Andre and Wendy: Ha Giang Loop Day 2

Wake up so early this morning to thunder and pouring rain, oh no. Back to sleep for a bit but wake up to rain again. Meet Phuc downstairs for breakfast at 8, hotel gives us umbrellas and we are off for breakfast.

Breakfast today is at a restaurant across the street in old town. I thought we were having pho when Phuc asked if we wanted soup, but we aren't given pho. We are brought this amazing birth with a piece of pork in it and a sausage type thing. Phuc tells us to taste the broth, delicious, then he puts his spoon down, we put our spoons down. We are waiting for what he calls spring rolls. Outside the restaurant a woman is making the rice paper like we have seen a few times now. We are each brought 4 of these rolls, 1 with an egg in the middle, 2 mushrooms, and 1 think 1 with pork. Phuc told us to put a spring roll in the broth then eat them. So yummy. Way too much food again.

Rain stops at breakfast, and that is the last rain we will see for the day. Phuc told us yesterday if it rains it will clear up all the mist in the mountains and it will be clear, he was right, gorgeous clear views today even if we don't have any sun.

Getting on the way this morning is delayed by about 20-30 minutes as our car is blocked by a truck making deliveries. We ask Phuc to walk through the market with us to tell us about a few new vegetables we have seen. He is very knowledgeable about what fruit vegetables herb is used for curing what, very interesting. He has a big water bottle filled with what I thought was tea, no it is for him to drink because his body is too hot inside.

We finally leave Dong Van and start heading towards the Chinese border. Our first stop is a walk though a rural village. The rural village is about 1km walk down into a valley. At the top.of the hill is the little preschool. There are about 20 ones in the classroom and we hear about 20 hellos as we walk by. Not sure if we caused it but it suddenly is recess time and out they all come, recess also means pee break which happens just outside the school on the side of the road. Off we go into town, the path is cement here, none of the little towns in Pu Luong had this, they were all dirt. Asked Phuc about this, the towns were provided the cement by the government but the town had to lay the cement themselves.

Mostly see corn grown here, lots of people out working the fields because of the rain. The rain has made the colors fantastic. Saw lots of beans growing in with the corn, we will always call beans chick peas now and think of Phuc.

There is a new school being built in the little village instead of being in someone's home at the top of the village. It looks like it is nearly complete, and will have so much better access for those tiny ones walking to school.

We stop at an original house, grandma is working in the fields but a young girl is there with a little toddler, they let us in the yard so Phuc can show us around. I thought the young girl was there to look after her brother, no it is her son. Phuc says remember girls here would marry around 15. They have a little pen for animals, pigs, cows, a Buffalo and some chickens are running around. A little dog tied up that wants to be a watch dog, but if you approach it it hides under the shed. They have pictures on the outside wall of their ancestors, and some type of ribbons hanging for honoring their ancestors.

It is a 2 story home, dirt floor on the bottom, and bamboo for top floor. Top floor was storage. Bottom floor was what I thought was the kitchen, no it was for preparing food for animals, there was a huge pot for this. It really was a little overwhelming even after what we have seen over the last 2 months. The little boy was adorable, he kept pulling on Andres shorts, not sure if it was because he didn't have any pants on. A winter jacket and no pants, nothing on the bottom. Such a different life he will have than our grandkids at home.

We now need to walk back up the hill we have come down into town. Seems like everyone is out working in their fields. We love that the rain has brought much cooler weather it is great for walking.

We drive around the top and stop for a view of the town from the other side. Construction is happening on the road, we get out of the car and walk up to an amazing lookout point.

Time to move on and we go to see the Chinese border next. It used to be that the border was freely crossed to access a Chinese market in the nearby town but the borders are now closed and watched by cameras and soldiers. This is also the northernmost point of Vietnam. There are also some nice views of the river here.

Next stop is the flag tower. They have built an incredible 4 lane divided road of 800 meters here that is so strange, it is so out of place. We take a little electric car to the base of the flag walk up and climb the 300 steps to the top. There is a base at the 200 step point where a family all have Vietnamese flag t-shirts on and are taking pictures. Grandma has climbed up here with a cane! Phuc explains this is an important place for Vietnamese to visit and next week for the holiday will be very busy. The flag on top.is 54 Sq m to represent the 54 ethnic groups here.

Back to Dong Van for lunch then on to new roads.

Time to move on to some of the most beautiful dramatic scenery we have ever seen through the MA Pi pass with stops along the way.

We do a 4km sky walk hike where we have seen pictures of people sitting on an overhang, not in a million years are we going up there. A few up and down sections, such fantastic views. We also discover our guide hates trekking, good thing we are only doing short walks.

So many people out working the fields, at one point we hear a little girl crying. She has climbed up fine but is scared to come down it looks like, so steep and rocky. Her brother has made it down and doesn't care. Dad is setting up some kind of net in the trees, and mom is busy working in the field and a smaller child is with her. I guess she will eventually get down and hopefully learn it is easier to go up than down.

Another mom in the fields has spread out a blanket and 2 little ones are just sitting there while she works. Thinking about how long our grandkids would have lasted, not 30 seconds.

Our driver picks us up at the end of our hike and we continue on. We hit a section above where the boat tours are and there is a rope across the road, construction. It doesn't take too long before we can go on but during our wait 50 motorcycles must have pulled up around us.

We stop at a lookout that our guide calls the Vietnam grand canyon. Beautiful.

We are staying outside Meo Vac in a spot that has been set up for tourists, there are 24 homestays here. Really these are more like motels, even have sinks in the bathrooms.

Dinner tonight with the couple from the Netherlands, they livkd the boat ride this afternoon, some great pictures.

Off to bed early again, this time to the sounds of terrible karaoke. Check trip advisor and see John has put a comment about the boat trip as well, will need to put some thought into fitting this in somehow.

Todays pictures:

Something new for breakfast