We said our goodbyes to the wonderful Tuey and her helpful staff at Viet Fun and followed the man who came to collect us to take us to the bus. The man was much more helpful than any tour guide we've had so far so we were sorry he was only taking us to the end of the road.
It turned out that instead of the huge crush of a full consignment of backpackers and their hefty bags squeezing on to the minibus, there was just Matt and myself. It was pure luxury - but only while we were stationery. It also made Matt's ticket search of yesterday quite entertaining as there must have been a very patient man at the end of the phone agreeing to the same price each time.
We bounced around mountain roads and our driver stopped for us to take pictures over-looking an impressive vista. Very soon afterwards we had a terrifying near death experience as some girl pulled out in front of our speedy minibus on a push-bike. The driver slammed on the brakes and swerved, leaving half of the tyres on the road and the bus filled with the pungent smell of burning rubber but thankfully avoided the girl. Even the driver was shaken up and so it wasn't so long after he'd climbed out and berated the girl that we stopped for a cup of tea.
The place may have been a restaurant-type affair but was filled with huge pieces of wood that had been carved into sculptured animals and big pieces of furniture. We sat with the driver as he investigated Matt's phone, drank tea out of tiny cups and stared at a giant wooden toad before setting off again.
The bus dropped us off at The Nature Place in Mai Chau where there were already lots of people sat having a delicious looking lunch. Matt went for quick check around a few of the MANY other homestays but nothing else stood out so we decided to stay and join them for food.
We sat with a very nice Japanese couple and found out that the group had been there on an organised tour for a couple of days but that it had been too hot for them to get up to much. We were joined by their tour guide who was a very friendly and chatty young Vietnamese woman who showed us lots of interesting photos on her phone. She had started organising photography trips for tourists around some of the more beautiful areas of the north. They were really catching on but she had trouble promoting them further or responding to requests because, even though she spoke great English, she could not read or write it.
Just before the bus set off, Matt noticed a missing wheel nut that he thought might not be so great on the twisty mountain roads. He mentioned it to the driver and he didn't care a jot so we waved goodbye to the group and hoped that they got there okay.
We wandered the village for a while and explored some of the local handicrafts that most of the houses had on sale. It was much more low pressure than we expected and in many of the places, they were too busy having their afternoon nap to even notice us.
One of Matt's favoutire stalls made basic but effective bamboo pellet (stone) gun and some rather hefty-looking crossbows. Thankfully he concluded that they were a little bulky for our luggage and that we may struggle to get them onto a plane and o we left them and the village and headed off throught he rice paddies.
In most of the countries that we have visited, we have spent many hours looking out of bus windows and watching them working the fields. I've often wished to be closer and see more but they are very far-removed from the bus stops in major tourist towns and difficult to get to. Even if we could get there, the idea of just strolling through while everybody toils away seemed ridiculous and rude but today, that's just what we were encouraged to do and just what we did and it was great.
Men and women of all ages wore their conical hats (sorry I don't know the name!) and maxi-cover clothes as they waded through the water-logged fields, scything, bundling, piling and carrying the harvest. Many said hello or smiled at us as we passed and none of them seemed at all annoyed that we were there.
We tried to walk up one of the huge hills and couldn't find a path and so just meandered down the main road for while. Groups of farmers sat by the roadside having a bit of a rest and a chat while other individuals scooted past us on nbikes piled high with crops. Big, scary ox rested by the roadside and stared at us as we passed. Some houses were already working on the seperating the grain from the stalk using pedal-powered machines and called 'hello' as we passed. A few more had no anumals to feed the stalks to and so were burning piles of them, sending plumes of sour smoke into the road and air.
On the way back to the village we came across two groups of women carefully heaving and steering their carts of crops down the narrow, raised paths between the fields. They stopped to gather their breath before having to attempt the steep slope that we had just walked down. After a short exchange of gestures and words, we helped them trundle their carts up the small hill. They loved this and were delighted at our joining in. The carts were heavy though and I imagine probably the last thing you want to deal with after a long, hard day harvesting in the hot sun.
