Nov. 17/Day 48: More Trekking
The roosters were awake extra early. I suppose it always feels like they are awake especially early, at least to us city folk. Somehow the other 19 people in our oversized hut were able to sleep in. I went for a walk through town.
By 7:00 a.m., all the villagers were awake and busy going about the day. School starts at 7:30, so many children were walking to school with their lunch pales. Kids carry rice to school in small plastic buckets. At lunchtime, the teacher will cook the rice for them. Above is a picture of the elementary school.
The very young and the very old populate the village. Most of the teenagers live in Sapa in order to attend high school. After graduation, they head for the city in search of non-agricultural jobs with more earning potential. Because the government divides the land based on the number of people in a family, it is difficult to grow enough rice to earn a good living. Every 18 years, the land is reallocated.
It is a gorgeous village, but living here often involves backbreaking work.
The men were transporting rocks to a building sight down near the river. I couldn't stop thinking how much a few John Deere tractors would change their lives.
There are, however, many perks to living in a remote village. There may not be tractors or video games, but you can ride a water buffalo.
In lieu of coffee, I suppose. I'm told it contained fresh tobacco and tea leaves. While she took hits from the bong, we ate banana pancakes. The pancakes in Asia are what we would call crepes. I am yet to find syrup. Most are served with bananas and raw sugar.
After breakfast, Dzao (also spelled Dao or Zao) women met us in the homestay to accompany us on our trek. They were selling nearly identical items as the Hmong women yesterday.
So long, Ta Van.
We trekked through rice patties to a nearby waterfall about 5km from the homestay.
At times, it was a little steep. We were lucky it didn't rain. Rain can turn the trek through the rice patties into a slippery, muddy mess.
Before we reached the waterfall, we reached stretches of nothing but bamboo plants.
We also ran into a few more water buffalo searching for food.
The waterfall wasn't much of a waterfall, at least not during the dry season.
I'm not really sure why I was sticking out my tongue. I think the Germans were probably teasing me about something. Regardless, you can see it was a pretty nice view from the top. We hiked down and went swimming in the river flowing below.
The bridges looked very rustic. I cringed every time a motorbike drove across.
This cutie kept us entertained.
We lounged for a bit. The Dzao women hung around in hopes of making a few more sales.
By 3 p.m. we were ravished and devoured our soup.
I took in a few more of the sights before our van picked us up and transported us back to town. We walked around town, stopped in the stores, ate a quick dinner, then headed to the train station for our overnight ride back to Hanoi.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
The roosters were awake extra early. I suppose it always feels like they are awake especially early, at least to us city folk. Somehow the other 19 people in our oversized hut were able to sleep in. I went for a walk through town.
By 7:00 a.m., all the villagers were awake and busy going about the day. School starts at 7:30, so many children were walking to school with their lunch pales. Kids carry rice to school in small plastic buckets. At lunchtime, the teacher will cook the rice for them. Above is a picture of the elementary school.
The very young and the very old populate the village. Most of the teenagers live in Sapa in order to attend high school. After graduation, they head for the city in search of non-agricultural jobs with more earning potential. Because the government divides the land based on the number of people in a family, it is difficult to grow enough rice to earn a good living. Every 18 years, the land is reallocated.
It is a gorgeous village, but living here often involves backbreaking work.
The men were transporting rocks to a building sight down near the river. I couldn't stop thinking how much a few John Deere tractors would change their lives.
There are, however, many perks to living in a remote village. There may not be tractors or video games, but you can ride a water buffalo.
In lieu of coffee, I suppose. I'm told it contained fresh tobacco and tea leaves. While she took hits from the bong, we ate banana pancakes. The pancakes in Asia are what we would call crepes. I am yet to find syrup. Most are served with bananas and raw sugar.
After breakfast, Dzao (also spelled Dao or Zao) women met us in the homestay to accompany us on our trek. They were selling nearly identical items as the Hmong women yesterday.
So long, Ta Van.
We trekked through rice patties to a nearby waterfall about 5km from the homestay.
At times, it was a little steep. We were lucky it didn't rain. Rain can turn the trek through the rice patties into a slippery, muddy mess.
Before we reached the waterfall, we reached stretches of nothing but bamboo plants.
We also ran into a few more water buffalo searching for food.
The waterfall wasn't much of a waterfall, at least not during the dry season.
I'm not really sure why I was sticking out my tongue. I think the Germans were probably teasing me about something. Regardless, you can see it was a pretty nice view from the top. We hiked down and went swimming in the river flowing below.
The bridges looked very rustic. I cringed every time a motorbike drove across.
This cutie kept us entertained.
We lounged for a bit. The Dzao women hung around in hopes of making a few more sales.
By 3 p.m. we were ravished and devoured our soup.
I took in a few more of the sights before our van picked us up and transported us back to town. We walked around town, stopped in the stores, ate a quick dinner, then headed to the train station for our overnight ride back to Hanoi.
Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Sapa, Vietnam
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