Sapa

Sapa is in NorthernVietnam.  It is hilly or mountainous and is often shrouded in clouds.  It is on the Chinese border and is home to many of Vietnam's ethnic minorities. There are 54 tribes, but the Vietnamese comprise 85% of the population.  Most of the minorities still live in their villages and live a more or less traditional life, marry, have kids, grow rice and other vegetables along with pigs and chickens.  Most families have a least one water buffalo which is used for plowing the rice paddies as tractors can not manouver in them and horses cannot work in the water.  Often a daughter is traded for a water buffalo as her dowry.  Sons are still preferred and women do most if not all of the work including making clothes.  Some tribes buy their clothes in the market which are machine made in China as they come from China.  Others make their own by hand.  They use cotton and or hemp which they spin into a coarse thread and then a fine one which is boiled.  They weave the material and dye in with natural indigo to get the black colour, it takes several months of soaking, washing and drying to get the right colour.  They then embroider the cloth with their traditional patterns.  Some women also use batik to decorate the cloth.
Some tribes are more commercialized as they buy products made in factories in China and then sell them.   It is a good way for them to make some extra cash.  Others only come out every couple of months to sell their handmade goods.  We were lucky enough to meet two such women who helped me get through the rice paddies and asked me questions about myself and my family.  The first question you are asked is your age, then are you married and then how many children do you have? I just point to Dan. Family is very important here as they need kids to help with the farming and then take care of them when they are older.  There is no Old Age Security here in Asia.  They were lovely, Soo was 23 althought she looked 15 and Ason was 35, she looked 25.  They dress is their traditional dress all the time although it is often mixed with western clothes like jackets and shirts.  They wear leggings to protect their calves from being scratched and to cover their muscular calves from all the walking.  Big scratched calves are not considered attractive.  These ladies walked 10km with us and then turned around and walked all the way back and further, to their village.  They only come out when they need money and have handmade goods to sell.  They need money now as Tet is approaching, which is even a big deal in the mountainside.
The Sapa hills are terraced with rice paddies, they are a sight to see when the clouds clear.  It is truly beautiful.  We were lucky as it was sunny and the clouds cleared while we were there, unusual for this time of year.
They also grow tea, plum and peach trees for blossoms and fruit.  They  make wine from them also.
The Black Hmong make corn whiskey which is quite in demand.  They only grow corn to make whisky, not to eat. 
Most houses, even the smaller shacks have a satellite dish and a TV.  It is their form of birth control.  If the satellite goes out, more babies are born in 9 months time!

The clouds are rolling into Sapa in the morning after sunrise

Terraced rice paddies with the hazy hills in the background, northern Vietnam

Flooded rice paddies, Sapa

View from our room at Topas Ecolodge outside of Sapa

Traditional ethnic house, Black Hmong, notice the pumpkins on the roof, drying for seeds and the animal enclosures right next to the house.  The rice paddies are below.  They build their houses far apart so they can farm the land around the house.

countryside Northern Vietnam

Terraced rice paddies are everywhere

Our guides taking a break, they can walk much faster than use through very rough terrain.  They carry their goods in handwoven baskets, they make most things themselves

village house

My new friends, they patiently guided me through the rice paddies, in hopes that I would buy something from, them.  They were very polite, not pushy at all and were rewarded, they had some beautiful things

Red Dao ladies selling their wares, embroidering while they are waiting for a sale, no time is wasted

A traditional baby carrier, the babies stay on their mother's backs while they work

An elderly man taking a break, you don't see the men work much