Sapa - Day 3

We arrived at the station in Lao Cai at around 6 am and had 1 1/2 hour drive to Sapa. Sapa is Northwest market town located about 10km South of the China border. It is a town surrounded by the Tonkines Alps with Mt. Fansipan, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia within walking distance. This market town relies heavily on its own rice paddies and terraces to feed its people, mostly made up of the hill tribes who live in Sapa.

In the early 1900's Sapa was a holiday spot for the French colonists. In the 1950's it was retaken by the Vietnamese and then bombed by the French during the War. Unique to Sapa are its hill tribes which are considered by the Vietnamese "ethnic minorities" Some tribes have lived here for thousands of years while others have arrived within the last 50 years. The tribes have immigrated from Tibet, Burma, Laos and China. During the Vietnam War, the Americans and Vietnamese fought to have the hill tribes as their allies.

Our hotel was the Victoria Hotel set upon the hill in the town. The hotel was beautiful with lush greenery and lodge type rooms. The resort overlooked the town with the mountains in the background.

As we started our walking tour to visit Cat Cat (waterfall in French), we were joined by about 6 women from the Black H'mong Tribe. Dressed in indigo-dyed clothing, silver hoop earrings and a multitude of bracelets and necklaces, these women followed us for about 2-3 hours in a walk to and through their village in hopes of us purchasing their handmade goods. They spoke fairly good English. The women in the H'mong tribe work hard - 1 day making their goods, 1 day selling and 1 day farming and then they repeat the cycle. Women are generally married at 15 or 16 and have children. There are many traditions they follow. They are persistent in selling their goods. One woman walked the entire trek with her 2 years old strapped to her back. Their living conditions are very basic and they depend on the rice harvest to keep them fed throughout the year. A common conversation with a hill tribe woman would be "you - me - we friends. You buy from me? You buy from me later, right?" You had no problem with buying from them as they befriended you, the only problem being that 3 women befriended Jim and 3 me and they all want you to buy similar good!! They got quite upset when you bought from another! We attended a concert where the young adults where putting on a dance performance. Allison and Kristin were invited up on stage to dance with them , it was very fun and exciting for all of us! We saw the waterfall for which Cat Cat is named. There were water buffalo, pigs and chickens randomly wandering around the entire valley. The water buffalo presumably know where "home" is so no one has issue with taking anyone else's water buffalo which is essential in harvesting the land. The rice paddies and terraces are everywhere you look - it is amazing. The government of Vietnam allots families in the hill tribes parcels of land free of charge to harvest and maintain. Each family has a plot of land that once harvested should provide enough rice to get them through the year. They also eat corn, which hangs from the rafters of their homes and meat from the local markets.

We had the opportunity to see a performance given by the local teenagers who were playing music on native instruments and dancing with the music. Both boys and girls were dancing and telling stories through their dance. They invited Allison and Kristin up to dance as they pounded long bamboo sticks to a beat across the stage. They then dance between the bamboo. The girls did great and both the girls and the performers enjoyed the interaction. As we continued through the valley we saw local homes, men plowing the rice fields and the corn being made into grain. What amazed us the most was how ancient their farming techniques were and no one had given them instruction on how to modernize. Everything they do requires human driven labor, not machine.

We went back after a long day of hiking and rested for awhile as we were quite tired from the train ride the night before. Kristin was not feeling great but we all headed out to dinner. At the start of dinner, Kristin needed to go back to the room to sleep, she was exhausted. Sapa is a small town, but a hilly one so I wasn't sure she would make it back on foot. Our tour guide, Nam, who was eating with us, hailed a motorcycle taxi and off Kristin and I went. The driver, Kristin and I on a motorbike up to the hotel - it was quite an adventure and actually was fun! Kristin initially was a bit nervous but was all excited once we got going! We were all ready for a great night of sleep in cool weather and to rest for the next day's hike.

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 2

Hanoi is one of the most bustling cities I have ever visited. A highlight at the end today was sitting in the Highlands Cafe, in the center of the city, watching the action unfold. The motorbike scene is like nothing we have ever seen - no rules of the road, drivers drive in any direction and turn whenever they want. 2 or 3 people could be on a bike at once. They go through red lights, don't stop for pedestrians but slow down as you cross the street, you feel like you are just waiting to be hit. The way to cross is to walk slow and the motorbikes drive around you!

Vietnam is heavily influenced by the countries that have occupied it over its history. The Chinese ruled the country from 179 BC - 938 AD and the French from 1896-1954. The Chinese and French influences are very apparent in the architecture around the city. The Russian influence appeared when we visited Ho-Chi Minh mausoleum, modeled after Lenin's tomb.

