Sapa

Sometimes when you're traveling you have moments when you wonder why you are shlepping around a foreign country. We all felt this way when we arrived very early in the morning after an overnight train ride from Hanoi to Lo Cai and then a taxi ride up a very steep mountain road to Sapa. However, when we arrived at our homestay in Ta Van, a small village set in a glorious valley, we appreciated the effort it took to get there. 

View from our homestay in Ta Van 

Ta Van is a village perched on the side of a mountain terraced with rice fields. Water buffalo, chickens and dogs wander the mountain roads. Mopeds and cars are few. From our homestay we looked out over the valley where we could see the shadow of clouds crossing the land. 

We set out for a walk out first morning just as the mist was rising from the hills. We wandered a path heading towards a bamboo forest, and walked until the path ran out. While I am good at planning and organizing our trip, Rob is our main navigator, and he guided us effortlessly through little garden patches and past snorting pigs, and even more importantly, home again. 

In the rice paddies

We spent three glorious days hiking in Ta Van. Mostly we wandered, but one day we did make it to a beautiful waterfall. We met a fellow hiker, Johannes from Germany, who hung out with us for the day. Everywhere we went our path skirted rice paddies. Although they weren't planted this time of year, we were amazed to see the elaborate system to water all these paddies. Dassa also learned first-hand how mucky many of these paddies can be when he stepped into one and lost a shoe in the muck while playing with the kids at our homestay. The local kids thought this was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. Watching Dassa play with the kids was one of the highlights of staying in Ta Van, and of the homestay. We ate dinner with the family, which meant we got to eat local food. I'd like to say we had a fabulous conversation too, but it was a little stilted. At best we still only know about four words of Vietnamese. (However, I have figured out how to put "What are you eating?" into the translator app, and to show it to people. This has been immensely useful!) 

Yes, yes, I know this is a screen shot and I should be able to do better, but just enjoy the picture. Johannes took this of our family at the waterfall. 

Rob and I have actually been to this area, or near it, before. Sapa is very close to the Chinese border of Yunnan Province where we travelled in 2002. On that trip we traveled up through Laos to get to China. I can't help but remark on how very different these three areas are. In Laos we traveled through remote jungle to get to the border, and the people were all minority ethnic groups. When we crossed into China, we were in well-developed agricultural land, mainly covered with rubber plantations. In 2002 the small Chinese towns we went to close to the border were well-ordered with town squares and modest goods for sale. Many of the people, especially the older people, wore Communist brown and grey clothing. In contrast Sapa has a well-developed tourist infrastructure and endless western clothing for sale despite sickle and hammer flags decorating the streets. There are neither jungle nor rubber plantations, but endless rice fields. There's also a lot of people everywhere. Both Rob and I have noticed just how many people are in Vietnam, both locals and tourists. I know comparing Vietnam with Laos or Thailand isn't an accurate comparison, but I feel that the world has EXPLODED with people since 2002. While we are certainly aware of the effects of pollution and global warming at home (endless snow days etc), traveling in a new place really puts those changes in a glaring light. Many Vietnamese wear face masks while driving their mopeds to protect themselves from pollution. These face masks come in lots of different patterns, and while I'm not inclined to wear one myself, I did notice a rather fetching Burberry pattern. 

One thing that is the same to all three areas is the minority ethnic groups. The Hmong people who live in Northern Vietnam, also live in Laos and Thailand (and other SE Asia locations too.) In Sapa the men work on the land, and many of the women sell their beautiful sewn goods to tourists. The Hmong have a very distinctive style of dress with elaborate headdresses, embroidered skirts and black leggings. A few Western elements have crept into their wardrobe and quite a few wore Adidas warm-up jackets. I also saw one young girl wearing red converse sneakers with her traditional clothing that made a fantastic contrast. The Hmong women also wear a lot of silver jewelery, and Indigo batik clothing, my absolute favourite colour. The Hmong merchants are persistent salespeople and many speak excellent English. I made a few small purchases. Just a few.

Rob and some Hmong women. 

Rob playing harmonica for a woman who was trying to sell him a small mouth instrument that I only know to describe as a Jew's Harp. 

Hanoi and Beyond

Greetings from Tam Coc, Vietnam, an area of Karst Mountains, rivers and A LOT OF tourists. How did we end up here? Well we asked some people where they recommended going, and now we are here. Welcome to traveling Rob-and-Leanne-style: making it up as we go along.  Sometimes successful, and other times not so much. We are staying in a beautiful guest house with a lovely garden very close to the river. There is amazing biking through rice fields and by Karst mountains. However, all our bike rides end up at heavily touristed places with tour buses and occasionally even brides in billowing gowns arriving to have their pictures taken.

I walked up a lot of stairs to get to the top of this mountain. Not pictured in the photo- the hordes of other tourists who also trekked up!

Biking near Tam Coc along the river

We spent our first few days in Hanoi, a big and very busy city. There's nothing like letting your kids loose with cameras in a new place. They were fascinated by the lanterns, the people dressed up in their traditional clothes taking pictures by the lake, and the never-ending flow of traffic. They also liked the the many pig pictures we saw around the city in honour of the new year. The pig topiary was definitely the top pig-sighting. 

