterwards on my lap, then on Lluis´ lap. Ok, we think, this is a cultural thing. But then she comes and holds my arm whenever we get off the bus for a break, then she says it is very cold where she lives and if I cannot give her my sweater, then she gets sick and digs her nail in her wrist, (some point of accupuncture to avoid vomiting, I guess) and she ends the trip with an infected wound on her wrist. Crazy girl… It is strange, though, because barriers of shame, physical closeness, all types of taboes are so different in every culture…

Here she is, fast asleep on Lluis' lap:

- Have I talked about driving through the mountains on often sandy roads in the middle of the monzoon season? Well, that means very muddy roads, driving through rivers, buses having to stop to get trees or stones out of the way, a tyre being changed, and never knowing when (or if) you will arrive…


It also means having to get off the bus,

A guy undressing and going into the water to check its depth,
And sending all the “falang” (foreigners) over the bridge, while the bus crosses this river with the locals inside, …


4-8 August: Sapa
Finally, we arrive to Sapa. Let me introduce this town to you with a short story…
(Hey, I know I talk a lot, if I´m boring you, just close your eyes or go and have a cup of tea instead…)

Once upon a time, little baby-girl Yah was born in a Hmong village in the hills of North Vietnam, Lao Chai. For her Dad, though, Yah was just a nuisance and a mouth to feed, whereas he preferred his own belly to be filled. So, he threw his wife out of the house, leaving her no other option than to go back to her parents´ place with the six-months old Yah tied to her back. Yah grew up to become a warm and beautiful young girl, surrounded by the love of her mother, grandparents and her stepfather, without knowing her Dad.

At the age of eighteen, she married an ambitious young man, and together they worked hard to create a better life for both of them. Yah made nice tissues to sell at the Sapa market and sometimes helped her husband on the field where they grew rice, corn and canamo. They did so well, that they could afford to buy chickens, pigs and even a buffalo. They now have four children, three boys and one girl. They all go to school in the village and the eldest is already helping out his father on the land.
One day, Yah´s Dad, who had heard about his daughter´s prosperous life, decided it was time to recover the family bonds. He came to the market, drunk, and started yelling at Yah, saying that he had taken care of her all these years and claiming that she should now take care of him. At first, Yah answered she did not know him, that her father had left her, but the man continued to make such a scandal – very unpleasant in front of all her colleagues on the market – that, eventually, Yah´s husband led his wife´s Dad away from the market and treated him to food and (more) drinks. From that day on, Yah´s Dad shows up now and then, has a meal and gets off without paying, leaving the bill for Yah´s husband.

When Yah started selling, she remembers she was very shy and she didn´t speak a word of English. Now her English is fluent (with a slight Australian accent) and she prefers to talk to people, rather than convincing them to buy. One day this summer, she started a conversation with a couple of tourists, that were having a beer on a terrace. They ended up inviting her for a drink, and although they had warned her that they didn´t have the money to buy anything from her, the woman bought a silver bracelet, just to do Yah a favour (also because it was a beautiful bracelet, made by Yah´s uncle). To return the favour, Yah gave them still another two bracelets. Then the waiter told them that the bar was closing, and if they would be so kind as to leave. Yah, Lluís and Sandra said goodbye with a big hug and a warm feeling in their hearts…

Here goes a picture of Yah (and me) and the bracelets she gave us:

Sapa is typical for trekkings into the mountains and visiting the minority villages, where hill tribes still live their traditional way and dress traditional costumes. To us, there might not be much of a difference, but they recognize from which village and tribe a person is by their clothing.

The landscapes you get to see on the way to these villages are amazing:

It has become quite a business though, and loads of organized tours are offered to tourists, which makes you doubt about the authenticity of the experience. The only way to avoid these expensive (and not always trustworthy) tours is to walk by yourself or to rent a motorbike, which is what we did. We visited two villages:

- Cat Cat, which means a healthy 3 km walk from Sapa and has a very nice waterfall, but apart from that four shops, offering handicraft objects to tourists;

- Banh Ho, a village where people are actually living and working, and which has a lot of charm, but also gives us the ackward impression of looking into people´s lives through a shopwindow.

Lluís didn´t like Sapa at all, considering it one big circus, with the town full of dressed-up women, trying to sell and sell and sell.

For me, it was different because of the good memories I have of the people I talked to: Yah, for example, but also Song, Lang and Suh, three little girls with an incredible knowledge of English, who became very dear to me.

This is what I’ve been able to write until now. The days in Hanoi and Hue (where we are now) will have to wait until further inspiration... In the meantime, take care and be good girls and boys, OK?