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Other entries in Sa Pá

Indigegreat People of Vietnam

Take Two. again, copy and paste your journals to your email just in case the power goes out in the entire mountain village. lessons learned.

We arrived in Sa Pa on thursday morning after a night train from Hanoi. One thing i forgot to mention about Hanoi was that we went to see the preserved and embalmed body of Ho Chi Mihn. it was an experience to say the least. everyone here loves this past leader and inspirer of Communism. He has a gigantic mousoleum that is almost the size of Napoleans in Paris although the difference is that Uncle Ho, as he is affectionately called, asked to be cremated and have his ashes spread all over the country and Napolean probably demanded this of his people at age 11. it was an impressive building and an even more impressive ordeal. we had to proceed through a garden to get to an area where you had to check both cameras and bags, then you entered into a mile long line that led up to the cubicle mousoleum. along the way, stern faced guards checked the line for any abnormalities and shouted wehn they spotted one. the procession moved quickly because they do not allow lingering. as we filed past the sunken tomb, i noted that they keep 9 armed guards in the small room and if anyone stops or slows, they are grabbed and forced to keep moving. his actual body looked well kept and tranquil. it could have been wax for all i knew but he looks peaceful. it was amazing to see that everyday, thousands of people flock to this memorial between teh hours of 8 and 1030 am. it was a sight.

so, Sa Pa. the story started at the train stationj in Hanoi at 930 pm. we got to the entrance and were told that we had to go around the buildign to another entrance. no problem, we'll walk. nope, cant do that, no time. ok, take a taxi for cheap. wehn we get out to pay, the man returns us far less change than he should have. after some arguing, we decifer that the unspoken deal that he had decided on was that we would ride for $1 each. a small fee for us, but far more than the ride was worth. we didnt argue much because of the meager amount and its worth to the cabbie but the problem is that this often happens when they know the value of our moeny verses theirs and will assume we dont mind paying more. i just dont like being ripped off, regardless of how much money it was for. once inside the station, we found the entrance easily and handed our tickets to a suited man at the gate. he looked at them and then walked us all the way to our train. great service for us easily confused foreigners! another woman checked the tickets again as we stepped onto the car and the first man continued to help us all teh way to our cabin. then he put all of our bags away and held out his hand and pointed to his chest. now the game was clear. we pretended to look confused like this was a surprise and then gave him a few coins. he looked disappoinetd but we didnt give him anything more. train ride was smooth enough and we slept the whole way. in the morning ,we were woken to clapping outside our door and teh sounds of patriotic communist music blaring over the speakers.

outside the train station in the bright morning light, we were assaulted by minibus vendors. we still had an hour bus ride to SaPa but at least there were multiple offers to choose from. this was by far the worst hassling ive had since embarking on this trip. we were surrounded and not really permitted to pass without responding to a myriad of questions about our travel intentions. we told them we were traveling with davids relatives and they said that was a bad idea, too expensive. come with me. we said we prefered to wait and they said there were no rides later. another lie. we were persistent and decided to eat a small meal and wait until the later train arrived. when it did, we saw the preamble to the familiar scene of hassling. the sharks lined up on either side of the exit and prepared their statements to attract unsuspecting tourists. but for at least at the beginning of this game, there was a policeman standing with baton in hand and whistle in mouth prepared to beat back any overly aggressive vendor. it had to happen a few times in fact adn david and i found this quite funny. it was like watching children being restrained by an imaginary rope while they eagerly awaited the opening of an all-inclusive dessert buffet. finally the passengers emerged and the frenzy began. we found davids uncle and aunt and the taxi that was supposed to pick them up. it was far more expensive than the minibuses we found so we chose the latter and made the hour jourey up the mountain.

Sa Pa itself was quite nice. it is a small mountain town with well designed streets adn parks. while Paul and Sandy went to their hotel, we went in search of more affordable accomodation. after some resting, we met up and decided to make a 6 km round trip hike to a nearby village. along the way we encountered several cute little girls dressed in local garb selling similar items. they all had the same sales pitch that went one of two ways. way one: "Hello. Whats your name? Where you from? How long in Sa Pa? How old are you? How many brothers an sister you have? You buy from me!" and way two: "Hello. You buy from me!" i prefered the first pitch only slightly more than the second. i remained polite, though, as it seemed unnecessary to get upset and yell at little girls. two of the girls, however, learned a better method and decided to walk with us on the entire hike. they didnt ask anything of us and actually posed as mini-tour guides along the way. the hike was good and decently hard. we walked though some ancient villages adn saw some rurual ways of living. plenty of farm animals and the farmers that tend to them. we saw a rock quarry and men breaking the rocks for a new wall. at the end of the hike, paul and sandy gave the girls some money and after that, they broke into the pitch. crafty little buggers, but smart as a whip. what was really impressive to me was the quality of their english. they dont learn it in school, in fact, most of them dont go to school prefering to make a living this way selling to tourists. they learned everything from talking to visitors and their speech was excellent. they understood alomst everything and could communicate exceptionally well. so at age 12 with little formal education, most of these girls could speak three languages (vietnamese, english, and their native indigenous toungue).

the next morning we woke early to start a long day of hiking and seeing more indigenous tribes of the region. we went with a tour guide and a guide in training so the four of us were well looked after. we started at the top of a mountain in a village whose children swarmed to us when we exited the van. paul and sandy had brought small gifts for this occasion and began to pass them out which of course started the mayhem. next stop was a primary school where we were able to witness, not to mention interrupt, the days lessons. how could these kids really focus when each day has a mid-session tourist period. of course it was iteresting but i couldnt help but feel we were encrouching on their lives. the kids were adorable and like any other school children, playing adn fighting and running in the school yard. some expressed curiosity by our presence, others went on as if we werent there.

after that we started a long hike though rural areas dominated by rice paddies. it was one month prior to the planting season so all the fields were filled with weeds and standing water. we observed some farmers preparing for the upcoming season but no one was planting yet. along the entire way, we found stages of women selling various similar items. always the same things, always the same pitch. it reminded me of that island in the middle of Lake Titikaka where the little girls asked us to buy bracelets at 50 meter intervals. again, i felt like i was intruding on their lives as a tourist but knew that this was the only way to see such things and that even if i abstained, a hundred other foreigners would take my place. its a shame but it appears vietnam is becoming just another tourist hotspot.

the villages themselves were amazingly self sufficient. most had electricity somehow and running water. it was totally rural in that they had no power tools, no machines of any kind really, and seemed to be utilizign the same techniques that they had been for hundreds of years. we went through village centers, government built schools, small clinics, then into bamboo forests, over waterfalls, through gorges and valleys, and finally made it to the third and final village. this one was the best becasue we got to go into a home and have tea with one of the village elders. she was part of the Red Zao tribe and was a very open, outgoing 66 year old woman. she spoke no english but our tour guides translated for us and she was happy and honored to have us, they said. she served us tea and we talked about her village, her home and her family. she was full of life and had a great smile. after tea she showed us some things she had made herself while sitting next to the fireplace that warms her wooden home. we bought a few things not only because she had invited us into her home but also because they were beautiful and obviouly authentic. after that she was even more happy to have us and began bustling about the small house showing us this and taht. in the food preparation area, we saw how she ground corn and turned it into grain. it looked like a 1000 year old technique. this 66 year old woman began cranking this wooded handle around and around to spin the rocks that crushed the corn. it was an amazing sight.

taht night we played soccer in the village "stadium". the stadium was a small cement arena and its only grass areas were in tha tiny patches between floor designs. the vietnamese soccer players were mostly ball hogs but some had a bit of skill. we made friends by playing hard and the game ended at sundown. we went to a nice dinner after showers and then bought some things from soem old women in the street. but once we bought something from one, another woman in a different tribe (indicated by her attire) became upset with us for not sharing the wealth. she adn her friend followed us all the way back to our hotel and then stood outside the entrance as we went inside. as the doors closed, we heard her shouting something in her native language which we can only assume was a curse. but luckily, it was directed at david, and not me.

one thing that i think about a lot while im here is the thoughts of the vietnamese people when we tell them we aer from America. most dont understand the words "united states" so we have to say america and then their eyes light up and they say "ahh". do they hold a grudge? can tehy disassociate us from our governments 50 year old mistakes? we havent encountered any outright resentment so far and everywhere we go, we receive smiles (probably because we're so good looking) so i presume there is no grudge. but they must know the history and i thikn must recognize our nationality and associate it with the war. i will probably never know what theyre thinking or what the average opinion is. but i cant help but wonder.

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