Pig Topiary

During our time in Hanoi we also visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, wandered along boulevards lined with beautiful buildings dating back to the French era, and saw a performance of water puppets. The kids also experienced their first mango drink, which they pronounced "legendary." They've since tried

Makaio and an amazing mango shake!

banana juice, passion fruit juice, lemon juice and drinking directly from a coconut. They weren't taken by the latter, but mango juice continues to be a popular choice. Rob, despite having a cold, has managed to sample beer at multiple times of day. I knew we were really on vacation when Rob ordered a beer at 10am on a Hanoi corner. To his credit, he'd been up since 4am, so it was a perfectly acceptable time for a drink.

Hanoi Street Scene

Walking along a Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi

After Hanoi we went to Cat Ba Island with a stopover in Haiphong, a shipping town on the coast. In Cat Ba we enjoyed a day hike through a National Park. We hiked 18 km over four very steep peaks. Some people might hire a guide, we just followed our not-so-great map. We had a few uncertain moments, but

Hiking on Cat Ba Island

found our way to a little village with a tasty lunch.  The hike was by far the favourite thing our family has done so far, although we did enjoy a boat tour the following day through Halong Bay. We tried fishing (not so successful), did some kayaking and cruised through the karst islands. The highlight of the day was a trip to Monkey Island where we climbed to a very sharp peak. Having had less-than-positive experiences with monkeys in the past (one stole my lunch in India) I avoided them, but Dassa was completely entranced.  

View from Monkey Island

Although Vietnam is proving to be more touristy than we imagined, the food has not disappointed in the least. Makaio's only disappointment with our current location is  "there is not enough street food." He wants to go somewhere where we can point into vats, and "be surprised." This has mostly worked for us. We've eaten delicious pho (noodle soup), interesting rice noodle pancakes, yummy pineapple with beef and onion dishes, and a hot pot - a veggies, noodles and meat combo that you cook at your own table in a lemongrass flavoured soup. Less appetizing was what Makaio has dubbed "the ugly chicken," a very black and very small chicken we accidentally ordered on the street, that came with the feet and head still attached. Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of this bird. The kids were also a little freaked out that the shrimp I ordered for the hot pot came with the heads and antennae still on. Since I'm not the most adventurous eater, they were impressed at my ability to pop those heads off and still enjoy my meal.  
  
Dassa is less interested in adventurous eating and is happy with banana pancakes and Vietnamese baguettes, or as he says it, "eating as many carbs as possible." He is taken with the animals he has seen: goats along the side of the road, kittens on Cat Ba Island, and the many dogs. Today he declared, "the dogs in this country need bras." We explained that most dogs at home are spayed, whereas dogs here have multiple litters, hence the difference. Just one small part of our home schooling adventure!

In case you don't actually believe we are homeschooling the kids, here's a picture of an idyllic math lesson with Rob in our Tam Coc garden. 

Bicycling along the Tam Coc River

Bar Mitzvah practice in Tam Coc

First stop: Vancouver

Greetings from Haiphong, Vietnam. It's only five am, but we're all awake! We just listened to church bells toll 96 times, and now the kids are regaling us with Calvin and Hobbes stories. 

Although we've been in Vietnam for a few days, our trip first began with a much-needed rest in Vancouver with family. I had no idea how much work it would be to prepare for this trip. Not only did we move out of our house, but there were flights to purchase, hotels to book, insurance to organize and endless small purchases. I also tried to plan Makaio's bar mitzvah, which will be in October when we come back. There's nothing like trying to organize Torah portions and bar mitzvah lessons while also buying Immodium and re-hydration salts. 

We escaped the extreme cold of Kingston on February 1st and arrived in Vancouver to more temperate weather. Being in Vancouver was a little like having an early March break, except the trees hadn't blossomed yet. We hit up all our favourite food treats: Solly's cinnamon buns, sushi on Main Street and Sun Sui Wah for Chinese food. We were also warmly greeted, as always, by my parents, and my sister Marcy and her family. 

In Vancouver we celebrated my father's 80th and Makaio's 13th birthdays. This was Makaio's first birthday with family, and I think it was memorable. His day began with a birthday brunch with his Bubbie and Zeydi, a trip to a trampoline gym with his cousins Leo and Tessa, Dim Sum and a dragon parade at IKEA (conveniently located next to the gym), a Superbowl party and taco dinner, birthday cake, presents and a cousin sleep-over. Not bad, eh? Dassa was also hoping for a Vancouver birthday, but he got a travel day, dodgy street food and hugs from Vietnamese women who wanted photos with him in honour of the new year. (We're going to offer a birthday re-do when we arrive at our next destination, Cat Ba Island, which has beaches, rock climbing and hiking.)

Here are a few shots of Vancouver.

Vancouver, chillier than usual, but still beautiful.

Birthday boy with his brother and cousins Leo and Tessa

Zeydi is 80!

Our trip to Vancouver coincided with Chinese New Year. On the zodiac calendar this is the year of the pig, and we've seen a lot of pigs - in the Richmond IKEA, the Vancouver and Taipei airports and all through Vietnam. We've seen pig balloons, pigsweets, pig signs, pig embroidered dresses, and best of all, pig topiary. Some of us have eaten a fair share of pig too. The kids have lots to

say about what else they've eaten and seen so far in Vietnam and are looking forward to writing our next post on our stop in Hanoi.

Here are a few more photos of us leaving Vancouver. 

My parents had us sit for a moment before we left, which is a Russian tradition, probably the only Russian tradition my family still follows. You sit with those you intend to travel with, focus on your adventures for a moment and then you get up and go.