The Continuing Adventures of DethBot

small spiral wink 

still swimming with sharks 

Our lovely Zay hosts 

Jusht one mooore... New year with the H'mong 

Buy my blanket....buy my bracelet 

Mmm offal 

Beautiful Sapa 

Happy new year Zay style 

So we had lovely weather for the first 3 days of trekking. We walked from Sapa town down the valley to the first village with another couple from Australia and our guide Luong. The area is famous for it's terraced rice paddies, a similar trick was used by the Incas to farm on mountainsides. We were accompanied by H'mong girls who all pestered us to buy trinkets, but we forgave them cos they were very cute :)

We were waylaid at one point by a household of drunken H'mong men, who insisted we have a drink (or 5) of rice wine with them - they had a lovely house and cooked us up some evil looking pig's innard dishes. We were spared as our guide insisted we move on, and a good job too, as we were all wobbling along the footwidth paths unsteadily as it was.

We arrived in the first village on the eve of Tet (chinese new year) and were subjected to Abba's "happy New year" in English and Vietnamese from the impressive sound system they had in our homestay. The family were very friendly and hospitable, and we saw in the new year with the owner, a widow who could pack away any amount of spirits without showing any signs of drunkenness.

The next morning we had to stay until midday, as the Zay people's custom has it that it's very unlucky for guests to leave before then. We also had to drink yet more rice wine, on top of a hangover! Thankfully she cooked us up a stonking big breakfast of omelettes to soak it upwith.

We set off for the second home stay, winding further down the valley, thankfully some of it on pseudo roads which made for easier going. We stopped off in a red Zao house, which I failed to photograph!, which showed their chinese origins. They had a new years ledger where they noted the births deaths and other imprtant events of the year, and many good luck Chinese inscriptions on the walls.

Our new digital camera was also very popular with the H'mong ladies we met on the road. At one spot there was a huge coven of the black clad ladies perched on a rock. I took some snaps of them, and they came over to say hello. When I showed them their photos they began to grab and twist the camera so they could see themselves. I suppose that not many people bother to show them their own snaps, which is a shame, as they found it fascinating. Sadly a few of the ones I took at that juncture got scrambled in the memory chip, but most came out.

After a painful descent at the final stage we entered the village where we were to spend the final night of our stay. All of us immediately compared it to Hobbitton, as the village sported beautiful wooden houses with smoke rising into the air, surrounded by mountains, and an air of peace descended with the sun.

Our hosts were Tai people and they had a lovely big house, which we flopped to the ground of when we arrived, knackered and desperate for a shower. The shower was rudimentary (a bucket and tap) but welcome after about 6 hours of walking.

We were treated to a fantastic feast, of which all was lovely especially the meat filled spring rolls. We sat on a mat under the eaves of the house, drinking yet more rice wine and slowly discovered that the Tai people spoke some Thai language (I later found it more resembled Lao). We exchanged numbers, the words for food, and a cigarette lighter, which the head man was most impressed by, as he had once used the word as a young man, but had forgotten it to be replaced by the Vietnamese equivalent. The ability to speak a little of their lingo went down a storm, and seemed to endear them to us very much.

We spent a comfortable night under chunky blankets and woke in the morning to go to the local waterfall - a delightful spot but the water was too bloody cold for my liking! Also it was deep, and sadly I felt too anxious to swim. Never mind I managed to hike over a little ridge to get a view of the cascade, and the others seemed to enjoy the swim.

Our guide had told us that we had to walk back up the steep incline we had thumped down at a knee shattering pace the day before, but it transpired that we could get a motor bike to our rendez vous with the jeep back into town. This seemed like a far better option, even if it was lazy, because it meant we had a little longer to relax and wander round the village. on the way back from the waterfall I had spotted one house which contained a hoard of kids playing computer games, and another house under which some older lads were playing pool - both incongruous in the idyllic valley. Sadly the signs of 'progress' where already there - a concrete school (possibly a good thing) and what looked disturbingly like a 'proper' guesthouse overlooking the river. A new road (or rather a better surfacing for the present one) is making it easier for the villagers to get to and from the market and to visit each other, but also it brings the inevitable stream of Western goods, clothes and tourists. I hope they can cling on to their peaceable lifestyle a little longer though, as it was blissful to escape the oraor of traffic and television, even if only for 48 hours.

This is the men's side - note all the booze and fags. My boss is on the left obscured by a ladle. He's a top bloke and got Dot and I very drunk earlier in the week. The guys here are hardcore when it comes to boozing. 

This is the girl's side of the table (Dot and I were in the middle as Westerners and kind of unclassifiable!). They're digging in with gusto. 

T office tet party - yummy Vietnamese "fondue", the seafood was awesome 

Well, it's nearly time for the Tet (lunar new year) holiday and my office is completely deserted. My colleagues have basically been skiving all week (just like home at xmas!) and there's anticipation in the air. I thought I'd use this chance to create a blog, seeing as everyone else has buggered off.

There are fairy lights, branches of peach blossom and kumquat trees (bit like Christmas trees with satsumas attached) decorating everything (buildings, shops, bridges), the weather is bitterly cold and it all feels so much like xmastime in the UK I'm confused as to what time of year it is. Ho hum.

Tomorrow is the office party though I doubt that is like at home, I can't see the delicate flowers who work here getting pissed and photocopying their bums! I'm sure the food'll be tasty and plentiful though, in true Vina style.

Red is the colour of the lunar new year 

The two headed beastie that is DethBot