oh sapa...the mountains...the hill tribes...the rice terraces...the "buy from me"
after taking the night train from han io we arrived early morning in sapa...it was cold...real cold...thank god someone warned us to go by used warm clothes before we left or i would have been freezing...the tour people let us take hot showers and get warm before they served us bread tom cucs and laughing cow cheese which i now may be addicted to this sandwich...when we were finished we took a ride up into where we would trek for the next two days her in the beatiful green mountains of sapa...
sapa is incredibly beautiful village that lies on the hoang lien son mountain range near the chinese border...sapa is a big rice producing area so most villagers work on the farm...in sapa there are different tribes from the black h'mong to the tay...each wears a different clothes to distinguish between them. Most of the kids in these villages do not go to school...they girls are too busy trying sewing or selling things...the boys are playing or working in the fields...some of them the school is too far away for them to get to...from the minute you get there you have the hill tribe people asking you to buy the things they have made...people will tell you that you should not buy from the kids just the older ladies because buying from the kids will keep them for sure out of school...we had about 6 following most of our trek until they would come to there home and leave us...now they do this in flip flops...like champs...i had one woman walking with me...she was 30 with 3 kids...one she was carrying the whole way on her back...yes i did buy something from her...
there were only 6 girls on this trip four of us that had met on the halong bay trip and two new girls from slovenia...maja and irena...and they were hystarical...and some serious uno players...we trekked thru the mountains all day...thru different villages seeing and talking to the different hill tribes...when we finished trekking all day we arrived at our host families house for the night...we got to help make dinner...it was so warming to be able to sit and cook with them...again we had rice wine...not as much we did have to trek again tomorrow...that night when we finished dinner some local kids came around to play...they have this top that they twist with rope and move there arms up and down like three times then swing if from back to front and let it go and the top spins and other try to knock yours down with theirs...they were nice enough to let me try...i couldnt get it but it was so heart warming to sit there and play tops with these kids...i want to take one home...when the kids left we played some serious uno games drank some beer had laugh laugh laugh...ya know the ones that come from way down and just make you keep that grin on your face all night...these girls have become family to me...
when we woke in the morning we set out again for another trek this time we went to a waterfall, the hot springs and a kids school on the way back...the kids oh the kids at this school they were so adorable...they listen to their teachers...when they sat down for lunch after playing with us for awhile they all waited for everyone to be seated and served before they began to eat...they also sang a song before eating asking their teachers and friends to join them in their meal...it was sooo cute...these kids are so sweet...i would to come work with them...
after two days in the mountains we headed back to the busy city of han oi...but not without a few more games of uno on the sleeper train...