The Temple of Literature and National University was the first stop of the morning. The temple was built in 1070 to worship Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher. The three buildings and courtyards are examples of Chinese architecture. On site are stone diplomas bearing the names of students who passed the examinations to become doctor laureates. We next visited Hoan Kiem Lake which is in the center of Hanoi and divides the French Quarter and the Old Quarter. A great myth surrounding the lake is the Legend of the Lake of the Recovered Sword. As legend goes a magical sword was given to the emperor in the mid -15th century to defeat the Chinese invaders. While the emperor was boating on the lake a giant tortoise snatched the sword away from him returning it to its rightful place and bringing peace to the land. The tortoise has symbolic significance in Vietnam and is seen over and over again in sculpture and art. We crossed the Bridge of the Rising Sun, a bright red bridge that takes you from the area around the lake to the Pagoda, a working temple. The whole area has a very Chinese feel from the bridge to the Temple.

After lunch we embarked on our journey to see and learn about the life of their revered leader Ho -Chi Minh. Ho-Chi Minh was a communist leader and statesman whose dream was to unite North and South Vietnam. Born in 1890 and living until 1969, Ho Chi Minh is a hero in Vietnam. He was influenced by the Russians and his Mausoleum reflects that relationship as it is built in Russian style architecture. The building is cold and dark in nature. He is one of only two individuals in the World to be embalmed, the other being Lenin. The Vietnamese government pays large sums to keep him embalmed and annually his body is sent to Russia for 2 months for "body maintenance". Despite his status while alive, Ho Chi Minh lived a simple existence with little to no luxuries. The two homes where he resided during his tenure as Prime Minister and President, are preserved. The first very simple in nature and shows the life of a solitary man. The second is in keeping with the hill tribe housing which he lived in the Northern hills in hiding during turbulent times. The museum built in his honor is like no other museum I have ever been to. The layout itself is an artistic masterpiece displaying facts about his life in an unusual manner. An example would be the display of gifts given to Ho Chi Minh during his rule. The large circular area is laid out like a giant lotus leaf and each petal houses a different gift. It is quite spectacular.

The street shops around the city are unbelievable due to the sheer volume of goods and the people surrounding the area. Hang Dau Street is a street lined with stores selling shoes, more shoes that you have ever seen in one place. The same goes for handbags - Prada and Gucci knockoffs, backpacks (North face supposedly) and accessories. Hang Gai Street is lined with a mix of silk stores, clothing and art galleries.

After dinner we boarded the night train for Sapa, a village about 7 hours Northwest of Hanoi. The Victoria Train has small but beautiful wood paneled sleeper cars for 4. The girls took the top bunks, Jim and I the bottom beds and we set off on a great but very bumpy adventure North.

Hanoi, Vietnam - Day 1

On March 21, 2009 we headed to Vietnam to visit Hanoi, Sapa and Halong Bay. All these cities are located in North Vietnam. Hanoi is the Capital of Vietnam and means "bend in the river" as the city is located on the Red River which comes down from China and runs through the city. Hanoi became the Capital in 1010, so they are planning a big 1000 year celebration in 2010. Vietnam has many influences having been ruled by the Chinese and French and politically guided by the Russians. The French took control of Hanoi in 1888 until 1954 and portions of the city's architecture has a French influence. The population is about 3.5 million people with about 2/3 of the people using a motorbike as their primary mode of transportation. It is organized chaos like you have never seen! There are no road rules so drivers of motorbikes and cars drive in every lane, every direction, turn from anywhere they want - it is unbelievable!! You don't go a minute without hearing honking from a car or motorbike as honking is viewed as a reminder to others that you are approaching rather than an angry motorist.

On our first day we visited the Hoa Lo Prison, known to us as the Hanoi Hilton - the prison that housed US airman during the Vietnam War. It is located in the French Quarter of the city. It was built and opened by the French in 1896 to imprison anti-colonial movements. There were many Vietnamese patriots and revolutionaries imprisoned there by the French during their occupation. Vietnam became liberated in 1954 and the prison housed American pilots from August 1964-March 1973. There is a section dedicated to the American Pilots that includes many of their personal belongings such as clothing (even John McCain's Fighter Pilot suit), photos of them being captured from their planes, Everett Alvarez's belongings (first US pilot shot down and captured). The propaganda is unbelievable. A plaque is posted with regards to the treatment of the US pilots stating " During the war, the National Economy was difficult but the Vietnamese Government had created the best living conditions to US pilots for they had a stable life during the temporary detention period". There are pictures of US serviceman decorating xmas trees, making dinner, playing basketball, laughing etc... We met a woman there who good friend's husband was a prisoner there for 6+ years. She said he talked mostly of the tapping on the walls to communicate with fellow serviceman, not any of the "parties" shown in the pictures. In John McCain's book he writes of similar situations and stated that they would take them out of their cells to photograph them having a normal living situation but that was not the reality. The cells were small and dark and the building that remains today is about 1/3 of the actual prison as the rest of it has been torn down for office buildings.

The visit was very interesting and the Vietnamese like the Americans suffered greatly at the prison. The original guillotine is displayed that was used by the French against Vietnamese activists. Admission to the museum was 5,000 dong - 17,000 dong = 1 USD. The Vietnamese accept the US dollar as much if not more than the Vietnamese Dong. Many of the items we purchased were listed in US dollars.

Flat Stanley comes to Singapore, vacations in Vietnam

Flat Stanley came to visit us in March. Kristin's friend Clare Hoult sent Flat Stanley to us. Flat Stanley had the great opportunity of visiting SAS - Singapore American School and then heading to Changi Airport to vacation in Vietnam. While there Flat Stanley had the opportunity to visit Hanoi and sit with Budda and see Confucius. The Buddah smiled down very favorable on Flat Stanley!! He rode on the cyclo ride around the streets of Hanoi, undoubtedly some of the busiest streets in the World and helped pick out a Vietnamese hat. Flat Stanley boarded the night train to go to Sapa, a town in the far Northwest corner of Vietnam. While on the train he enjoyed a serving of Creme Brulee in the Dining Car. A highlight of his trip was meeting the hill tribe women of Sapa. In his photo, he is visiting with a member of the Red Dao (pronounced Zao) tribe. These women live in the hills of Sapa - they make their own goods and harvest the rice fields in Oct/Nov. Flat Stanley needed to rest and found a great spot in the teeth of a white dragon!! Flat Stanley's last stop before heading home was Halong Bay where he visited the Surprise Cave - a huge rock formation with many caves inside. We made sure that he had a life preserver in case he thought about jumping overboard!! Flat Stanley will be headed back to the United States on March 30 and hopefully will make it back to Clare's classroom by April 6. We enjoyed our time with Flat Stanley and wish him many more safe and exciting travels!!

Bali, Indonesia

On January 25 we left for a short vacation to Bali, Indonesia. Bali is an Indonesia island which is strongly influenced by Indian and Chinese culture. The island is inhabited with a population of 3,151,000 people. The majority of Bali's population are Hindu whereas Indonesia as whole follows Islam. Tourism is the leading industry making it one of Indonesians wealthiest regions. The island is known for its arts - batik and ikat cloth, wood carvings, stone carvings , painting and music. While tourism is the money maker, agriculture is the largest employer in the region with the rice being the biggest industry. There is also coffee production , small amounts of fruits and vegetables and fishing.

Being there for only a short period we tried to balance fun with seeing the sights. The first full day we went white water rafting. We donned our gear, life vests, helmets and oars and set out for an 2 hour ride along the Telaga Waja River with our guide. We quickly learned the appropriate lingo and got the hang of going through the rapids after a few episodes of being hung up on the rocks! Our guide was quite the comedian constantly stopping short and flying us about in the boat. We ended our ride with a lunch on the river. Upon leaving the area we were bombarded with people trying to sell us goods. The goods ranged from small wood carvings to t-shirts and the people were relentless. Jim bought one t-shirt only to be pegged as someone who would buy and was immediately followed and almost harassed by another peddler. She followed him up 200 steps in an attempt to get him to purchase another t-shirt. She kept coming down in the price as he told her had no more money. If you can picture her walking up the steps, speaking Balinese/English chasing him down while carrying 20-30 more tshirts on her head, it was quite a sight!!

That evening we went to dinner at a fantastic restaurant with our friends, the Bartons. It was about an hour car ride away as everything in Bali is fairly spread out. The restaurant was on a plateau overlooking the ocean and rice fields. We arrived in time to catch a beautiful Balinese sunset and once set it started to rain so we ate in a semi covered area and had a meal of fresh fish. There was a local band there serenading all the tables. It was as if they were imitating the Beatles - it was really fun! After dinner, the rain stopped and we had a drink while listening to water crash upon the shore.

The next day we had a day of site seeing planned. We piled the kids - Allison, Kristin, Noah and George - and 4 adults - Jim, Jeff, Susan and myself with a driver, who charged $35 for the day , into a SUV and off we went. He first took us to the Batik making center. Batik is a traditional style of weaving, using a loom and hand dyed fabrics. Their were woman set up with their looms as well as women doing hand painted pictures on fabric using hot wax. Batik pieces are passed down through family generations. There are certain tribes that know that art of Batik making, and generally the girls start learning the process around the age of 13. What is produced ranges from simple shirts, dresses, boxes to large framed pieces. It is quite an industry for the people creating them. We next went to a silver shop where they make jewelry. Most of the silver and gold is imported by they do all the art work. As with any industry in Bali, the sales people follow you around the store and if you show the slightest bit of interest the bargaining begins. You have to be able to walk away if you want to bargain them down otherwise they are full of reasons why the price is firm. Bargaining is definitely an art that you get better at with experience.

We next went to lunch at a beautiful restaurant that overlooked rice fields. The rice fields are absolutely beautiful and I have whole new respect for every grain of rice I eat! It is an enormous amount of work and the individuals harvesting the rice are all ages. There quite a few older men and women in the fields in the heat picking the rice. We then all piled back into the car and headed out for the wood carving store.

Wood carving is a speciality in Bali. The store has magnificent pieces, some enormous and some as simple as a recorder. At the front entrance the artist were there carving the wood and it is really quite a process. It was amazing to watch them work the wood and see the end results of what could be created. The compound where the store was housed family homes as well. There was a temple in the middle that was quite a site - large golden figurines. Obviously this was a well to do family who had more solid structures than the home we had previously viewed. The artwork was amazing and we walked away with a piece that depicted the Indonesian version of Romeo and Juliet. In their version the ending is a happy one and they end up together!

Our guide then took us to a typical Balinese home. Individuals let tourist see their homes as a way to get money. When entered into an open space or large compound area that housed about 4 huts. Two huts were sleeping quarters, another a kitchen , one was an open bed that was used only when someone passed away and displayed the body. Each hut was raised off the ground and had thatched roofing which is said to last about 30 years. The kitchen was very basic with no refrigeration, no electricity. The woman start cooking in the morning on a wood burning stove and food is kept for 48 hours and then discarded. Each compound has its own temple for which the family prays to the Gods and pays homage to its ancestors. The compound had a well for water, pigs, chickens and 2 porcupines which had been captured because it had been eating the rice in the fields and were housed and fed. They had certain chickens that were kept in cages for chicken fighting which is a ritual for them. There was no plumbing on the grounds. The compounds are passed down through generations and house members of the family as the family grows. Men stay at their compounds and women , upon marriage, move in with the men's family.

Our next stop of the day was an art gallery. It had local painters in the front of the shop creating art, drawing and painting. The art ranged in size and style. Some were still life paintings, others very modern depictions. the gallery went on and on in every direction. It was almost so overwhelming the number of painting that it was difficult to decide on what caught you eye. We picked up a painting for friends of our back in Singapore that they had seen in the works when they were last in Bali that was now completed. The artist was there working on another piece, it was fun to be able to see the artists at work.

Our final stop of the day was the Monkey Forest. Monkeys in Indonesia are considered to be sacred animals. The forest is an actual preservation site in which researchers are able to study the monkeys behavior within their habitat. That being said the monkeys are very attuned to the humans and that humans bring food and therefore are fairly forward in approaching humans. Jim, Allison and Kristin all had a monkey climb up on their shoulders and heads in order to get food! Once there, they were fairly comfortable and unfazed to be sitting on them! It is unbelievable how many monkeys there are - thousands! Big, small, young and old - could be the makings for a Dr. Seuss book! It was quite a site and the monkeys just roam around looking for any food you have to offer.

Our final day in Bali was a pool day at the resort. We really needed to build a little more of this into our stay as the sight seeing and the time spend in the car was tiring. The girls loved the pool and the pool bar was really fun!

Bali overall was a nice getaway. It was very different than I had envisioned as I think it is often painted as paradise. I found it to be an interesting place but not as tropical and breath taking as I would have thought. The people of Bali are kind and hard working. The standard of living is low compared to what we are accustom to and many jobs are very labor intensive. In my view it is a very hard life and the city is crowded with very narrow roads. It would not be uncommon to see a family (mother, father, child and baby) on one motorcycle as that it a major mode of transport. The transportation infrastructure is very archaic and the roads sometime have room for only one car even though there is traffic in both directions! It is an eye opener to see how the rest of the World lives!!

Chinese New Year Photos

Some additional Chinese New Year Pictures! The first one is a mall decorated with red laterns. The next is the salad and the salad toss. And the remaining are the evening in China town.