The Original Harmony

Hi everyone,

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted. Between finding time to use the computer and finding computers that work right it has been hard to get anything posted.

We have been having a great time in Vietnam over the past week or so. Our second day in Sapa was very interesting. Our guide met us at about 9AM to go to a village called Cat Cat outside of Sapa. The trek there was a lot easier, and mostly on very steep roads. When we got to the village we visited a Black Hmong family for a little bit. It was somewhat strange since there was really no conversation between us (our guide included) and the people who owned the house. After that our guide took us through the mountains along some cement paths and back to where we had started.

When we were in the mountains our guide pointed out a bunch of the plants that were growing along the way. She showed us tea trees that were much larger than i expected, (probably because they are not regularly harvested), indigo plants that are used to make the blue dye that most of the ethnic groups use, wild eggplant, and "poison leaf" which is sometimes used by "people who love but do not marry". She told us that the people who use poison leaf will eat one or two of the small leaves (about the size of mint or basil) and die within 15-20 minutes. Apparently the wild eggplant is also poisonous, but not as severe.

Along the way to Cat Cat we ran into a couple of our guide's friends. We had heard that these "coincidences" are often planned. The idea is that the guide’s friends befriend you and at the end of the day try to sell you whatever it is they happen to have. One of the girls did not speak English but the other spoke very good English. She and Kelly talked for quite a bit exchanging information about customs of and peculiarities about their cultures. While she and Kelly were talking I talked about similar things with our guide. Our guide's friends followed us for the rest of the trek, and when we got to the rest stop at the end we sat down with the one who spoke English and got her to talk about herself some.

She is only 16 years old, and has been selling souvenirs to tourists for 3 years. She has had no formal English training in that time, and said she learned everything she knows by listening to and talking to the tourists that came to her village. Given her competency with English this was very impressive. She said she was not very good, because she could not understand our conversations when Kelly and I talked to one another, but despite this she was one of the clearest speakers we have encountered, and had a very large vocabulary as well.

Our guide was at least equal to her friend in English but has had some formal training in school. She is 18 now and has only been a guide for 2 months, but was extremely helpful and friendly (she also saved Kelly and I more than once by stopping our uncontrolled slips and slides down the mountain). When we finally got back to the town of Sapa our guide took us to the local market where the different ethnic groups sell souvenirs to the tourists, and goods to each other. Before we went in, our guide’s friend (the one with the very good English) took Kelly aside and told her that she did have things to sell but didn't want Kelly to pass anything up if she saw something she liked.

While we were inside the market we explored the small selling area, and then our guide took us to her great aunt's stall. Her aunt was a very nice woman, and a very low pressure seller. Most of what she had was for women, so Kelly looked her goods over and picked out a traditional jacket. Since this was one of the last stalls we went to we quickly made our way out of the market trying to avoid the more high pressure hawkers.

At this point we had about 4 hours left, so our guide took us back to our hotel for lunch. We thought this would be the last we would see of our guide so we offered her a tip, which had been suggested we do. Our guide seemed very embarrassed about the offer, and discussed it with her friend for a while. They finally came to a consensus and our guide said that she would accept no more than half of what we had offered. When the money had been taken out to tip our guide, several of the women who constantly walk the streets looking for tourists to sell to had gathered around, trying to get us to buy their goods.

After we tipped our guide, Kelly wanted to tip her friend, but knew it would not be appropriate. Instead, Kelly asked what the girl had to sell. She reluctantly opened her bag (with the other ladies watching closely, but now backing off), saying that if we didn't see anything we like we didn't have to buy it. In her bag Kelly saw a very nice hand embroidered scarf. Kelly picked it up, but the girl did not seem to want to sell it. First she said that it was too expensive, and that we should look at the less expensive things she had. Kelly said it was OK if it was expensive, and asked how much she wanted. Instead of quoting a price the girl said her mother had made it to sell (and that by selling it she was doing her mother a favor) but again offered the other things she had instead of the scarf. Finally she asked what Kelly was wiling to spend. This was the first time anyone has done this, and neither of us knew how to react. Realizing our confusing she said that her mother wanted $7 for it. For what it was, it really was a good price. Kelly agreed.

Normally at this point we would have parted ways, but our guide and her friend asked if they could come back to see us off and give us their contact information so we could send them the pictures we took of them and Kelly together. This sounded fine, and we said "bye for now". Kelly and I had a quick lunch and then went back to the market to see if there was anything else we wanted. While we were there we ran into our guide and her friend. They were surprised to see us back there, but gave us their addresses then. After we exchanged addresses they asked if we would like to go somewhere else. This sounded like a good idea and we followed them up a mountain covered in various types of gardens (orchid, English, rock, etc.). They kept apologizing that it was such a foggy day and said that you could see all of Sapa when there were no clouds. Despite this we still saw some interesting plants and landscaping.

