Back in Ha Giang

The adventure is over, and aside from a sore bum I am fine.
And it was quite the adventure.

The scenery was spectacular, beautiful mountains, the Vietnamese Alps. The climate is milder, otherwise I would have really frozen my buns off. Even at 15 it is chilly on a bike.
 As we left Ha Giang, the land was somewhat level, and there were a lot of rice padddies. This is the season where they start to plant, and lots of farmers were in the paddies, plowing, underwater, the paddies with water buffalos and wooden plows. Others were planting the rice, one plant at a time, underwater. Bending over all day long must be tough.
As we started to climb the paddies were more and more terrased into the hillsides. It must have been unbelievable carving out the terraces, but I imagine it took centuries, not years. There were also corn fields and other vegetables grown.
The most fascinating part of the trip was to see the hill tribes. They are ethnically different from the Vietnamese, and have a very basic style of living. Subsistence agriculture. At their elevation there are no animals larger than small goats. There are also a lot of chickens, and dogs. I would guess some of those dogs ends up as part of the menu. We stopped at a local market, and it was quite different from the one on Sunday. Fewer meat stalls, some goats for sale, basic grains, corn, beans, rice, vegetables and fruit, but not the selection fron further down. And junk food. There are also stalls selling clothing, and everything else you can think of.
Most of the people live in small groups of homes, up on a hillside, wooden and stone structures. No electricity, everything uses wood, for heating, for cooking. You see a lot of people along the road, carrying bundles of wood. The main mode of transportation is walking. It is too hilly for bikes, and very few can afford a motor bike.

Except for the plastic utensils I imagine this hasn't changed for a few hundred years.
The people are tiny. At the market I don't think I met anyone taller then me. And the women are about a foot shorter.
On the way back we had a great lunch. 3 egg omelet, fantastic chicken soup, rice, and even french fries. I have developed a taste for Soya sauce. Great on rice or even on french fries. 3.50 total.
We made it back to Ha Giang in the afternoon, and I rested my sore cheeks for a while. Ha Giang is a fairly large city, but I still haven't found a restaurant. I also haven't been able to have a cup of coffee for 3 days. The tea they serve here is very strong and bitter. There isn't one place in town that sells postcards, and there are some beautiful sceneries to have on a card.

The people are very polite and friendly. I haven't seen one example of yelling or screaming, or road rage. They are tidy. They sweep they front and the side walk in front of their houses. Women, pulling large carts, then collect the garbage. The problem is that there is a lot of dust, and that isn't picked up, so it is simply moved around. There is also a lot of exhaust from the bikes.
These bikes by the way are no Harley's. There are 110 cc bikes. That's what I travelled on.
The other problem is the wood fires. All along my 2 day trip there were continuous fires along the mountains. Slash and burn agriculture. Then there are the cooking fires. Even in Ha Giang the restaurants use wood fires for the cooking they do. I have seen several cases where residents burned their garbage on the sidwalk in front of their homes, on the main street in Ha Giang.
And one more note. If the Ontario Food inspectors were to hit Ha Giang, there wouldn't be ONE restaurant or market open.

Anyway, I am off on another 8 hour bus ride back to Hanoi.
Till the next time
Ralf