Today we did a cooking class. It was fun, but I only had fun for a
little bit. Why? Because We were making yummy fried spring rolls, when
our cooking extraordinaire was trying to flip the spring rolls, she
accidentally dropped them in the very hot (to me) cooking oil. It
splattered on my hand. It was not a very bad burn, but it still hurt
very much. But I also learned how to treat a burn, with out ice, and the
pain goes away pretty quickly. You need half of a lime or lemon. Then
you simply squirt the lime juice on the places where you got burned and
you are good. Also you can use some white light vinegar. After a while
the pain will go way and you just have to be careful about where you put
your hand.
Ba Be Well, I have had a lot of adventures at Babe lake and in Phu Tho. We had
to drive about… EIGHT HOURS! that was a long trip just to get to Babe
Lake. That was a very long trip for me. I luckily slept a lot on the way
there. AND we had a driver that did not know how to drive the car. It
was his first day on the job! ALSO they gave him a very bad car that
barely went up those mountain roads! When we got into a pretty good
sized town,our driver asked someone something in Vietnamese. My mom
asked if we were lost, but our guide just said that we were not lost, he
was just asking for directions. After a LONG time we finally arrived at our
home stay. But unlike our Home stay in Ta Phin, you were separated from
the family, you did not get to befriend the family members. So we went
with our guide to other home stays, (which were more like guest houses)
but they were all full.We finally found one that had only four other
people ( instead of maybe…11-14 people, counting us.) Also the people
were nice at our new home stay. Mom,Sumner, Our guide ( Mr. Phong,) and
I went on a pleasant bike ride around the area. We went to a place where
some people were working in the rice field. Sumner and I got to cut some
rice. It is pretty hard work, but yet fun,( at least for the few seconds
I did it.) Then we headed back to the house ( not my house though,) for
a delicious dinner. It included rice ( duh) pork, chicken,and some
greens. Then we went to bed. I think the roosters are a little confused ( and crazy),because they
started crowing at 1:00 in the morning instead of at the crack of dawn.
and kept on crowing for a long time. The next morning we had those pancakes again. ( I told you before,
they taste and feel like you are eating rubber!) So the Lady of the
House asked if we wanted some fried rice. Sumner and I answered yes very
enthusiastically. After breakfast we went on a boat ride on the lake
with our guide. It was very pretty, so I think Sumner will put the
pictures on the blog. ( At least i hope so.) First we went to a cave
that had a million bats, and they dropped waste on us. I had to dig out
my hat so that I would not get hit by it. After that we went to a very
dangerous waterfall. Because they blocked of the dangerous part with a
big wall of cement, bur tourists go past the cement another way, so they
slip on the moss and fall in the water. People can not find their bodies
because there is too much foam.Then we ate lunch at a local restaurant,
and then headed back to the house. Before the meal Sumner and I played
with the feather thing. Our driver joined in as well. He is very good
at the game, better than us at least! Finally after we got tired of
playing, we went back to the house and got ready for dinner. We had a
special dinner that night because we were going to eat with the family.
Again we had a very good meal again, so I ate my fill and went to
beddddd Sorry I am tired right now, so I probably should go to bed.
Today we woke up and got ready to go back to Hanoi. Once packed we met
Phong outside and got into the Jeep. It wasn’t nearly as long as the
drive to Ba Be but it still was pretty long. Just outside of Hanoi we
stopped on the side of the highway where some stalls were set up selling
corn and shuggar cane trees. We got out of the car and Phong bought some
corn. Hannah had been wanting some shugar cane to chew on. So we went
over to one of the ladys and asked for just a little piece. There were
some miscomunications and we ended up with the entire tree. It was an
interesting experience, being on the side of the road buying shuggar
cane. One that I will never forget. We tried to chew it, mom liked it
and Hannah liked it but I wasn’t a fan of it. We got back into the car
and drove on. Finally we made it to the hotel checked in and went to our
room and sighed a shgh of releif. It was nice to be back in a western
hotel with clean rooms and soft beds (This is where Hannah’s song comes
in). We relaxed in our room for a while and then went out to walk around
Hanoi. Then we went back to the hotel and tried to catch up on our blog.
We went out for dinner and then went back to the hotel. Ok now for the
bed.
