So,
I think the last story i said i was going to go to Ha Long Bay.
Well, we didn't get there, decided it was going to be to full of
tourists (which we don't like to associate with, despite clearly being
them!). Instead we headed to the Love Markets in Moc Chau village,
about 4.5 hours, 200km (yep, slow travelling around here!) north west
of Hanoi. We were about 30km from the Laos border actually. The Love
Markets are where a minority ethnic group, the H'Mong people, gather
annually to find a husband or wife. Alas, I am still husbandless. I
have, however, been prodded, poked and patted by I reckon about half
the H'Mong women there. We were one of two foreigner tourist groups
there, so we were somewhat a novelty with our attractive white skin and
light hair. The fact that we had bottoms was not so attractive though
and we were told off publicly for letting ourselves slide towards
obesity. Was rather funny, they stared at us, we stared at them. Much
easier than my usual 'i feel bad for looking at people, i'll be subtle
about it' glances. Apart from the H'Mong people, the Markets themselves
were not that good. Very touristy (aimed at vietnamese tourists though,
which means lots of awards, a 20 minute listing of all the achievements
of the province in the last year, presentations to the governers blah
blah).
The next day we went to visit a village of the H'Mongs, which
was very very cool. I can't really describe it, look at the photos, but
lots of stilt houses, running streams, rice paddies, a few cows and
buffalo. Really beautiful. And not at all touristy - they weren't
selling anything at all which is a great sign! We had lunch in one of
the houses and went for a long walk around. When we were leaving all
the kids of the village were out on the green, and were really shy
until Lucy went and took a photo of two and showed it to them (oh the
wonders of digital cameras in making friends!). We were then basically
mobbed by gorgeous little kids wanting their photos taken. I've put a
couple (or ten!) up on facebook so you can see how cute they are. Monday we went to
a tea farm (again, not a touristy place, but rather just rocking up to
a plantation) then drove back towards Ha Noi, stopping at Mai Chau for
a long lunch and wander around. This place was full of little old
ladies hand weaving bits of material on looms, as well as the usual
rice paddies, cows, mountains, which no matter how often i see them are
still beautiful.
