Sa Pa: Rice Paddies & Happy Water

Misty rice paddies

It was eight weeks into our trip and we’d seen rice paddies up and down mainland Indochina. Rice paddies in flat squares and those that climbed up mountains. Paddies with little budding plants and those full to the brim.  But it’s fair to say we hadn’t really seen rice paddies until we visited misty Sa Pa, a Northern Vietnamese town near the border of China.  These are like lush carpeted steps leading to another world, the vast expanse of which is only revealed in the fleeting moments when the mist lifts.

A view of the Sapa valley

The town and surrounding countryside of Sa Pa is populated by ethnic minorities, including the Black Hmong and Red Dzao, who have capitalized on the tide of tourists descending on Sa Pa every year.  Unlike the more aggressive tactics of their Vietnamese urban counterparts, these sellers of trinkets and handicrafts (all of whom are women), will silently follow you all day with the hope that at the end of your day’s trek, you’ll purchase a woven bag or whistle.  You cannot fault them for wanting to add to their meager farming income. And while tourism has profoundly impacted the way of life for these people, it’s also evident that it has elevated their standard of living.  The women who led us on our two day trek through the valley say the most beneficial change has been that they have noa been able to send their children to school.

Two children play in the hills of Sapa

Perhaps one wouldn’t think of rice farmers as elegant, but I cannot think of any better word to describe the women of Sa Pa.  For miles they will walk through the valley dressed from head to toe in beautiful embroidered clothes and silver jewelery, delicately balancing on the edge of each terraced paddy without muddying themselves.  They are hard workers but they speak little of their pains.  And despite not having much, they are incredibly generous and hospitable. By the end of the trip, my arm was laced with woven bracelets gifted to me by the women while my pockets where rimmed with little animals created from hand-folded reeds they’d made along the way. They invited us to their homes, where we were served delicious local food and got tipsy on rice wine, or “happy water” as they called it.  My heart was brimming with the realization of the human capacity to be kind and connect with one another despite great differences.  Below are more photos of our lovely trekking guides and the stunning other-worldly place they call home.

Our lovely trekking guides

The mother of one of our guides, a Red Dzao

"Happy water" flowed freely at our homestay

Weaving hemp thread

Black Hmong mill about the town of Sapa

Sunlight breaking through the clouds in Sapa

Crossing a rickety bridge

The terraces are works of art

Life in Hanoi

As tourists we’re drawn to the historical sites, museums, and natural wonders; all the places the guidebooks say we should go. But my favorite moments while traveling are those in which I witness the everyday played out in new and interesting ways.  We arrived early in Hanoi off a night train, so we spent time wandering the city and soon found ourselves at Hoan Kiem lake where hundreds if not thousands of Vietnamese were exercising.  Actions such as rubbing the belly or poking fingers in the ears derive from traditions of Chinese medicine, which many Vietnamese practice.

Lining up for some morning exercise

After 8 weeks of travel, we were a bit fatigued by historical sites and museums so we spent our time in Hanoi instead wandering, eating, drinking 25 cent beers and doing lots and lots of shopping.  Enjoy the photos below:

Street corner breakfast in Hanoi

Typical Hanoi traffic

Amazing what you can carry on a scooter

Pour me another please

Bia Hoi - $.25 beers!

Shade from the morning sun

Old friends

Temple of Literature: okay, so we did fit in one site!

Floating Mountains: Halong Bay & Bai Tu Long Bay, Vietnam

Early morning rain on Halong Bay

The creative director of the move Avatar must have been inspired by Halong Bay in Vietnam as there are few other places in the world where mountains appear to float weightlessly. While the imaginary planet in Avatar has mountains that suspend mid-air, Halong Bay’s mountains soak in pools of blue. Sunsets soften the edges of the sharp cliffs, color the sky and offer reflections that make sky and sea indistinguishable.

Sunset on Halong Bay

It’s no wonder the bay is one of Vietnam’s most visited attractions, with hordes of “junks” that float its waters on packaged cruises. We tend to loathe organized tours and try with all our might to travel independently, but there are some places that cannot be seen without a guide. Halong Bay is one of them. So when we searched for a tour operator, we looked for one that cruises away from the frequently touristed areas with only a small group while treading carefully on the environment and local community. Ethnic Travel fit the bill, and one of the highlights was that its boat cruises both Halong Bay and the less touristed Bai Tu Long Bay.

