A ROAD TRIP THROUGH NORTHERN VIETNAM - Part 2

Day 3: Thuan Chau – Dien Bien Phu: 136 km, 4 hs.

Good Morning Vietnam!

Our plan for day 3 was to cover some 140 kilometers almost to the border with Laos and spend the night in the town of Dien Bien Phu. It is known for a significant battle that took place around there in 1954 the result of which was the expulsion of the French rule over the north of Vietnam. Since we had plenty of time and a relatively short distance to cover for the day we took time stopping many places to photograph the luscious landscape that was becoming more mountainous and wooded. There were fewer villages around those parts, but every time we saw villagers they were busy with some sort of agricultural activity – gathering rice, carrying or cleaning crops on tarps spread along the road. 

Photo Lessons...

The kids often road water buffalos alongside the road or zipped around on bicycles (2-5 people on 1 bike) way too big for their size. We saw several women who were “transporting” their pigs by walking them on a leash from one place to another. Those villages, situated along the road, were obviously not isolated from the rest of the civilization, but it felt as if they were entirely self sufficient. Every household had a pond where they raised fish and eatable algae and other water plants eaten as salad. They all had cattle, chickens and cultivated their own rice. I am sure that the real situation is not that ideal, but it really felt that those people lived independently relying only on themselves and their land.

A Girl from Sapa.

By 1pm we were almost at our final destination and it was time to eat. When we set out on our trip we were told to respect Vietnamese meal times because otherwise we were not going to find places to eat. Lunch is usually eaten between 11am and 1pm after which most eating establishments close and only reopen for dinner between 6 and 8pm. This time our lunch turned out to be a full on multiple course meal culminating with traditional green tea and pipe smoking. We were hosted by an ethnic family, who did not question whether or what we wanted to eat, but just began feeding us.  Skillfully, they made sure to get our heads spinning with the rice liquor and our bellies full with the fresh deliciousness of no less than 6 dishes during a couple of hours of intense conversations through hand gestures. The whole feast ended up costing a ridiculous amount of $10 after which we could not summon up for anything except for finding a hotel and taking a 3 hour nap.  

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Limestone Mountains...

Day 4: Dia: Dien Bien Phu – Lai Chau: 212 km, 8 hs.

This was one of the longest days we had on a bike and I was not feeling too happy about it. As the landscapes were getting more and more stunning, my butt was getting more and more sore. We took several stops during which I had to take short naps to try to get some strength back, but it seemed that my body was refusing to take any more time on top of that thing. Emi did not feel the effects as much, but I think it was because he was the one driving, and being in control took his mind away from his pains and aches.  Thankfully, the scenery was gorgeous and diverse with plenty of things to distract ourselves with.

On Their Way to the Rice Fields.

Alongside the road we were on there was a steep wall of a limestone mountainous formation completely covered with a green carpet of voluptuous vegetation. The other side of the road dropped down to a wide turbulent river the color of milk chocolate. There were strange looking wooden boats with some sort of sheds floating in many places. Those boats, as we later found out, were gold-digging vessels that sifted through the river bottom residue in search of this precious metal. As we moved farther and farther north, we noticed that traffic almost dropped completely up there and it was almost strange to come across a random truck of another motorbike. Apparently, the north of Vietnam is less populated and people have fewer resources to contribute to long distance traffic.  

Yummm!

As always, we stopped for lunch at a place that appeared the most popular with the locals. We walked in and were immediately offered to try someone’s dish – an unknown something looking like a pile of golden French fries. Emi put one of those things into his mouth and immediately ordered that dish for our table. Little did I know that in some 5 minutes I was going to be facing a challenge of eating a plateful of giant deep-fried maggots and flies! OMG! The flies had wings and everything!  If I knew what we had ordered this would have never happened, but now, with the whole place staring at us we had to eat them… I am not picky about my food and my stomach is very strong, but I did feel it turn when I grabbed one of those crispy flies with my chop sticks. Of course I had to prove to myself, Emi and everyone else that I could do it….and I ate one fly and one maggot (yuck!!!).  They do taste like fried food and they fill you up, but I would not be eating them any time soon again.

 Just Another Day in the Mud Pool!

Our adventure for the day was not exactly over with the insect lunch. Once we finally got to Lai Chau, I was desperate for a shower and a bed. We found a beautiful room at a family hotel and were ready to settle in when the owner asked us for our passports to register. 5 minutes later he showed up in our room telling us that we had to leave…Since no one at the place spoke English we never found out what happened and why we were being kicked out. Our only guess was that guests with US passports were not welcomed there. The north of Vietnam is still very communist and the memories of the Vietnam War are still too fresh in the older generation’s memory. In general, the Vietnamese are very friendly to anyone and we have not heard any stories about animosity towards US visitors. However, I would not be surprised if that man refused to extend his hospitality to visitors from the nation that did horrors to his homeland and his people.

Day 5: Lai Chau – Sapa – Lao Cai: 157 km, 5 hs.

Villages Around Sapa.

This day we saw some of the most beautiful landscapes and some of the ugliest manifestations of “cultural tourism”. We were now in the mountains of Vietnam and the whole way to Sapa we were climbing up the curvy mountain roads. In many places the roadside slopes were covered with a green carpet of a plant called Xuxu. It is a pear-like wrinkled green vegetable that grows on vines. The plants are grown on hillsides over some sort of an elevated wood and wire platform that supports the vines providing for space to walk underneath the growth and collect the hanging fruit. We have eaten Xuxu many times, as it turned out, but just did not know what it was. It is used for salads and stir fries and it is delicious!

An Indigenous Woman in Some Village. 

By noon we were approaching Sapa, which is a small town on top of a mountain and surrounded by countless hills ornately carved by rice terraces. In the last years it has become a very popular destination for so called “cultural tourism”, when you are offered to visit local villages and get acquainted with a traditional way of living of the native population. Predicting the crowds and the exaggerated prices we had planned to spend an afternoon in Sapa, but find accommodations for the night at a different town further down the road. As soon as we entered Sapa we were happy about our decision as the streets were flooded with white visitors and herds of indigenous locals harassing them. Most of them offered beautiful handcrafted goods or guided walking tours though the surrounding villages and elaborate rice terraces.  

Unfortunately, any interaction with the local people turned out to be negative. Emi went to the market square to look at the crafts and within seconds he was surrounded by at least 20 women shoving their crafts into his face and shouting over each other to get his attention. 

A Woman from Sapa.

The worst part was that they fought with each other and did not respect each other’s prices or priority as far as making contact with a particular tourist. It was also practically impossible to “shop around” and check out prices because as soon as you asked “How much?” you were expected to buy the thing no matter what, and if you tried to leave they physically blocked your way! This was the worst harassment I have ever experienced and it was really sad because it made you want to run from the place that is amazingly beautiful, with rich history and nice people (I am sure).  It really felt like “cultural prostitution” the way those women used their traditional clothing to get your attention and then sell you anything from what they wore or owned.

Another Indigenous Woman Selling Crafts. 

 It was very sad and unpleasant, but this is Sapa’s reality which was created by the western visitors. So we are to blame ourselves for wanting to see exotic beautiful places and people, and creating mass tourism to these places. We are the ones who change the traditional life style in places like Sapa, and now we are the ones who criticize the locals for losing their authenticity and trying to make money off of us?!

Luckily, our visit to Sapa was soothed by a visit to a small local bar with refreshing beer, super friendly owners and plenty of paint to add our contribution to the decoration of the place. Having replenished our forces and done with sightseeing for the day we left for Lao Cai, which was going to be our last stop before heading back to Hanoi.

A Village Woman somewhere before Sapa.  

Day 6: Lao Cai  - Hanoi: 354 km, 8.5 hs. 

The last day was going to be the longest day riding and the poorest one in attractions. This time, the goal was not to see things but to get to Hanoi as soon as possible and in one piece. We actually had an option to avoid driving the bike back and take a train, but that, of course, was an ungrounded extra expense for our budget. So we got up and drove… all day long! It was not particularly interesting and exciting, as we were on one of the main highway routs in the north, but because of that we saw more exciting atrocious variations on driving Vietnamese style… There were people on motorbikes carrying slaughtered pigs, cages with chickens and dogs; there were cows, buffalos and people walking on the highway; we had to swerve around a bus going backwards in our lane; but the best was a heavy-duty commercial truck parked on the actual road while the driver was having lunch.  Nevertheless, as always, we never saw one accident and no one appeared stressed about traffic.

A Perfect Turn on the Road!

By 6pm we were back in Hanoi, which met us with its usual energetic chaos. Very tired but reenergized emotionally by our new tip experiences we returned the bike, arranged a new adventure for Hallong Bay the next day, picked up our big backpacks from our old host and dripped them of at the house of our new hosts - this time 4 French university students. They were very new to Vietnam, so just like that Catalan couple, we were now the ones sharing our road stories and inspiring the newcomers not to stick to established tourist routs and get on those bikes to explore the country for themselves...

A ROAD TRIP THROUGH NORTHERN VIETNAM - Part 1

Rice fields in Mai Chau.

This road trip was something very special in our year of traveling. This was probably one of the most authentic experiences we have had traveling.

Emi and I were sitting in a gloomy hotel of the capital of Mongolia waiting for my Chinese visa. As I was making dinner I noticed that Emi was in a very lively conversation with a couple looking very Spanish. They turned out to be Catalans on their back home after more than a year of traveling. The conversation was move like a river of information being poured over Emi about a must do motorbike tour in Northern Vietnam. Martina and Sergio told us how that impulsive trip ended up being their favorite part during their whole 12 months of wandering around the world. Needless to say, Emi was sold on repeating this journey as soon as he heard the stories of deserted mountainous roads, hundreds of indigenous villages on the way, valleys of rice fields and no white foreigners around.

A Rest Stop Somewhere.

Once in Hanoi, we were into the preparations for the trip. Ironically, it turned out that Katya, our host in Hanoi, knew all about independent moto trips through the north as her ex-boyfriend was the owner of a motorbike rental place that set up most foreigners with all the necessary gear and information. The Catalans rented their motorbike form the same guy as well. The trip was going to be a little over 1000 kilometers that we were hoping to cover in 5-6 days. It could have been much longer if we decided to continue on and explore the north of the neighboring Laos, but at the time we decided that a 6 day loop was going to be enough of an adventure.

Day 1: Hanoi – Mai Chau: 188km, 6hs.

On the Way Home from School.

Leaving Hanoi was easy, but long… Everyone drives at the speed of 5km an hour and there is traffic of all kinds at all hours. We left early to avoid the peak of congestion, but that did not help much. Nevertheless, thanks to Emi´s amazing navigation skills we did not get lost once and eventually got out of Hanoi in the right place. Our first overnight stop was planned for Mai Chau, some 100 km southwest of Hanoi. We got there a few hours before sunset, which was not exactly planned this way, but worked out perfectly because the place is absolutely stunning and it would have been a huge loss not to be able to document it in photos. The place is known for its traditional tall stilt houses spread over luscious rice fields. In the golden pre-sunset light the village and the valley looked as a perfect scene from National Geographic. The people turned out to be also extremely friendly and welcoming, even though it is very touristy. Mai Chau is the closest traditional Vietnamese village to Hanoi, so busloads of farang tourists are delivered there daily. The Catalan couple, as well as many other independent travelers, prefer to stay away from such touristy places for this reason, but we felt that following this logic we would be robbing ourselves of seeing some of the most amazing places in the world. So, despite the white grandmas walking along narrow dirt village paths, we were happy we did not skip Mai Chau. It was surreally beautiful!

Rice Harvest.

Despite its popularity with tourists, the village still lives by its agricultural traditions. When we arrived, it was harvest time and we got to see how rice was separated from its husk and hey. Most of it was done manually by beating the rice plants against the ground and stepping on it, or with a mechanical beating machine, which is operated by a pedal, much like an old pedal-operated sewing machine. Sometimes a few families collectively rent an industrial electrical device to process their rice, but since we did not see much of it, it must be expensive for the farmers, so most of the rice is planted cared for, harvested and separated manually!

Some Local Ladies.

Another reason why we wanted to go to Mai Chau was because we wanted to stay with a Vietnamese family and learn a little about their life and the way they do things. We did not have to look for a place to stay as the first guy who appeared at the entrance of the village persuaded us to stay with his family. The stay also included a dinner and a breakfast, which was just perfect. The meals in Vietnam always consist of rice accompanied by multiple dishes served for everyone to share. The individual plates are not really plates, but are small bowls which you refill several times during the meal. The utensils are chopsticks or hands. Fruit is commonly eaten as a desert and as a breakfast treat. Breakfasts, as we know now, doesn´t really exist in South East Asia. For them, breakfast is just another meal that is eaten early in the morning (around 6 am), and so it can be a traditional bowl of noodle soup, rice with vegetables and chicken or meat. It is all very delicious, but in the morning…I still prefer my croissants or a toast with cheese!

Day 2: Mai Chau – Thuan Chau: 217km, 7hs.

New Lunch Friends.

With our stomachs full and our butts sore from not being used to spending hours on end on a motorbike we were off. Our goal for the day was to cover some 200 kilometers and spend the night in the town of Thuan Chau. I thought that the farther we got form Hanoi the less populated the countryside was going to get. However, I forgot that we were in Vietnam – one of the most populated countries in the world, with almost 90 million people spread throughout its country side. There were villages along the road almost everywhere. Some looked like small towns and others were just a collection of several wooden huts planted in between fish ponds and rice fields. We also noticed that among the working in the fields there were never children, unlike in some parts of Latin America. We saw them helping out the adults later in the evening, but during the day they were all in school. It appeared that there was a very strong emphasis on education in Vietnam and teachers were very well respected in the society.

In between Villages...

Little by little we began noticing that people were looking differently from one village to the other. We began seeing people wearing characteristic traditional dresses that distinguished them from the natives of the other surrounding villages. Some had long velvet skirts with bight color belts, some wore Andean-like colorful multilayered skirts and embroidered tops, others had special head wear pieces and distinctive hairdos. It was not surprising to me how many different types of ethnic minorities that we saw, but I was shocked at how closely they lived to one another, and how they all coexisted without visible conflicts and animosity. To us, the people were always very friendly and welcoming. Every lunch stop turned into a story of meeting the whole family of the restaurant owners; or some game with the local kids; or a drunken celebration of life with the local field workers, who took their time to enjoy the food, each other’s company, and telling us (in Vietnamese) about their lives.