We were starting to cut it close to packing time, so we asked to be taken back to our hotel. Again we said goodbye thinking this would be the last we saw of them. However, when we were boarding our bus they came strolling down the road waving. We said our last goodbyes, and thanked them for being so helpful and nice....They were the only ones who came back to say good bye to their clients.

We took the night train back to Hanoi, and arrived with 3 hours to spare before our trip to Halong Bay. Our taxi took us straight to the travel agency, which was just opening at 5:30 in the morning. We had breakfast and then went to the bank. (A side note about banks. It is kinda funny to go to a bank and withdraw 2,000,000 and still leave 16,000,000 in your account. We would probably save the receipts even if they didn't have our full card numbers on them.)

At 8:30 a private bus took us (a group of 8 tourists) on the 3 hour ride to Halong Bay. The tour guide had us do a few ice breakers, so we could get to know one another. Kelly and I were probably the least interesting people there, the youngest, and the only unmarried couple. Two of them were from Belgium but living in Bangkok doing work for Belgians firms. Two of them were Brazilians, a judge and a lawyer. They were both from Rio, they had been together 11 years, and the woman, the judge, was only 29, but had been a judge for the past year. The last couple were retired teachers (elementary and high school) from Canada, but were teaching English at a university in China. They gave us a bunch of helpful hints for our upcoming travels.

The cruise was great. We were on one of the largest, if not the largest tourist junk in the harbor (the Dragon's Pearl). Though our tickets cost about 2 times the average price, they seemed well worth it. We have heard many stories about cruises ruined by dirty cabins, booze cruises, and noisy boats. But the extra $30 seemed to go very far if these reports are true. Our cabins were immaculate, the boat staff were very friendly, the bar closed early eliminating any possibility of a party boat, and the food...was amazing. Lunch and dinner were 9-12 course meals, and breakfast and brunch were buffets with a wide array of food. Many of the dishes were traditional, and some of the guests found them unpalatable, but i at least tried everything, and liked most of it.

The bay itself was breathtaking. If you haven't seen pictures you should look it up until i get the chance to upload the ones i took. Although it was foggy for most of the trip we still had about 1-2 mile visibility.

The entire bay is dotted with Limestone mountains called Karst. Some of these have caves, and others enclose lagoons. All have very steep sides (almost vertical) and they tower above the boat. I have no idea how high they are but i would guess at least 500 ft. on average. Our tour took us to one of the lagoons which was only reachable by dingy since we had to go through a small cave opening. The lagoon was very peaceful, and the walls were sheer. I think i was the only one to spot a brown monkey (?) darting up the side of the wall about 200 - 300 feet up.

Outside the lagoon our boat had anchored for the night. The next morning we went to an island/karst with the "amazing cave" inside of it. The cave system was huge, covered with stalactites and -mights. Many of the rock formations looked like realistic animals (lions, turtles, bears, and elephants). Unfortunately, the cave had been constantly vandalized by people collecting stalactites, though now it should be protected since it is a World Heritage Site.

Our cruise was only 2 days, so after visiting the cave we had brunch and went back to the mainland. When we got back to Hanoi we went to our hotel and dropped off our bags. Since the past few days had been so busy we decided to relax just by exploring the streets some more. Yesterday (the day after we got back) we did the same.

Today we went to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. There is very high security here (i got stopped for having my hands in my pockets), and we were rushed through rather quickly. Ho Chi Minh himself looks rather peaceful (though rather yellow in the light). I was also very impressed with the marble work in the main room housing his body.

After the mausoleum we went to The Temple of Literature founded in 1070, which became the first national university of Vietnam in 1076. There was some very interesting history here, about the best and brightest men Vietnam had to offer. They came to this university to become Doctors, experts in the Confucian ideals (politics, poetry, family management, etc.) Most of the doctors became mandarins (like government officials), but some of them went off to do other work. We read about one who became a hero for starting a private school to train other talented men.

Finally we went to the National Fine Arts Museum. The works here were the best we have seen all trip (at least in my opinion). There was stone and wood carvings; lacquer, silk, oil, watercolor paintings, pastel and pencil drawings, and wood and metal etchings. I was very impressed.

Well that's all for now. Someone would like the computer and i have used it long enough.

Also, Kelly heard from UCSB, they have admitted her. Stanford wants to interview me. They have narrowed it down to a group of finalists, which they will then accept 5 people from. Fingers crossed.

-Tim

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 15, 2006 at 11:01 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.