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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ShannonMath Teacher living and working in Hanoi, Vietnam Archives
February 2022
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