12th of October, 2024.
I walk quite a lot to outside Hanoi, but not as much as in other capitals, I must say. While I’m still walking, two cars stop at certain distance. I get in the one closer to me, and I wonder what would’ve happened if I had gotten in the other one.
Tuon is a very nice guy who can speak great English. If only he had made it clear that he was only going until the airport… That’s where he drops me off. But we drive for enough time to have a nice conversation.
I walk again from outside the airport, as Tuon told me there’s an intersection to Ha Giang somewhere ahead. But I am not going to Ha Giang. At least not yet. I want to visit some rice fields, to the West, a place called Sán Xả Hồ.
At the intersection, three men in car pick me up and tell me they are going to Tuyen Quang, which is kind of half way to Ha Giang. I take it.
It’s not a very pleasant lift, as they keep talking about money, clearly not believing on my life and travels without money. If they only knew…
A nice young man, Rep, drives me for just a little bit, to T. Yeng. From there, two senior men, nice but quite sharp, take me all the way to the intersection where I will take left, where they will continue to Ha Giang. This place is called Ta Quang.
As it is after sunset already, and just getting darker, I decide to eat something around here, and then just ask to camp with some local family.
I have a Banh Mi, simple but good enough, and I also buy one of the Banh Trang Me, the local homemade rice crackers which I love so much! I get a big one, he-he. And I had with my Banh Mi. The senior lady from the shop is very nice, and she seems concerned about me camping around. I feel that if it wasn’t for her daughter, she would’ve invited me to come and stay with her.
I walk just a little bit into the road which leads to the rice fields, when I decide to ask a family who is watching television with their doors opened. There are the parents and a young man, all very nice, polite and welcoming. They say I can camp in front of their house without any problems. The father is an ex-police officer, but unfortunately it seems as he has had some serious health issues. We watch some television together for a while, and when the couple leaves for a walk, I go to my tent.
13th of October, 2024.
In the morning, the mother makes me some instant noodles (Yay!), and soon after that I leave.
Soon after I start walking, the road gets terrible. Some men sipping some tea in front of a fish tank shop, invited me to come over. I think they thought I was a guy. Laugh. After that, a series of lifts, until a very nice man, much concerned about helping me, drops me off at a place where there is a sign with information about the rice fields. He called his sister on the phone so she could translate to me what he wanted to say. He would take me there, to the place where I wanted to go, if he didn’t have a meeting which he needs to attend, for his work. How sweet!
The funny thing is, the place where he drops me off, better saying, the place which he leads me to it, is not exactly where I was planning to go. It is kind of more on the way to Ha Giang, but then, as I notice after by checking the maps, it would’ve made way more sense, if I had got out of the main road a while ago, going towards Tả Sử Choóng, on Hoang Su Phi Distric, where I am going now, instead of where I wanted to go, a village called Sán Xả Hồ. This happened because, as I would also figure out later, what I wrote in my sign simply means “rice fields view”, and not really the name of the place. It sucks, I know, but things happen for a reason… And in this case the reason was my stupidity. Most of the times it is.
Another series of lifts, only motorbikes this time, which includes: a senior man who drove me only thirty seconds, to his house, where I sat on a chair and chill, doing nothing; a guy carrying a long pipe, which I helped carrying it actually, and truly believe made his ride easier. It didn’t include many scared woman, who just by the site of me were riding away, terrified, not even giving me the time to explain.
At some point I get to a beautiful suspension bridge, and soon after there’s an entrance to go down the river. It’s gorgeous around here, and even though right by the road, is quiet and peaceful, quite isolate, and there’s even an encounter of rivers right ahead.
I decide to get in, for many different reasons, as I don’t really do that often, and I ask myself why not? I wash my clothes first, than I wash myself. It’s great and I’m glad I did it. Loki, look at me, after almost seven years travelling around the world, I still surprise myself by being “adventurous” and going for a swim in a wild river. Laugh.
A senior man takes me until certain point, and then turns around to go back somewhere else. At this point, I’m considering if I should carry on, knowing that I am very close to the viewpoint; or if I should camp somewhere here, as it is almost sunset already
While I am sitting on a log, thinking and trying to make a decision, there are some kids playing around in the house which I am in front, and I keep saying hi to them, and they keep saying hi to me.
A young woman with a baby in her arms come and try to talk with me a little bit. She is sweet and kind, and looks very young. She invites me to come over to her family house, I accept.
What a surprise when I cross the doors of a huge saloon and there are some twenty people hanging around. They all make loud exclamations when they see me, clearly happy with my presence. It’s a family gathering, and the women are all dressed in traditional clothes. They are mostly sitting on the floor, where there’s plenty of food and drinks. They are also almost all drunk. Laugh.
They offer me some food and some drinks. I try a dark beverage, something like a juice, non-alcoholic, and I also try the rice wine. Finally! It is really not bad and very similar to sake, the Japanese rice liquor. The women, not the men but the women, keep on insisting that I should drink more of it, while we make toasts, but I don’t bend to their will as I don’t want to get drunk, so I drink just a little bit here and there.
Suddenly, the women ask me if I would like to dress up like them. Hell, yeah! I would love to! So they start dressing me as a doll, which is hilarious, and they are also quite brute, but definitely not intentionally, it’s just the way they are. I am dressed with different colours from them, but still same style. They are so happy and excited about the fact that this is happening, just as much as me. If not more than me! The photos are really down to earth, capturing exactly what was going on at that moment, they are real. Nothing like fake tribe visits where everything seems rehearsed and the photos look “perfect”. I think my photos are perfect. And they were taken by one of the ladies, the young girl who brought me here. Actually I keep taking many photos with the young women, as they keep asking for it and I don’t say no.
Oanh Oanh is the name of the young woman who invited me here. She is so young and already has two kids. Another member of her family is Oanh Do Do. They both added me on Facebook and sent me the photos we took together.
Oanh Oanh invited me to stay with her at her home tonight. I kindly accept. She lives with her husband and her two baby boys in another house. Her husband is not here tonight, so the four of us sleep in a mattress on the floor. But not before she preparing some rice, green leaves and boiled eggs for dinner. And she also gives me a very nice thing to eat; it’s a kind of dough, made most likely out of starch, with a savoury peanut filling. I love it!
In the morning, because Oanh Oanh is very quiet and way more shy than last night, it makes me think that she was probably drunk too last night. Laugh. But it’s actually not the first time, and would not be the last, when the people who invited me to stay with them for the night, seem shyer and quieter in the next morning.
I start walking early morning and the scenery, the views and this whole area is very beautiful!
Soon enough, a man takes me to the view point. I was not expecting to be an actual view point, with a watching tower and all, but it is actually. And the views are gracious! It totally worth it all the way here.
10 Years Around the World 