Since I work at an American school, we had a long weekend for Thanksgiving. While we did have to go to work on Thanksgiving, it was only a half day and most of it was spent running a 5k Turkey Trot and eating lunch together with families on the field.
Afterwards, we all went home, grabbed our bags and headed to Old Quarter to catch our van to Sapa. (We = me, Liz, Justin, Steven, Todd, and Jenny) I made it to the right place and was quite confused that no one else had arrived yet. (I thought we were meeting at 3:30, not 3:00 so I had kind of run out of the door after I saw people saying they were heading over to meet the van.) Turns out, there's a difference between háng giấy and háng giầy streets. I explained this to the van driver and receptionist who had a good chuckle about it. But 15 or so minutes later we were off to Sapa. First thoughts upon arriving - "damn it's cold." ... it was ~50 degrees F. Once we took a taxi out to our accommodations on very windy and pot-holey roads, we were greeted with a fantastic dinner, rooms with heat, and mattress warmers (all for ~$25/night). The plates of food kept coming, hot and fresh. First actual day: We went on a walking tour/trek of the local Hmong Villages in the valley. Along the way were many rice terraces, giant pigs, water buffalo, and many many homestays. Our first real stop was in Black Hmong Village to see how they make indigo dye and their fabrics. Our guide talked through the whole month+ long process of dying clothing black using locally grown indigo. She then showed us about weaving the fabrics out of the hemp plant (or mary - hana as she called it later). Many of the Hmong women accompanying us on our trek were wrapping grass (turned out to be hemp) strings around their hands, basically spooling it, for later weaving as we learned. As we went on, we made an impromptu stop at a lady frying some delicious looking stacks. After asking what they were, we bought a potato pancake and a fried banana cake ... best 10k we spent that day. Further along, we stopped at some indigo plants which our guide showed us how we could mash the shredded leaves in our hands . . . our hands turned blue/green as they day went on (we knew this going into the mashing). I think my favorite part of the trek came when we hiked through a bamboo forest. The trail was SUPER muddy. It was fantastic and a miracle no one fell on their ass. The Hmong women mostly wore rain boots which seemed like the better choice in the mud. They would grab your hand and help guide you through the more slippery sections . . . such wonderful women. Our last stop was at a waterfall for cleaning up our shoes a bit and a short rest. When we reached the end of our journey, the women who had been with us all day opened up the basket-bookbags they'd been carrying all day and began their individualized sales pitches/harassment on their various goods (admittedly beautiful items but very strong pressure to buy). After washing up back at our homestay, we headed into town to find some pizza. Delicious. Then back to our warm beds for the night. Second day:
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I'm moving on SaturdayFound out landlady wants her house back (this was in October that we knew) so our lease was not renewed. Luckily, a house in our neighborhood (literally on the same alley) was for rent, so we're moving there. Axey moved out into a guys house with his brother and a couple other friends. We (Sinead, Diana, and I) are sharing the new house with a friend, Clare, and someone else Sinead knows. Girls house for the win! Very excited as I will now have lots of windows and an armchair (which reclines!!) for reading in my room. My First Motorbike Crash . . . Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking. :)So last Wednesday (day before Thanksgiving), I had my first motorbike crash.
What happened!?! ... Well you see, what had happened was ... I was driving home from school on an interstate (here I guess it's just the highway as there are no states) access road. I'm slowing down to pass a big truck (general size/shape of Uhaul truck if you need a visual), then it's just stopped. Of course I'm not in the proper passing position yet so the corner of it nails the front of my bike, it spins out, and falls over into the road. First thoughts: "Oh shit, am I about to get run over?!!?" Second thoughts: "I should probably get out of the road." Third thoughts: "Well damn, I hope my bike still runs." Upon inspection to move the bike, lots of body damage to the bike and it's still running. I turn it off and get to the side. A Grab driver (local Uber) saw me crash and comes over. I'm like "is it okay to drive?" Don't think he understood the words I was saying but he helped inspect my bike and was like *shrug* + a face that says "yea, I think it's okay to drive." It starts up and I drive off. Wheel seems a bit off and as you can see from the pictures, there's some plastic that's a bit questionable so I drive very slowly back home. Quan (motorbike guy) came and picked it up to get fixed. Got it back today - only cost me 1.2 million VND (~45 USD). Are you okay?!? ... yes, just lots of bruises and road rash. 3 bruises on left leg, 2 bruises on right leg, bruise on lower abdomen (I assume I punched myself when I fell or something), two scrapes on right arm, and large bruise on left arm (I think I hit it on my mirrors on the way down). Wasn't able to us my left arm for a couple of days without pain. I did go to the doctor for that one after I crashed. Was worried I might have fractured it or something it hurt so bad. Doctor said it was just a bad muscle bruise and possible internal bleed (but it's in the arm so not a huge concern). This weekend, a group of us ventured to the Vietnam Bear Rescue Center in Tam Dao National Park. I had heard from someone that it existed and of course it immediately made the Asia bucket list.
Why do bears need to be rescued? Because bear bile is still used in traditional medicine throughout Asia. Bear bile farms, while now illegal, are still a thing with over 100 of them in the Hanoi province and another 100+ in the Ho Chi Minh province. (Hanoi and HCM are cities as well as names of provinces ... like New York State and New York City). Many bears are kept in appalling conditions with two bears (or more) in small cages (see picture below). Many times, they are not regularly cleaned and bears end up living in their own waste causing a slew of health conditions. How many bears do they have? What kind of bears? The center has almost 200 bears (their capacity unfortunately) of the sun and moon varieties. The sun bears are smaller and have a yellow-ish U shaped mark on their chest. The moon bears are larger, fluffier, and have a white V shaped mark on their chest. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of the moon bears. What are their living conditions like at the center? 20 bears share a pretty big enclosure where they hang out during the day. They have bear playgrounds, hammocks for lounging, and toys to play with. The humans at the center strategically place their food around the enclosures in hidey holes, up trees, etc so that the bears can practice their natural foraging skills. We watched one bear on top of a playground tearing up the tree trunk trying to get at something. The workers make sure that the bears sharing an enclosure get along. Each enclosure has an "ambassador" or bear that basically gets along with anyone. New bears meet this ambassador first and then it helps introduce it to the rest of the enclosure. We saw one of the ambassador bears, David, and he was a fat ass... like this bear looked like a Shar Pei (type of dog ... Google it) when he looked down. The fat on his neck just kind of took over his face. It was great. But I digress... Many rescued bears are physically disabled or diseased from years of abuse. They have special enclosures which feature lower playgrounds and beds (easier to climb on). We saw a couple of blind bears, a blind bear with three legs, "short" bears (that was what our guide called the ones that have one limp paw ... They used one front paw and one front elbow to walk around), as well as many with severe skin conditions from living in filth. Are they released back into the wild? Unfortunately, and fortunately, no. Since many of the bears are disabled, it wouldn't be a good idea to release those ones. Many of the ones rescued as cubs wouldn't have the survival skills needed. Also, the government won't (or can't or something) give approval for them to be released in any of the national parks. Other cool stuff: The center does a lot of outreach and education. There is a local village dubbed "Bear Bile Village" which basically makes its living farming bear bile. The center works closely with the schools in that area, hosting visits to see the bears and educating the children as to why bear farming is bad. They also provide education as to herbal alternatives for bear bile. Hopefully, through education and social pressure, this village can find a new, less awful, way to make its living. |
ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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