Back at the homestay we were given such a large amount of food that we wondered if we were expected to help ourselves and pass the rest on but apparently not. A Danish guy came over and had dinner there too and he was given almost as much to himself and so we heartily tucked in, enjoying the break from noodle soup. We were also given rice wine, decanted from a 10 litre container into a 2 litre one and then served by the cupfull. They give bigger servings of tis pure ethanol brew than they do their tasty coffee.
We chatted to Toke for a while then Matt went to bed as I went with Toke to try and find the 'bonfire, music and dancing' we had been told about and encouraged to go to. After a few wrong turns down very dark paths with no torch to rely on, we finally stumbled across the only thing that resembled what had been described to us. There was no bonfire and it looked like a private show that had been put on for a tour group but we stood with the locals at the other side of a broomstick barrier and watched for a while. It was very similar to the life-based dance that we had seen so often in Asia and though it is nice to watch, I really struggle understand why, after such a hard day toiling and working in the fields, they would want to dance about working and toiling in the fields.
It was quite relaxing though and we soon wandered back to our respective stilted house to get some rest.
It turned out that instead of the huge crush of a full consignment of backpackers and their hefty bags squeezing on to the minibus, there was just Matt and myself. It was pure luxury - but only while we were stationery. It also made Matt's ticket search of yesterday quite entertaining as there must have been a very patient man at the end of the phone agreeing to the same price each time.
The place may have been a restaurant-type affair but was filled with huge pieces of wood that had been carved into sculptured animals and big pieces of furniture. We sat with the driver as he investigated Matt's phone, drank tea out of tiny cups and stared at a giant wooden toad before setting off again.
The bus dropped us off at The Nature Place in Mai Chau where there were already lots of people sat having a delicious looking lunch. Matt went for quick check around a few of the MANY other homestays but nothing else stood out so we decided to stay and join them for food.
We sat with a very nice Japanese couple and found out that the group had been there on an organised tour for a couple of days but that it had been too hot for them to get up to much. We were joined by their tour guide who was a very friendly and chatty young Vietnamese woman who showed us lots of interesting photos on her phone. She had started organising photography trips for tourists around some of the more beautiful areas of the north. They were really catching on but she had trouble promoting them further or responding to requests because, even though she spoke great English, she could not read or write it.
Just before the bus set off, Matt noticed a missing wheel nut that he thought might not be so great on the twisty mountain roads. He mentioned it to the driver and he didn't care a jot so we waved goodbye to the group and hoped that they got there okay.
We wandered the village for a while and explored some of the local handicrafts that most of the houses had on sale. It was much more low pressure than we expected and in many of the places, they were too busy having their afternoon nap to even notice us.
In most of the countries that we have visited, we have spent many hours looking out of bus windows and watching them working the fields. I've often wished to be closer and see more but they are very far-removed from the bus stops in major tourist towns and difficult to get to. Even if we could get there, the idea of just strolling through while everybody toils away seemed ridiculous and rude but today, that's just what we were encouraged to do and just what we did and it was great.
Men and women of all ages wore their conical hats (sorry I don't know the name!) and maxi-cover clothes as they waded through the water-logged fields, scything, bundling, piling and carrying the harvest. Many said hello or smiled at us as we passed and none of them seemed at all annoyed that we were there.
Back at the homestay we were given such a large amount of food that we wondered if we were expected to help ourselves and pass the rest on but apparently not. A Danish guy came over and had dinner there too and he was given almost as much to himself and so we heartily tucked in, enjoying the break from noodle soup. We were also given rice wine, decanted from a 10 litre container into a 2 litre one and then served by the cupfull. They give bigger servings of tis pure ethanol brew than they do their tasty coffee.
We chatted to Toke for a while then Matt went to bed as I went with Toke to try and find the 'bonfire, music and dancing' we had been told about and encouraged to go to. After a few wrong turns down very dark paths with no torch to rely on, we finally stumbled across the only thing that resembled what had been described to us. There was no bonfire and it looked like a private show that had been put on for a tour group but we stood with the locals at the other side of a broomstick barrier and watched for a while. It was very similar to the life-based dance that we had seen so often in Asia and though it is nice to watch, I really struggle understand why, after such a hard day toiling and working in the fields, they would want to dance about working and toiling in the fields.
It was quite relaxing though and we soon wandered back to our respective stilted house to get some rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment