sorry for the disjointed nature of these last blogs, it has been a whirlwind since we left OZ and we have not had internet on a reliable basis....i don't even know what day it is....we have gone from "winter" in OZ to the extreme heat and humidity of the tropics....wow we thought Bangkok was hot, it was nothing compared to Hanoi. Vietnam is a lovely counrty and the people are very gentle and sweet, more sincere than the Thais were. So read the folllowing blogs and enjoy i will try to post some pictures. Quyet is the name of our Vietnamese guide who was with us the whole time we were in Viet Nam.
Sunday
It is about 5:00am in Bac Ha, we arrived here yesterday. The birds are just starting to sing their songs and after the heat lightening and rain of last night there are clouds enshrouding the green mountain tops that I can see from our 5th story window. It has been nice to be able to have the window open and fresh air coming in, as it has been almost two weeks since we have had that luxury due to the heat. There are mosquitoes but we have a net around our beds so they are not a problem. I can hear the underlying hum of the cicadias as the day arrives. There are a lot more different bugs I have seen as well, big iridescent beetles and lots of different butterflies and moths and of course cockroaches. Snakes too from a little green tree snake to some bigger ones slithering across the road. Quyet says sometimes they slither across you when you sleep if you are a farmer.
Viet Nam must be the place where the color green was invented. God just kept trying out different shades of it, from the new green of rice seedlings on thru the many shades in it’s cycle of growth to the yellow toped grain heavy head that is ready for harvest. All the many bamboos and ferns and other plants most of which I do not know create this beautiful green world. At this time of year I do not see many flowering plants so I guess the women in their very colorful costumes make up for the lack.
Quyet says that most of these farmers will never leave this valley, but will remain here to live out their lives. You can see all the new building that is going on in Bac Ha and I wonder how this will affect these people’s lives. Tourists not only foreigners but Vietnamese as well, have begun to visit this area not only because of its beauty but 27 of Viet Nam’s 54 ethnic groups are concentrated in this area. Some of these ethnic groups have less than 1000 members left. Because we are so close to the Chinese border here (only about 3k from Lao Cai) these people have a Chinese influence as well as Vietnamese. Apparently the Vietnamese government has been helping them build schools and health facilities.
It has really started to rain now and I am sure the farmers are happy as some of the paddies where the new rice seedlings that we saw yesterday were dry and withered looking. The rainy season does not really start for another month, by that time they will have harvested all the corn we see covering the hillsides all around Bac Ha. It looks to me that the farmers around here have a huge amount of work in front of them as much of the corn crop is up the very steep sides of the mountains around here. It is amazing how most of the land here is carefully planted in one of the many crops they grow. Where the rice is grown they have done some pretty serious terracing, but since the soil appears to be clay they do not erode away. Where corn is planted they just plant it on steep hillsides. Quyet says they pick it into the baskets you see a lot of them carrying and then carry it down to the road where a truck waits. WOW is all I have to say, what a tremendous amount of work, unbelievable by our standards. Good thing there are 70,000 people living in this valley to get all the harvesting done, although I am not sure where they all are as it does not seem that densely populated.
We are going to the market this morning here in Bac Ha. It has been raining off and on all morning as I have been writing, I am not sure if this will affect the market, I think everyone will just carry an umbrella. I will give you a report in the next blog.
A further note to add to the cuttlefish story from our time back in Oz. While we were cruising the streets of Hanoi the other day we saw lots of cuttlefish for sale, both dried and fresh. We will be taking orders for them to go along with your mushy peas, just let us know if you want dried or fresh (dried would probably be easier).
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