Well today we woke up with another driver in our midst. The one who
owned our car. He had come in the night on a bus from Hanoi to try to
fix it. He arrived at about twelve o’clock and then towed the car to a
spot where there was more light. He worked on it but when we got up in
the morning it was still not fixed. And that’s were my day began, with
waking up. For breakfast again we had those pancakes but today Hannah
and I had fried rice. After yesterday’s breakfast Phong had asked if we
wanted to have fried rice instead of the pancakes. We accepted so mom
ate some pancakes and we ate the fried rice. After breakfast, which was
delicious, we got ready to go to Phu Tho (pronounced: fu taw, the taw
sound ends abruptly). The car had to be towed to be started but it did
start and we were on our way. This new driver was like a race car driver
on a one lane road, that to the Vietnamese is a two lane highway. He was
passing people on blind curves and on the straight parts if there was a
gap of two yards he went through it. Mom was scared to death and even
Phong who was leaning slightly out the window was going, ohhhh, made it
oh oh oh, phew! that gave me a scare. In fact I don’t think that we ever
stopped until we got to a gas station. Where we stopped to stretch our
legs he had to leave the car on because it he turned it off it would not
be able to start back up again. After we got gas we went on to a town
were we said goodbye to the first driver who was catching a bus to
Hanoi. We felt sorry for the guy, it wasn’t a good car and he was
nervous because it was his first time to driving it. We stopped in a
town for lunch. We ate at a street-food place but the food was good. But
the weird thing is that once we were served our food they pulled up
chairs and watched us eat. And afterwards they touched mom and pinched
her and talked about her. Phong said that they were feeling if she was
real. I truly think that we were the first westerners they had ever
seen! Then we got back in the car went on to Phu Tho. We wandered around
the town and went to a square where we walked around. You could tell you
were off the beaten tourist path in Phu Tho because wherever you went
people stared at you. Just like to people at lunch, well maybe not as
bad as them but we were the center of attention. Phu Tho, though small,
is actually a university town. We saw that on our little walk.
Today we woke up and had breakfast. Breakfast was those “rubbery
pancakes” but this time it was more crepe-ish. It was allot better but
we went to the kitchen and they asked if we wanted to have some of their
fried rice. We accepted the offer and ate the rice. It was much better
than the pancakes. After breakfast we got ready for a boat trip on Ba Be
Lake. But the car would not start! So we had to walk to the dock. We go
on to a boat that was about two yards wide and about ten yards wide.
The seats were wooden planks across the boat. The engine which was in
the back was really loud but the trip was nice. First we cruised around
in the lake. It was very interesting but the weird thing was that the
water was surprisingly warm. After we had cruised around for a while we
came to a river which we went upstream to a cave that the river went
right through. We got off and walked on a path through the cave. On the
way we went under a big crevasse that the bats lived in, The path was
covered with their droppings and some fell on mom’s and Hannah’s heads!
I was lucky enough to have kept my hat on so it didn’t get me. We got
out from under that crevasse quickly and to another part of the cave. It
wasn’t really very big but it was a good sized cave. When we go to the
end of the path we went back through the cave and to where the boat was
docked. Then we headed in the other direction on the river which led to
a little village when we stopped and walked on a path to a gorgeous
water fall. On the way we had to walk down a lot of stairs. Going down
was fine but mom had a little trouble on the way up. The water fall
spanned two kilometers (why did they make up the metric system?) which
is about one mile. We looked at it from a look out and then went back up
the hill and to the town where we stopped for lunch. Lunch was much to
big for us and our guide didn’t eat with us. I would have liked to have
more food but my mouth is hurting because some teeth are coming in in
the wrong places. After lunch we went back to the lake and sailed back
to the dock. When we got back to the homestay there were two drivers
under the hood. They tried to tow the car up the incline that it was
parked on, with the other driver’s car. They had tied a rope to the the
front of the Forerunner (that was our car). Then they tied another rope
to the other car’s front end where it had a hook. Then they put the
other car in reverse and backed that car up and tried to pull the
Forerunner up the incline in reverse. That was definitely not a good
thing for the other car. Then Hannah went to go get the feathered thing
and we played with that for a little while. After that we decided to go
on a walk. We turned left and went down a small hill. Then the road
evened out and we waked on to a bridge. We crossed over and a policeman
was there at the other side. He came out and said something in
Vietnamese to us that we didn’t understand. We think that he was asking
where we were going so we decided that maybe we shouldn’t go that way.
We turned around and went across the bridge. When we got across our car
was rolling down the hill and stopped at right at the bridge. Then we
made our way up the hill .We saw them again beside the other car
discussing what to do. When we got back we played more of that feather
thingy and the driver of our car played too. We went down to the “park”
which was just an open field full of weeds and stuff with one torn up
volleyball net in one corner with a little bit of sand. We played for a
while and then went back for dinner which we had with the family, the
driver who tried to help us, Phong, and our driver. It was about the
same as last night with rice some vegetables and some meats. It was very
interesting because mom was asked how old she was. The reason for this
is that in Vietnamese what you call someone is relational the age of the
person. For example, if I was older that you I would call you “em” but
you would call me “anh” and if I was a girl I would call my self
something else. So back to my point, when they asked her age it was more
a thing of respect than disrespect. Once we finished dinner we were
offered tea.We declined because of the caffeine. Then we went to bed.
So, today we checked out of our hotel early and had breakfast. Then our
guide came and we got into the car that would take us to Ba Be Lake. The
car was about one hundred years old and didn’t have any shocks left.
