LJ versus the buffalo
Trip Start
Sep 19, 2002
1
91
129
Trip End
Sep 22, 2003
Sapa,
Vietnam
Thursday, May 15, 2003
We had breakfast in the restaurant overlooking the valley and chatted with the staff to organize a longish trek for the next day. Pip wasn't feeling to good due to a cold (man flu) so we didn't want to do anything too strenuous just after arriving. It was so peaceful and beautiful and best of all they had two young puppies who were just asking for a cuddle and felt like chunky teddy bears. We ended up falling asleep till nearly lunchtime and we dragged ourselves out for something to eat. We then spent most of the afternoon reading on the balcony and thinking how nice it was to be able to sit outside as the temperature was just right. So that we could say we had been for a walk, we wandered down into the town (the hotel had a number of steps...) and before we had even reached the bottom, we were besieged by ladies selling hill tribe goods. The vast majority of these women are black Hmong but some are white Hmong (dress not faces), Dzao or Zai. The last two can be recognized by their bright red turban style hats or checked turban style hats (but I can't remember which is which.) They sell blankets, pillowcases, tops, trousers, jackets, skirts and hats made of indigo blue dyed hemp and decorated with hand embroidery. Many also sell silver coloured jewellery and I weakened when cornered by 3 young girls and ended up buying a bracelet for 20,000 (24,000 = one pound). It's bright silver as it is made from recycled aluminium cans! Of course then the others wanted me to buy something from them as well and I said maybe tomorrow so they held out their little fingers and said "pinky promise?" !! These little girls are very smart and speak good English even though they have never been to school, cannot read or write, and have no legal status according to the Vietnamese government. The government will not give them their "card" which entitles them to seek employment, housing etc and they are treated appallingly and definitely like second class citizens unlike their counterparts in Thailand where the government is trying to assist them without destroying their culture. The ethnic Hmong speak a completely different language to Vietnamese but it is not a written language and it has much fewer words. We have been told that English has the most words and these girls probably know as many English words as they have in their own language, all learnt by their interactions with tourists and ex-pats. We eventually managed to escape up our stairs with them shouting "Leesa and Pill, we will see you tomurra and maybe you buy sumting from me!" After all that shopping we thought we had better try the local beer which is a tasty 11.5% and obscured the views of the valley somewhat.
15th May - Pip wasn't feeling up to our hike so I was forced to go on my own which was a bit scary for me as I'm such a weakling about rocks and water etc. My Hmong guide, Su, and I set off through the town and out the other side and began to descend into the valley. As it was just Su and myself, I took the time to interrogate her about her lifestyle. At 18 (she thinks roughly) she would normally be married and have started her family but she was the oldest girl in her family of 10 so she had to take care of the little ones so is in no hurry to start again. Some girls are married as young as 12 as it is important to begin your family early. I told her my mother is one of 14 children and she beat me by saying her grandmother is one of 18! She lives in a wooden house with a fireplace which she insists isn't too cold in the winter and they live on rice for every meal with goat, pig, maybe fish and buffalo and lots of veg. Only babies drink milk from their mother so the only calcium they have is from the veg, hence their teeth are pretty bad. They only have one rice harvest a year compared to other parts of South East Asia which may have 3 so they are pretty hungry for most of the year and they only grow food for themselves and don't take much to market. As people were not pulling their weight, each family has it's own land now rather than the community sharing work and produce. I asked her how they make money and she said they don't really need much as they have everything they need here.
Su taught me some Hmong words ("hello", and "me no buy thank you") and I said I would have to write it down. She said that when she learns a new English word she just has to repeat it over and over as she can't write. It was one of the many times during the day that I realized how different our lives were and she left me a bit speechless (yes it is possible!) She also told me that they have a doctor in the village now but that her grandfather used to produce medcines from the flora and fauna around us. He tried to teach her mother but she kept saying there was plenty of time for her to learn and she now regrets that as he died unexpectedly early. How old was he I asked. 80 she replied. Apparently his wife is still going strong working in the fields, looking after the children and making clothes and she is 85. I was starting to puff a bit by now and felt very ashamed of myself.
We then took a slippery muddy track off the road and began to walk through the paddy fields. These terraces that we could see from the road are being thinned out in time for the heavy rains which are on their way and there were many people up to their knees in the mud pulling the paddy out. We also saw them weeding the many fields of roses and ploughing the empty paddies using their huge water buffalos and we were surrounded by women in their dark blue ethnic costumes and I felt like I had walked into a geography book as it was so different to anywhere else I had been before. We reached the first village at Lao Chai and I was feeling okay so we carried on. The houses are fairly spread out due to their subsistence farming methods but we did pass plenty of cute Vietnamese pot bellied pigs and hundreds of chickens and ducks (who they farm by clipping their wings). She pointed out some cannabis plants which they use for hemp to make their clothes and she also showed me the indigo plants they use for the dyes. We passed a buffalo and I said hello in Hmong but he gave me a very odd look and began a low moan so I hurried on. We had also caught up with another group of three girls and their young guide staying at the same hotel so I had some other company. The path by now had gone and we were walking around the edge of the paddy fields so that you have a soft and slippy path about 18 inches wide with knee high mud on one side and a drop of up to 15 feet into mud on the other. At a slightly wider part of the path we noticed a farmer walking two buffalo toward us and started to panic a little. He shooed them into single file and the guides got past okay. I avoided the first one with the big horns but the second changed course as he drew alongside me and swung his ample belly in my direction knocking me off my feet into the mud at the side of the path. Luckily I put my hands out to stop a full body submersion but I ended up with mud over my boots and no one able to help me for laughing. There was a satisfying plop when I was pulled out though! After that we all ended up in various states due to the mud and slipping and sliding and by the time we reached the second village (Tavan) for lunch I was absolutely filthy. We were watched throughout our meal of bread and laughing cow cheese by some local kids and I gave away my banana to a cheeky smile as I'm easy to con. We decided to continue to the next village and things started to get tough and there was a lot more sliding and lots of climbing uphill. We had a break at a waterfall and then climbed up through a small stream to the end (Giang Tai Chow) 15 kilometres from the start. Didn't she do well. Our adventures were not over yet though as we had to get a motorbike back and I had a baby on the front of mine for a time. The road is paved only for about 2 miles at the end so we had to travel uphill over rough stone and through think mud on the edge of the mountain. At one point we hit a bump so hard that I came off the back and ended up on the luggage rack! After all that of course I had a couple of beers to reward myself!
