We left Sapa with Thuy May to drive 2 1/2 hours to the Bac Ha Market, the largest in the region, open on Sundays. Photos are already (hopefully)loaded below, so this will only provide a little commentary. Every stall has a woman selling handicrafts made by the Flower H’Mong people, or more often machine-made in China to look like the hand-made items of the Flower H’Mong. Clothing, dishes, purses, art objects, food (mostly unrecognizable to our Western eyes), and animals including chickens, pigs, dogs, ducks, horses and even water buffalo which go for about 2,000,000 dong or $1,000 U.S. we’re told.
After the market we were dropped off for a water buffalo cart ride through the Tay people’s village of Trung Do (300 residents) to the Chay River where we boarded a boat for an hour-long ride. The scenery along the river was spectacular and matches all our stereotypes of the area: vastly overgrown jungle, hills, fog, and shorelines dotted with tiny homes and clothes hanging out to dry, with small children and water buffalo walking among the rice fields.
Finally we returned to Lao Cai where we had dinner with Thuy May at a restaurant across the street from the train station, then boarded the Victoria Carriage at 9pm for another all-night train ride back to Hanoi. We all got 5-6 hours of sleep, so seem to have adjusted to Vietnam time, finally (14 hours ahead of Seattle).
This is a fascinating trip, and we’re enjoying it immensely.
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