Sarah in Hanoi: October 2011

Here's another post that I wrote for our class blog. Hope you like it.

As the woman absentmindedly hacks away at golden rice stalks, glassy beads of sweat drip down her brow. She stands up abruptly, grimacing as the muscles in her leg begin to cramp. The baby strapped to her back is startled by his mother's sudden change of position. He moans softly as he arises from his slumber. The woman coos to her young child, urging him to return to blissful unawareness.

The woman looks out into the valley below. The quilt of the countryside is an uneven patchwork of yellow and green. Across the valley, a thick morning fog spills over the peaks of the mountains and washes over the land. The fog attempts to preserve the stillness of the morning, but racket from a village shatters the fragile peace. Dogs bark and children yelp; a new day has begun.

The woman can taste the salt of her sweat, and yearns for water. Nearby, an apathetic water buffalo noisily chomps on weeds. He shakes his head back and forth, warding off buzzing flies, and the bell around his thick neck gently rings. The water buffalo's young calf peers out from behind his mother's legs, flicking his tail nonchalantly.

Hearing movement above her, the woman turns around to see a young man and woman hurrying down the muddy hillside. Lugging massive bags of dried rice on their backs, they struggle to maintain their balance. As they pass, the woman greets them: Hello little brother, hello little sister. The man does not take his eyes of his feet as he responds: Rain. He and the young woman rush by.

The clouds are churning in the sky above, threatening to drench the countryside. Frightened by the tension in the air, the baby whimpers. The young calf empathizes, bellowing deeply. A single drop of water hits the woman's arm, warning her to flee. The woman rushes down the hillside, trailing behind the young man and woman. Soon enough, the sky tears open.

The morning commotion which the fog failed to mute are beaten down by the relentless rain. Nothing escapes the fury of the rain.

This past week, our group took our first week long trip to Sapa and Ha Long Bay. It was an incredible experience. Sapa is a town originally built by the French as a resort town in the mountains of Northern Vietnam. The view of the valley and lime green rice paddies below was absolutely breathtaking. Surrounding Sapa, there are many smaller villages run by thousand year old tribes who grow all the food that they eat. Exploring Sapa and the surrounding villages turned out to be extremely intriguing and captivating. Take a look:

The view from our hotel

Sapa from the hotel balcony

On the way up to another view point..

Woo, Me, Annaleah at a viewpoint overlooking Sapa

The most delicious purple sweet potato that I've ever eaten. I bought this off the street, after a recommendation from Vuong, for 25 cents.

A friendly dung beetle

We Spent one afternoon walking to a small Village called Cat Cat. The Black Hmong people live in Cat Cat.

A cow protects her young calf.

Children play along the side of the road

Handmade toys by the Black Hmong

A young boy stands precariously close to the edge

A Hmong woman outside her home

Children ran about, stopping to pose for a few photos for me along the way

Cloth woven of hemp and dyed with indigo by the Black Hmong women

There was an abundance of puppies running around Cat Cat.

A few young faces of Cat Cat..

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Indigo dye

The next day, we trekked to another village, where we had the opportunity to meet women of another tribe, the Red Dzao. In this village, we had the opportunity to harvest rice alongside the women. It was backbreaking work. At the end of this day, my respect for the women was immense. My back and legs were aching for days afterwards. It's hard to believe that the women do this for their entire life, often times with a baby strapped onto their back. It was a

As soon as we stepped off the bus, the women crowded around us, eager to become our friends so we would be more inclined to buy their beautiful handmade goods.

A woman in traditional Red Dzao clothing smiled as I snapped a picture of her and her four month old child.

A 73 year old woman walked alongside us to the rice paddies. She told me about her family: 6 children, 4 grandchildren so far. Big families are well respected and desired in the tribal cultures.

Men, having already picked and dried the rice, thrash it against their wooden cart to remove the rice seeds. This technique is extremely inefficient, as many of the rice seeds are lost in the process. Although machines have been invented to make the rice thrashing much easier and more efficient, it is too expensive for the villagers.

Each family in the village grows their rice on a plot of the land that may or may not have been in their family's possession for hundreds or even thousands of years. The people of this village never sell the rice that they harvest. The only source of income they have comes from tourism and selling animal meat and vegetables from small private gardens.

A home

Plastic flip flops, worn by young and old, rich and poor across Vietnam

A woman and her grandson

Children

Rice!

Ha Long Bay was a completely different world than Sapa. One of the most sought after tourists attractions in Vietnam, Ha Long Bay is a striking body of water in Northern Vietnam which has massive limestone formations that look like something out of Star Wars.

Along the way to Ha Long Bay, we stopped at an ancient buddhist temple. It was very peaceful and serene. While we were there, we had the opportunity the speak with an 83 year old monk. He was one of the happiest, most balanced people I have ever met. His smile was heartwarming and bright. He took the time to teach us how to meditate. Meditation was something I always considered to be impossible. But the longer I sat on the floor in lotus position with this kind hearted old man, the more I began to realize that meditation is not impossible. In fact, it was quite calming, yet reenergizing to attempt to clear my mind.

Buddhism teaches that anyone has the opportunity to become enlightened. Meditation is necessary to becoming enlightened. The symbol of Buddhism is the lotus flower because it can grow beautiful and sweet smelling even in muddy conditions, and all parts of it are useful (the stem can be eaten, rice can be wrapped in the leaves, etc). A person should grow and live like the lotus flower. Buddhism emphasizes letting go of wants and desires, and living simply and happily.

While at the temple, we had the incredibly opportunity to eat lunch with the monks. We at our vegetarian meal in absolute silence, as the monks do everyday.

Here are a few pictures from the temple..

Incense

Then, after a few more hours of driving, we finally arrived at Ha Long Bay! Antsy and impatient from driving all day, my friends Jaya, Julia, and I decided to take a walk down to the Bay. Soon, we stumbled upon a little floating house down a long rickety board walk. Feeling adventurous, we ventured out onto the dock. Soon enough, some people were waving us over, offering us a ride our their little row boat. We jumped right on in, and a young man and his friend rowed us along the shore of Ha Long.

The little house/dock!

Jaya, laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Is hopping onto a small, broken down row boat with water seeping into the bottom with two strangers really a good idea?

Julia thought she'd try rowing the boat

Posing for a picture with our new friend.

The front of our boat. Safe?

Believe it or not, people actually live in floating villages out on the water.

The next morning, we set out on a bigger, safer boat with the whole group to go cruising around Ha Long. Our first stop was at one of the huge limestone formations, where a massive cave has formed inside. Despite the tacky colorful lights, the caves were quite spectacular.

The Bay!

We made a quick stop at a small floating village to pick up some fresh fish for lunch. The fishermen sell the fish that they catch to the floating villages, where they keep the fish alive and fatten them up for hungry tourists like us.