One of the many limestone cliffs of Halong Bay

Sunset swim in Halong Bay

It was a beautiful, albeit hot, day sailing Halong Bay. After feasting on a meal of spring rolls, breaded tofu, grilled squid and sauteed shrimp, we relaxed on the deck of the boat and took in the scenery. In the late afternoon, we visited a “floating village, a town built entirely on a string of floating decks. There’s even a floating school! Later, we took a swim in water but the dim light of the evening did not hide the trash that would float by in clumps. It quickly shook me out of the daze that Halong had seduced me into and thrust me into the realization that Vietnam like much of Asia seeks money and advancement at a cost. Despite being a UNESCO world heritage site, I was hard pressed to see what the title has done to help protect the Bay from the impact of tourism.

A floating village in Halong Bay

Our transportation in the floating village

It rained hard that night and into the early morning. At 5am, Ben woke up, looked out the window and rushed out with his camera. The rain was falling in patches that were hit by the rising sun in such a way that it looked like it was raining gold. After so many lost sunsets and mornings when we overslept, Ben was giddy to have captured the perfect moment on film.

Sunrise on Halong Bay

We kayaked in the morning then sailed back to get on yet another minibus to go to Bai Tu Long Bay, just an hour away. Apparently the junks don’t sail fast enough to sail between the two bays.  But the bus ride was worth it; Nary a tourist at this bay’s port and few boats in the bay itself save a lone fisherman or two.  Though the rocks don’t have the scale of Halong Bay, Bai Tu Long Bay has the advantage of its serenity.  Long placid waterways flanked by jagged black rock sprinkled with greenery set a much different stage.   We spent the evening on Quan Lan Island at a “homestay”, which was really more like a non air conditioned basic B&B with hosts that barely spoke to us.  After a restless hot night, we got some pho and headed out on some rented bikes for a tour of the little island and a dip at the beach.  It was raining by the time we returned to the boat but the mist atop the water made our sail to shore even more beautiful.

Lone fisherman on Bai Tu Long Bay

The cliffs of Bai Tu Long Bay

Misty morning on Bai Tu Long Bay

Quan Lan island

Merchants & Emperors: Traveling in time in Hoi An & Hue

Hue's Citadel

The shopkeepers and emperors of old Vietnam had it made. A pharmaceutical salesman resided in a intricately carved wooden storefront with a lush atrium and lacquered inlay furniture while his emperor had an entire landscape of temples built for his final resting place, with room to spare for his wives. Such elegant use of space is on display in both Hoi An and Hue, two stops along our journey from South to North Vietnam.

Wooden chairs at a Chinese assembly hall

Exquisite courtyard of a merchant's house in Hoi An

Hoi An is so quaint and so fittingly “Asian”, it feels like a manufactured version of itself for the benefit of tourists.  But I was perfectly happy to live in the illusion of lit paper lanterns, swept streets, and excellent restaurants.  Days are spent eating, shopping and strolling through old merchant houses and Chinese assembly halls that make you feel so elegant you must dress the part.  So we visited one of the many tailor shops that have made Hoi An famous for the trade and Ben ordered two shirts and a pair of pants custom tailored to the tune of $50.

Diners enjoy a riverside meal of Cao Lau in Hoi An

Chinese lantern in one of Hoi An's many assembly halls

Vietnamese flags hang from most shops in Hoi An

Perhaps one of the highlights of Vietnam is that its skinny width and long coastline means you are never far from a great beach. Just north of the Hoi An town center is An Bang beach, a poorly advertised getaway of white sands and pristine blue waters that was nearly empty when we stopped for a lunch of grilled squid and Larue beers. It was the perfect respite from the heat, which was nearly unbearable in mid-day.  We were sad to leave Hoi An, and in retrospect, would have gladly spent another day, but we had a tight schedule to meet. Our next stop was Hue.

An Bang beach outside of Hoi An

Hue, which lies smack dab in the center of Vietnam is just as known for its ill-fated location during the Vietnam War as it is for its imperial tombs which dot the outskirts of the city. We chose to see the latter and spent one day on a motorbike getting lost between them.  As usual, the motorbike ride was as interesting as the stops, as it granted us lovely views of the Perfume River and surrounding mountains.