There were no seat belts in the back seat and hand crank windows. OK
maybe it wasn’t one hundred years old but it was very old. I wasn’t
joking about the shocks though. The car was so bad that when we hadn’t
even gotten out of Hanoi mom had to pull out the Dramamine! Well we made it out of Hanoi and then kept on going until we go to the
mountains. We were able to do most of the hills but the ten percent
grades were difficult. Once we went up part of the way and then the car
couldn’t go any further. So, we had to roll down the hill and then use
the emergency brake and then hit the clutch to change the gear. We
revved the motor and then let the emergency brake go. The car inched up
the hill and then finally made it to the top. There were a few hills
where we had to do this but we made it safely to Ba Be Lake. We stopped
at one homestay but we decided to go to another homestay. We found a
different one that was more satisfactory.
So, after all of the trekking and the home stays and all, we get ONE day
to hang out. Today we DID get to just relax, unlike last week. Our
family went on an overnight train from Lao Cai to Hanoi. I slept very
well unlike Sumner and mom. But when we got to the hotel, we found out
that they had an available room for us to stay in until 10:00 AM. The
minute my mom’s and brother’s heads hit the pillows, they were sound
asleep. Guess they are not meant for train rides. When they FINALLY woke
up, I had read about two whole books! (also I am a really fast reader,
so that makes a difference.) That afternoon we went to a silk shop and
got my self a fitted ao dai, (according to the north pronounce it ow
zie). I got one for next year, and another one for the next 2-3 years.
The first ao dai is turquoise-ish, and when you move, the little trees
and flowers that are the prints, they turn different colors. The one
that is for a few years to come, is a pretty white color, and has a
light blue coloring to it. Now for dinner we are having some sort of
snackey dinner. Don’t know what it is, but I hope that it will be yummy.
Gute Nacht! (goodnight in German).
Today was our last day in Sapa. Today we got up and had breakfast and
then went back to the room to hang out and try to figure out what we
wanted to do today. We decided to go to the radio tower. Everyone said
there was a wonderful view so we went. When we got down we paid and
checked out. Then we started out. We walked up lots of steps and then
had to get tickets to go the rest of the way. Then we walked up more
steps until we got to a Mt. Fan Xi Pan Lookout (Pronounced like: fancy
pants without the “ts” at the end. Fancy Pants isn’t really very
original because we met some other people that named it that also) Then
we walked a little way more and arrived at a fork. We went left and got
to a little covered area where we stopped and had a drink because Hannah
had a headache. Then we arrived at a Europe Garden. We saw a look out on
the top of a hill but mom didn’t want to go all the way to the top. I
wanted to go further but mom was to tired and Hannah had a headache. So,
I decided to go up a path that I presumed went to the radio tower. I
went up some steps and then more steps and then into finally got to the
top. It probably wasn’t as spectacular as if we went up to the other
lookout but it was a nice view. In the foreground was Sapa all laid out
and then behind that in every direction were mountains. After I took
some photos I went back down and surprised mom and Hannah by my speed.
Then we headed back down the hill. Once down we went back to the hotel
and hung out in the lobby until time to get on the bus to Lao Cai. The drive to Lao Cai was a little traumatic because our driver was a
little crazy. We were thankful that we got off the bus alive. We were
dropped off at a Kangaroo Cafe sponsored restaurant and settled down at
a table. The man who seemed to be in charge of the place asked us for
our voucher and then went to get our tickets. He told us that we would
leave for the train station at seven. It was six something so we decided
to have dinner. While we were waiting for our food another van full OK
let me re-state that. Another van BURSTING with people. There were
nineteen people in a bus that fit, oh, fourteen people? Also there was
everyone’s luggage along with the people! We ate our food and then the man came to take us to the station. We got
to the station and he took us to the train. He wasn’t as helpful as Mr.
Viet but he took us to our cabin and then went away. The cabin was nicer
than the last time but it was basically the same. The beds were a little
bit longer (mom could fully stretch out on it). The water bottles were
in a basket (instead of just loose on the table). This was an advantage
because when the train bounced the water bottles didn’t bounce out on
the bed (not that they would, but just the small things make it nicer).
Also we had a trashcan which was nice. The…
Today started with breakfast (good thing to start with). And then
after breakfast we met some people who were also staying at Sapa Rooms
and they asked if there would be any opportunity to buy. We laughed
because as soon as you walk out the door you are bombarded by H’mong and
Dau (pronounced: z-ow) women saying “you buy from me why you no by from
me, you bye this, you no want? Ok you buy this..” and after they give up
on one person if there are others in the group they bug them. We told
them to go to the market in the square and pick up one of the things
that they like and then they will have a multitude trying to sell you
the exact same thing.
OK we started the day with a little trauma because when I woke up I
realized that Hannah was not in her bed but I found her in mom’s bed.
Obviously Hannah had been scared because of the mice and the bugs. But
after we got up it was basically OK but we didn’t want to stay another
night so we called Mr. Khanh the manager of Sapa Rooms and asked if we
could come back. He understood our predicament and let us come back. But
before we did we stayed and had a wonderful time enjoying the beautiful
scenery because we were going to do the cooking class at the retreat. We
had a nice time just relaxing.
