Hey There!!

Just arrived back to Sapa town after my day of trekking which started right from my hotel with a group of 10 of us heading out. A group of 7 from Israel all friends, a solo German and solo Spaniard both whom I got to know well after our day together.

As soon as we exited our hotel, a group of about 6 black H'mong people all dressed in their traditional costumes were greeting us in English (which was amazingly learned just through their interactions with tourists). I thought WOW! We were headed to their village about 12 km easy trekking away. They ranged from all ages and were very friendly (for a reason which I will explain later!).

We were blessed with an incredible day-sunny and a perfect temperature. The rice paddies were just spectacular to walk amongst as you will hopefully see in some of the pics on the blog. Our guide was very informative and I learned that the back in the day, H'mong boys (at any age) could "kidnap" any girl they liked and the girl would have no choice but to be with him forever. Many would escape and then poison themselves with a plant grown near by. These days the government has outlawed such happenings. The H'mong people came from nearby China and speak different languages among their own people too.

We continued to trek and got to the main village where now the women trekking with you want you to buy buy buy all of their hand made goods. I could see how many would find this quite hassling indeed. We ate lunch at a place by the river and then headed to the next town about 2 km trek away passing a school (which I happily donated some Dong too!) The students performed a dance which was so sweet to us all. 3 of our group stayed at the next major town for a homestay while us others headed back to Sapa in a van. I will shower here soon at the hotel, have a quick bite to eat then make the 45 minute van ride back to the main train station for my overnight back to Hanoi.

I wonder how different the 1st class sleeper is! I could go for a little foot massage now but no time! darn! :)