Hue imperial tomb

For more pictures, click through the slideshow below:

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Dunes & Fish Sauce in Mui Ne

Cows on the Beach

Craving some more beach time, we headed to Mui Ne, a small beach town along the coast of Vietnam. It appealed to us more than the more popular beach town of Nha Trang for its sand dunes and fishing village along with its quiet beaches.  We spent our first afternoon lazing by the beach watching the kite surfers who travel from all over the world to catch winds that build to 20 knots.  An evening dip in the hotel pool up on the hill above the ocean was the perfect closer.

Cows in the way

Stunning dunes of Mui Ne

At breakfast, we met a US Vietnam war veteran who we joined for a motorbike ride around the area. He’d been to Mui Ne before and still remembered enough of his State Department taught Vietnamese to order the right amount of condensed milk in our iced coffees.  Off the coast, we visited beautiful white sand dunes flanked by natural spring fed lakes then closed the day with the red sand dunes closer to the ocean.

Vietnam or the Sahara?

The next day we awoke early to meet the fishermen bringing in their catch, which in Mui Ne is mostly small sardines that are steamed, dried in the sun and fermented in vats for fish sauce. I’ll let the photos below tell the story.

Waiting for dad

Colorful Boats

Pulling boats in to shore

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Cities in contrast: Phnom Penh & Saigon

Family on a motorbike

I’m quite behind on travel blog posts, but I’ve committed to catching up and so though I’m writing in Washington, DC, on the blog I’m still traveling between Cambodia and Vietnam’s largest cities: Phnom Penh and Saigon.

I first fell in love with Phnom Penh after a chance encounter with the crispiest tastiest grilled squid on earth during a bus stop between Siem Reap and Kep. Upon returning to Phnom Penh, we visited the central market again for the heavenly dish, served with cold cucumbers, herbs and a dash of homemade chili sauce.  This was a no frills spot; just a small roadside stand with food served on melamine dishes.  Yet the taste and the service was five star.  It’s a microcosm of Phnom Penh, a shabby city upon first glimpse yet one oozing with character. Despite being Cambodia’s capitol city, Phnom Penh’s demographic is decidedly rural in nature, in large part because of Pol Pot’s reign of terror over the wealthy and educated classes.  So scenes of life in rural Cambodia are often played out in city streets: people commuting by bicycle, carrying livestock, and selling fruit from bamboo baskets. PP feels more like a small town than a capitol city and in some ways, it seems as if time stands still.  One night we ventured to the local mall, where the top floor contained a roller rink packed with Khmer teens doing tricks and drinking soda pop from glass bottles.  It was as if we were transported back to 1950s America, when life seemed so simple and wholesome.

The Royal Palace of Phnom Penh

Monks flood the streets of Phnom Penh

The Russian Market in Phnom Penh

Man sharpening knives at the Russian Market

One of many street side barbershops

Despite its renewed character, Phnom Penh is still deeply haunted by the days of Khmer Rouge, when an estimated 2 million people were brutally killed.  We visited Tuol Sleng (S21), a former high-school turned prison and place of torture for the Khmer Rouge.  After the regime fell in 1979, 14 bodies were found.  Photographs of the bodies as they were left are hung on the walls of the cell in which they were found along with the bed and shackles to which they were chained.  The stark images are a sobering reminder of the capacity for human beings to be unapologetically inhuman.

S 21 cell block

Portraits of prisoners at S 21

S 21 cell

We continued our journey to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, still regularly called Saigon today.  It never ceases to amaze me how different a place can be just a few miles across a land border.  A bustling sprawling behemoth of a city, Saigon is everything that Phnom Penh isn’t; It’s a city on a race for advancement.  Streets are nearly impassible due to waves of motorbikes speeding in every direction and construction is everpresent. But the most significant difference were the people, who on the outset were much more cold and aloof than the Khmer, Lao and Thai.  We had only a day in Saigon and it wasn’t an especially memorable one thanks to buckets of rain and a few attempts by locals to rip us off.  But we kept up our hopes high for better days in Vietnam, and fortunately there were many. Stay tuned!

The chaotic traffic of Saigon