Rice fields

Once in YangShuo, we board a boat for a cruise on the Li River which has some of the most beautiful, breathtaking views of anywhere on earth.

Li River

Li River

We return to West Street for some really excellent shopping. Here it is before the tourists arrived.

One of the other places we go when we visit Guilin is Longsheng where we see the rice terraces and two groups who are counted among China’s 55 ethnic minority people.

Here we see one of the Yao women, known for their long hair, demonstrating how she piles her floor-length hair on top of her head!

Come join us on this or one of our other fabulous trips!

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Until then, how about some pictures of one of my favorite sights, a rice field! This one is in the village of Pho, not far from Bac Ha.

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You can find our itinerary here

and read about the tour here and here

Vietnam and Cambodia are photographers’ paradises. I am including just a few more photos, but I could have easily added another 50. Please come and join us on this fantastic tour!

My email is drsavta@gmail.com

Inside the grounds of the Temple of Literature

Traffic in downtown Hanoi

Walking beside rice terraces in the north

Girls talking in the market

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Early Sunday morning we packed up and left the hotel. We set out for Bac Ha, about 3 hours away, where the largest market for the ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam is located. We drove along roads that had huts and banana plants and rice terraces and lots of lots of life as people walked and biked along the roads. Children played outside. Older children in their school uniforms walked or rode bikes to school. It is a country on the move.

The market at Bac Ha is a place to buy all sorts of things. Local people come there to buy clothing, linens, sewing supplies, hardware, fruits, vegetables, fish (mostly dried), nuts, noodles, and meat– pretty much everything. They socialize and there is a festive atmosphere. They also buy that most famous household pet: the water buffalo.

Buying water buffalo in Bac Ha

Water buffalo are, of course, very valuable because they are the closest that most people get to mechanized farming equipment in most of Vietnam– actually in most of the far east. The water buffalo are domesticated and very gentle and friendly.

It was interesting to see lots of combinations of traditional and contemporary. We saw girls in native dress checking their mobile phones.

Looking for messages

We saw people walking around wearing their motorcycle helmets.

Pink helmet-- and Flower Hmong dress

We looked for interesting things to buy. We found silk sleeping bags– small pouches made of silk with a sheet inside that one could crawl into with an attached pillow cover. We found belts with zippers that when zipped up became small purses. We bought them from a little girl who was fascinated with my husband’s beard and with a big smile took out a comb and attempted to comb it!

Combing Aaron's beard

As we walked through the market, we saw our travelers walking too, smiling and enjoying the sights and sounds. There are more pictures of this market in this post. It was a feast for the eyes.

After our experience there, we got on the bus and went to a local village. More about that next time when we answer these questions: Why can’t we simply say the name of the village? What does a normal kitchen in the village look like? and most important… what is the special significance in this village of the phrase “and a little child shall lead them”?

To continue the adventure, click here

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We arrived in SaPa at the Chau Long Hotel. The hotel has a feel not unlike that of a German or Swiss ski lodge. There’s a fireplace that usually has a burning fire in it and we are usually greeted with hot apple tea. Of course, since our bus arrived a good half hour behind the first bus, the tea was already fairly cold, but the fire was burning and there was a lovely ambiance. It didn’t hurt that the clock display behind the desk had the time for Tel Aviv labeled on one of its 5 clocks.

Our travelers got their room keys and settled in while we checked out the kitchen and the room in which we would eat during the time we were there. We quickly unpacked the food that needed refrigeration and placed it in sealed bags in their fridge. I went with our local guide to the market to buy another big pot for cooking the cholent – a bean stew dish that is cooked on low heat for about 24 hours and is traditionally eaten on shabbat– (our other pot had a lid that was bent and loose) and a wok. Then I returned and washed the beans we had brought from Israel and started them soaking in the cholent pot. I went upstairs to the kitchen to retrieve our plata (hotplate) and the person in charge said to me, “No cook in room.” I thought she meant that the cook was not in the kitchen, but upon reflection, I realized she was saying that they would not allow us to cook in our room. On our two previous trips, the hotel had not allowed us to leave the hotplate plugged in continuously in the kitchen so the guides had taken the hotplate into their rooms and had the cholent cook there. She was saying that I would not be permitted to cook it in our room. Just as I was ready to object, she told me that they would plug it into the wall on their serving table in the dining room and leave it plugged in all night. And that is what they did. Later in the day, they diced all sorts of vegetables that we added to the beans and barley and then we added some soy protein in chunks that we had brought from Israel that were very reminiscent of meat. With everything added, the pot was full to the brim. We covered it with a towel and checked on it a few times both on Friday night and on Saturday and they were true to their word. No one touched anything and the cholent was excellent– but I am getting ahead of myself.

