A 6km walk along a route developed by local residents takes us through bamboo thickets along the mountainside to Jumping Fish waterfall. After lunch, we can join in some traditional sports such as archery, one-legged racing and tug-of-war, visit another H'mong ethnic minority village and plant a tree as a contribution to the re-forestation of the area. In the evening, you'll probably find the householder will be eager to learn some simple English sentences from you!
17 Jan 2009 12pm Sapa-homestay
The past two days here have been beautiful. This is such a wonderful and interesting country. Yesterday as we hiked down to the village, we encountered the Red Dzao and a few other minority groups, all of which were tying to sell us their handmade crafts. Bags, blanket, belts, jewerly, and various other beautifully made things. However, their lever of persistance was downright irritating after 5 minutes. There were about three times as many of them as there were of us and they simply would not take no for an answer. All women, from the eldery to the very small children. They all had the same lines down and asked "Buy from me, buy from me" without taking a single breath. And when we sked to photograph them, it was only possible on the condition that we buy something. Even the little kida had it down. It was pretty disturbing to be honest.
We spent the rest of the day relaxing (finally!) at the our homestay and visiting the school. At the school, we played a number of games with the kids, all of which were the Vietnames versions of most American kids gas: tag, duck duck goose, etc. Everyone was so friendly and playful. In the evening, we ate and partied with the family and several of the school teachers and officals. As usual, the food was amazing and the rice wine was abundant. The shots never stopped...It was a great night. I love that I m getting to know everyone on the trip, espeically those I have had very few classes and such with in the past.
Today so far as been a free day. Some of the group when to paint at the school, while the rest of use had a chance to explore.
As we walked Griffin and I ran into Sophie, who was standing outside of the with a bunch of small children. They had been following her/she had been following them to that point. The woman who lived there invited us into met her and see her home. We learned that all 8 of the children were her'e and saw (and bought) some of her handmade things. I got a pretty sweet hat for Ben. While we were there, she went upstairs and her foot hell through the floor and Griffin and I has a hefty pile of clothing topple down on us. It was a pretty awesome and warm experience overall and I got some good shot while we were there.
As much as the trip has been disorganized at time and as crazy and downright...P has been, the experience as a whole is outstanding. The peopel are so friendly and welcoming and the country is so beautiful. I almost never want to leave. We are doing so many amazing things we could never do on our own, such as stay in these beautiful homes and meet the people we are meeting. It's hard to believe that we are about halfway through. We have done so miuch and have have so much to see ahead of us!
Looking back...
Oh yea, we have a hell of a lot of shit ahead of us....
random photo:
good photo:
"no photo! you buy from meee!"
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