We awake this morning to Cao Bang enveloped in thick cloudy mist with visibility on the poor side, to say the least. This is a bit disappointing as today we have at least 7 hours in the car with a drive through steep mountainous passes where the land is supposed to be untouched and the vistas spectacular.Setting off it becomes quickly apparent that the weather is not going to change. We can kind of make out huge silhouettes of the towering mountains but it is only a ghostly image that portrays nothing of the expected magnificence. The drive starts to become boring..we can't see anything. The roads are becoming steeper and we climb ever higher but it is all like peering through frosted glass with cataracts in both eyes. Smelly weather!!!
A couple of hours later we drive through a bustling little town that is in the middle of market day. On our approach we see loads of tribe women that have been on the road from their remote villages since before daybreak. We are told that they often walk for 6 or 7 hours just to get there, do their business and then walk home for another 7 hours. Fuck that!! But this is our first real glimpse of the different tribes, dressed in traditional costume. This is no set up tourist photo opportunity, this is real people living real lives that we have luckily been given the chance to see.
We ask the guide if we can stop and have a look round the market. Again we are the only western faces here which brings much staring and giggling from the town and tribal folk. I'm wearing a pair of shorts which for some reason amuses everyone as I walk past. The market is once a week and attracts everyone from the vicinity. Throngs of woman in full regalia roam the market in groups going about their business; people of various tribal backgrounds... Black H'mong, Nung, Tay and Dzao people...are all there to either sell their veg or buy anything from buckets, rice or spices to the latest fashions cheaply imported from across the border in China. The market is bustling with activity, we see fruits that we've never seen before and our guide has no idea what we call them in English to vegetables that look so fresh and crisp that they put to shame the sad offering we get at Tesco's.
Ad usually feels a little uncomfortable asking people if he can take their photograph, but here the people are so friendly and probably because we ourselves are the minorities, everyone he points the camera at are more than willing to be captured on film...sometimes with almost uncontrollable laughter. This is real Vietnam. We spend an hour looking round the stalls, taking pictures and buying up some local delicacies ( rice with pork bits in banana leaf and and some other sticky rice) and it's no exaggeration to say that this has been one of the highlights of the trip so far and definitely makes up for the bad weather.
Back on the road we continue our drive; it's a long day when you can't see anything …..my arse is starting to hurt and my internal organs feel like they have been put in a tumble dryer from the sometimes extremely bumpy roads. A stop to see a family up in the mountains making bricks is quite interesting, but if it hadn't been for the market encounter this morning it would have been an extremely disappointing day.
After settling into our hotel, the guide and driver take us out to a local restaurant. When we get there, there is music blaring out and on the first floor we can see a bunch of young girls dancing and screaming with laughter. PARTAY!!!! Our guide asks us if we want to go somewhere else but we dismiss that idea, this place looks fun. Upstairs there is a karaoke party in full swing, and it's only 7 o'clock. Everyone is chucking themselves around the dance floor or up singing accompanied by a fella on the keyboards...it's hilarious to watch. The party is something to do with the school year starting. We order our food and the waiter comes and joins us at our table with a bottle of corn wine , which is the more potent sister or rice wine. The food is excellent and we are joined by other waiters, all wanting to toast our health and as I mentioned before, every dish that arrives at the table. The atmosphere is great, the food is delicious, we are a little piddled and before we know it we are agreeing to go out with our guides and the waiters to the local nightspot....karaoke!!! More booze, the boys get down to the business of choosing their tracks to sing to and Ad and I are insisted on picking a few songs to warble to. The boys are really good...mostly love songs it sounds like but I'm really impressed. Then it's my turn to belt out a version of No Woman No Cry and Red Red Wine...if I say so myself I was pitch perfect and my moves would be the envy of Legs and Co. and receive maximum marks on strictly come dancing. Adrian's turn, you know I've never really heard him sing, but up he gets and producing a rendition of Madonna's Papa Don't Preach that brought tears to my eyes.....
A few hours later we fall in bed, mash up ….again.
No comments:
Post a Comment