Ha Giang Province
After our first week in Vietnam, we started our journey to the northern province of Ha Giang and left the hustle and bustle of Hanoi behind us. On the recommendation of one of Susanne’s friends, we booked through a local operator called Ethnic Travel that did a wonderful job and caters more to getting away from the busy and touristy areas. Their advice was good, great service and the whole 8 days ran smoothly. Our guide of the week, Jack, met us at our hotel in the morning and we took the chaotic 6 hour drive north to Ba Be Lake.
At Ba Be Lake we had two nights to relax and spent our time hiking and biking to local villages and caves. Besides the roosters in the morning it was a peaceful place and the first evening had a full homestay with a mix of other guests from France, Switzerland and American. The Swiss being there gave Suze a chance to practice her mother tongue and get a little bit of home. Part of the group also provided a spectacular exhibit on the effects of large quantities of “happy water” (a.k.a. rice wine) and gave us the opportunity to know to take it easy without learning the hard way ourselves. The homestays are always a family affairs for dinner that you join in to. Sitting on the floor around a table, sharing the food, chopsticks all in flurry grabbing and scooping at the dishes. Several times we had 4 generation families we stayed with and this particular family had a great grandfather that was 92 years old and still doing his chores around the house. He didn’t speak much but after finding out he was a veteran of North Vietnam in both the French and American Wars, we could only assume his life has been intriguing, tough and tragic.
The departure from Ba Be was by boat for a ride across the lake in the early morning to visit a waterfall before getting back to the car and commencing one of the most arduous drives I’ve ever experienced. The twisty, rough, under construction, congested and generally terrifying mountain road was an exciting experience that our driver, Phi, navigated us through and safely got us to the town on Meo Vac for a much needed beer and bed.
Travels the next day we much less harrowing and brought us to the Van Dong Karst Plateau Park that was the real highlight of the trip. The jagged mountains and ridges with narrow valleys were spectacular and the regions ethnic minority groups used the land were ever possible to plant corn, rice, root vegetable and greens. The contrasts between rock, trees, terraced hills and sky was a dizzying display on the steep hills. We did some hikes that took us through the area on local paths and visited some villages to see the daily life of the Dao and Flower Hmong groups.
Local markets in the north are the weekly gathering for all the villages in the area to come together to sell, buy and trade their goods and to socialize. The local colored garments of the ladies are brilliant and dazzling amongst all the animals, scooters, noise and smells. It’s more chaos and excitement that we’ve become use to in this country. And the local people, especially the women, are the smallest people I have ever seen. Half our size, we both towered above them and the old ladies pushed through the crowds with a determined forcefulness that almost knocked us down when they came up from behind.
The tour wrapped up coming out of the higher peaks and staying in the town of Quan Ba at a lovely homestay with a Black Dao family. We were greeted by three middle aged women in traditional dress that were kind, beautiful smiles and provided wonderful hospitality for the evening. The food was simple but the best we had the whole trip and their fresh batch of rice wine was smooth and delicious. Strolling the country side and farms in the quiet evening was a real magnificent moment that ended the tour on a high note.
