There was the tour guide and a group of the local villagers dressed in their local garb (tour guide included). It seemed as if there was a local for every tourist in the trekking group. It seemed ok though. Fairly harmless woman and girls wondering where we are from, how old we are, and all that jazz. They also told us a little about themselves.
We hiked along the side of the local paved road for a good 30 minutes before eventually veering off onto a local worn dirt path. It was all pretty easy hiking. Mostly downhill the whole way. There were a few spots in the trail where the footing was a bit tricky and/or slippery.
As usual I stayed ahead a little bit and held Angy’s hand for a little added stability. That is of course until I lost my own footing and slipped a little bit. Every once in a while the local hill tribe women would lend a hand to one of the group members that looked like they needed it. These woman and girls were very nice and kind. They would even stop and just grab a twig, blade of grass or any type of greenery and made horses, bracelets, crowns, and hearts and would give them to the members of the tour group. I thought that it was quite sweet and kind that they would do that. It seemed very heartfelt. Just a friendly gestured by a native welcoming a foreigner to their home.
We stopped once or twice on the way before lunch to take a little rest and take in the remarkable vistas. Amazing limestone mountains unlike anything to be found in the states. Beautiful rice patties that are built into and throughout the contours of the landscape. Rivers, streams, waterfalls, and the clouds sneaking in and out between the mountain peaks. Absolutely brilliant.
After a little more hiking we stopped for a little lunch at a riverside restaurant that catered to all the trekking westerners. Not a big deal though. The food was good and it gave us an opportunity to get a tad more acquainted with the other people in our group.
After our lunch we were bombarded by all the woman and girls that had been walking with us to buy their goods. Purses, mouth harps, bracelets, necklaces, etc, etc, etc. Apparently with all the “helping” people manage the trail and making there earthly goods were just an evil and deceitful ploy. No matter where you go all people want is your money and that is exactly what they were going for.
When we left the restaurant all the women and girls were out there waiting to sell there trinkets, so Angy and I decided to give in and buy something from them. At least there was something I wanted to buy from them. I wanted to purchase two mouth harps from the one lady that had been my little trekking partner. Unfortunately she only had one. So she turned to the group of ladies and one of the women handed her a second mouth harp. So I purchased the two mouth harps for 80,000 Dong. I knew that this was a little much but I didn’t want to bother haggling too much.
The lady handed me my prize and started walking off. I was busy putting my money and mouth harps in my man purse so I didn’t notice so much that all the women were circling me. I was about to make my way through the crowd when they all started heckling me. Then one of the younger girls that spoke a little English told me that I didn’t pay the lady. Confused I looked at her said that I did I paid 80,000 and I gave to the lady walking away. Then she explained that when I gave the money to the lady that she never split it with the other woman that handed her the second mouth harp.
So I was trapped with about 25 angry villagers surrounding me and telling me that I needed to pay the other woman. Thankfully I was able to explain that I wasn’t going to pay any more and that lady had to come back and split it with the other woman. They all started yelling at her to come back and she came and finally split her money with the other woman. Of course I was a little upset at this and I think that the old woman that tried to run away with the money felt bad for me and gave me two little woven bracelets.
Next purchasing story is Angy’s, she left the restaurant and bought a purse from a women that had been talking to and following Angy on the trek. So she bought the purse and was going to walk away, when another little girl (little craps) was yelling at Angy. Se was saying the she had to buy a purse from the other lady that supposedly had been following her the whole way also. She said, “She met you first at hotel! She walk with you whole way! You buy purse from her too!” Of course Angy said no and walked away. The little girl yells at Angy, she says “YOU NO GOOD!” Can you believe it?
That experience really turned us off to these supposedly friendly locals.
From there we had a little hour long hike through more picturesque mountains before we reached the house that we were going to be staying at. Oh yes and I also wore a pink bandana across my shoulders for the rest of the hike because they were FRIED.
The home stay wasn’t quite what we expected. It certainly was someone’s home, but where we stayed was not so homey. There were about 10 of us in total and we all stayed upstairs on the floor. The upstairs was in a horseshoe shape and there were probably 15-20 little futon mattresses lined along the edge. Each of the beds had its own mosquito net since every thing was open air.
Everyone got there beds situated and had a few hours to do their own thing before dinner was served. Angy and I decided to head down to the river and try to take a dip and relax. When we made down to the river there were no beach areas, except across the river. The river was of course moving way to fast for us to try to make our way across. There was an area where the water was calm and a decent depth to swim in except there were like 8 naked boys and girls playing there.
So Angy and I walked along the river line until we reached a suitable are to at least lie out on some big rocks and relax. I took a quick dip in the river and it was pretty dang cold compared to the air temperature. But it was still quite nice. We laid there on the rocks for about an hour and then headed back up towards our guesthouse.
It’s very interesting how things are becoming so normal for us. Naked kids playing the river, no big deal. Little girl riding a big ox up the hillside, no big deal. But looking back on it, that is so far from anything we have ever known I am quite surprised that we don’t get more of a kick out of it.
On the way up we decided to stop at this place that looked like it might be a makeshift restaurant/bar. We sat down and Angy ordered a beer, and I had a glass of the homemade rice wine. Wow, that is some strong shit. We enjoyed the view and read our books for about an hour and then went up the road to the guesthouse.
Dinner was very good. We had pork, beef, spring rolls, greens, and yummy French fries with garlic. Mom, to die for. They were solo good. After dinner we all sat around and talked about our experiences so far and whatever else came to mind. We had a few beers and then the lady at the home stay broke out a fine bottle of the local firewater. It was in a 1.5 liter water bottle. It was clear so we actually thought that it was water at first.
But oh no. This was indeed not water. We all passed the bottle around and took shots until it was empty. It was a lot of fun. Everybody was so friendly. There were people there from Ireland, France, and Britain. Many interesting stories.
At some point in the evening we decided to go to bed. I just went up and crashed. Angy brushed her teeth and washed her face first. By the time she got up to bed I was out cold. She was very happy that she brought our duve cover with since there were no linens provided.
