Tuesday 29 April
Another chapter of our Vietnam odyssey started this morning when we packed our weekend bags and headed west towards Mai Chau which is about 140 km away. Together with us is Khoa who will be our guide for the rest of our trip. It took a long time to get out of Hanoi as the traffic was very heavy. The roads were busy all the way with lots of trucks and coaches overtaking in situations where we would not dream of doing it, but we have a very good chauffeur and every time we travel from now on it will be with the same car and the same chauffeur. Also in this area there are stalls all along the roads and you see people trading, talking or maybe eating in front of the stalls. We had a long way ahead of us and we just sat and tried to take it all in. After about one hour’s driving we could see mountains in the distance. It seems they just grow out of the ground – they are not very high but very decorative and there are many of them. Because of the mist it looks like a fairyland when you see them in the distance one behind the other. It is a very beautiful area and we had to pass mountain passes before we reached our first destination after about 4 hours’ drive. Henning had arranged a visit to a school and they were really waiting for us as school would finish when we had been there and the next two days were a holiday.
The holiday is to celebrate the anniversary of the reunion of Vietnam which is tomorrow and the next day is the first of May which they also celebrate in Vietnam. We got the chance to see some of the classes and also to speak to the pupils. The English teacher was very eager that I should talk to his pupils and I tried to speak to some of them but they were shy and maybe they did not understand much English. We were invited to have tea and fruit in the teachers’ room and had a chance to speak to the teachers before we went on to Ban Lac where we are going to stay with the two sisters we know from Hoi An – Thu and Hoa. We will be staying at Hoa’s lodge where we will sleep on the first floor. The floor is made of bamboo and we are going to sleep on the floor on a mattress and it all looks very nice. A delicious lunch was ready for us when we arrived and afterwards we walked trough the village to say hello to Thu. She is a weaver - like many others in the village. We saw her loom and also saw her weave on it and afterwards we saw her house, had a drink – again on the first floor - ( bamboo ) - we sat on cushions on the floor –we had rice wine, green tea and some fruit before we returned to Hoa’s house. It is very nice to see them both again. We had hired bicycles and now was the time for a ride which brought us further into this beautiful valley. It is almost like driving into a postcard with the most beautiful picture from Vietnam.
There are rice fields, misty mountains and women working in the fields here and there with the traditional straw hats on. The sounds, the heat, smiling people ready to say hello and children who seem to be overjoyed when they see us. We stopped by a kindergarten and the children literally cackled of joy when they saw us and wanted to take our hands. It is late in the afternoon now and I am at an internet café together with Rigmor. The machines are working and we have to be at home by 6 o’clock where some of the things we have brought with us will be given to children from the village.
At 8 o’clock there is dinner which we shall eat outside of course! Afterwards we can go upstairs where there is a balcony. We have come to a very different place and we do enjoy it!
Wednesday 30 April
The night on the bamboo floor with two thin mattresses and a mosquito net went well. We were surprised how cool it was and most of us had a good night’s sleep. After a cold shower and a nice breakfast we got ready to examine this beautiful valley further. We left at nine o’clock and returned at half past eleven. It turned out to be quite a hard bicycle ride. Most of the time we cycled on small clay paths like yesterday, but many of the paths were very uneven and with many stones so all the time we had to be careful. It is a holiday today - the reunion day - but on our way we passed a brick yard where nobody celebrated the holiday. Khoa explained how they were filling up a big barn with bricks that they would afterwards burn. Then there would be no work for some days until the bricks were burned and cooled down. After that they would build a new barn for a new baking of bricks. When there is no more clay in the area they simply move to somewhere else. He also told us that a worker can earn about 25 kr. a day and although it was hard work there were also quite a few women working there. When I think back on today’s trip I have many different pictures in my mind – a man with a very big bamboo tree on his bike – not a stick like at home, but a real tree!! – A girl sitting by a rice field with her needlework – people at their houses with a stall full of fresh meat – and it is hot today! But also children bathing in a lake crying and waving at us – Lots of dogs everywhere, asleep in the shadow. I suppose they are unaware that one day they will be slaughtered! I have asked Khoa if he thinks that we have had dog while we have been here, but he thinks not because dog meat is a delicacy so we would be told if we had it. We also saw many people driving very fast on their mopeds beeping impatiently at us. It was a long and nice, but rather tiring ride so it was nice to get back and see the lunch table laid. Hoa makes some delicious food that we enjoy very much. While we were eating Khoa came and offered us a speciality – grilled cockroach. Most of us took one and also ate it – not a delicacy if you ask me but Finn told us that they are very nourishing.
After lunch we needed to rest so everybody crept under their mosquito net and had an after dinner nap. At three o’clock we went out on our bikes again. This time the paths were better and we could enjoy the stillness and the simple life we saw around us. Earlier today when we were on the balcony I watched a man who was driving his three cows home from the field. I could see him for about half an hour while the cows went this way, the other way and down a ditch. He was just there, waiting and taking it easy, dreaming, thinking ….. After supper we shall visit Thu where a group of White Thais will come and perform their traditional dancing. I expect we will end the evening on our balcony where we can enjoy the warm night, the fireflies and the singing of the cicadas before we hide under our mosquito nets.