We had a decision to make. Since it was raining, I told the local guide that I would prefer to go to the village that was on level ground rather than the one that was down a long muddy hill. She said that she had checked and that the monsoon rains had washed out the bridge between SaPa and the village I wanted to visit. So, there wasn’t a decision to be made at all. To the mud!!

We boarded the two mini-vans and headed to the village of Ta Van. Ta Van is a beautiful and interesting place with lots to see. We drove in the rain, more than once crossing torrents of water that were flowing from the mountains on one side across the road and down to the valley on the other side. Often there were no shoulders or guardrails. But we made it safely.

Our vans parked and the village ladies were happy to greet us and accompany us on our walk down their road to the village.

Some of the ladies were wearing galoshes. Some were wearing sandals. Our people were mostly wearing sports shoes. I was wearing crocs. What all of us really needed were skis. The road was very very slippery. There was precious little to walk on that would give one traction or stop the forward motion of the feet. There was a little grass on the edges in some places and a few rocks, but basically it was walk and hope that the little ladies and older teens that were holding onto our elbows would be able to steady us. Fortunately, no one fell (my greatest fear.) Two years ago, only one person fell and my coat is none the better for it. Uh, yes, I must confess I am not graceful, but at least I didn’t hurt myself…

Walking down the muddy road

The village was very picturesque, although not beautiful in the purest sense of the word. It was exactly the way it needed to be for people to live in it and to earn enough to have food and clothing. They also made money selling their handicrafts to visitors, many of whom felt indebted to them for steadying them on the muddy roads and paths.

Villager walking on road with rice terraces in the background

Some of our travelers took magnificent photos of some of the people. I concentrated on the animal kingdom. Here are some other inhabitants.

Mr. Water Buffalo (aka John Deere)

Ducks!

We saw the regional school where children from other villages also study and where they dorm during the week. It was a lovely, pastoral walk. As we made our way back to the entrance to the village, that road that we had descended loomed in front of us. Our local guide had called the smaller van to come and pick up our people, but it became mired in the mud, even as one by one people got off the van. Even with only the driver aboard, the van was stuck. With no alternative, we started up the road. When we came to a small building with a 4-wheel-drive car parked outside, I asked the local guide if she would find the owner and ask him if he would take us up the hill for a fee. He agreed and in two trips, he took those of us who were at the back of the group. His vehicle was filled with mud from our shoes, but I suppose he was used to it.

Ww boarded the larger of the mini-vans and headed back to SaPa. When we got back to the hotel, we were pleased to find out that the hotel will clean shoes free of charge and my travelers tell me that they did a fantastic job!

It was time to relax and prepare for shabbat. And what a shabbat it was! In a word: Perfect!

All about it next time…

Continue the adventure here

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But words do not do them justice.

A woman tends the rice terraces

Breathtaking!

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All the rice that will be planted at the same time is started in a large clump, somewhere in the field. When those rice seedlings become mature enough to be transplanted, they are planted in perfect rows. In China and in Vietnam, virtually all of the work or rice production is done by hand and during both planting and harvesting season, the fields are filled with workers. The rows they plant are amazingly straight and perfectly spaced. The seedlings are planted in water that shimmers under their beautiful green stalks. As they develop the rice seeds, the fields turn a magnificent yellow/green. Even at harvest time, the fields are picturesque as the dry stalks are gathered.

Here are some pictures to enjoy.

Rice field near Guilin, China

Harvest time, October

Rice fields with Karst mountains in background

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Rice is produced in several areas of Vietnam. There are two main river deltas: the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta. Both of these have fertile soil in which rice is grown. In fact, one way of conceptualizing Vietnam is as one of those poles with buckets on both sides. In the northeast, the rice bucket is the Red River Delta and in the south, it is the Mekong Delta. However, in addition to those two regions, rice is also grown in the mountainous areas of the north. As in China, the terraces are carved into the mountains as if by artists. These terraces are planted by hand and then flooded with water until the rice is sufficiently mature to be picked. In Vietnam, as in China, rice production is not yet mechanized.

Here is one picture:

Rice Terraces near SaPa

This picture was taken in the morning as the valley was filled with sun. On this tour, we had two groups traveling together, mine, an English speaking group and Rita’s, a French speaking group. In this picture you see me and Rita– what she lacks in height, she more than makes up for in personality and warmth!

Rita and Rona near SaPa

Coming up: Some pictures from villages of minority groups in the SaPa area.

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