Another dawn patrol, 6 AM instead of 5AM, a whole hour more of sleep, except who slept? Our bungalow was very cozy, the views were beautiful, but the altitude was a factor in not sleeping. I have no idea what it is, but I am sure that is one of the reasons I was awake off and on. No one could be this tired and not sleep.
This morning began with no rain (yea), a gathering of all of us at “the platform” where Shap and a few others stormed the coffee hut to order their favorite “new” coffee drink; Vietnamese coffee (super strong) and evaporated milk. Kind of like drinking a frappicino. The whole process took about 45 minutes so we all roamed around looking for photo opportunities.
The rest of the morning was spent wandering the village and taking pictures. I brought my sproket printer with me to be able to print photos from my cell phone and give to people. One woman in particular, who I had photographed before, was holding her grandbaby; so I took a quick snapshot of her. She was amazed and happy with the photo, she was showing it to everyone. I am not sure she has seen herself before, but with her holding the baby it was very special to her.
The main method of transportation here are mopeds/motorcycles. It was announced at lunch we would be taking these for the afternoon to explore the rice and tea plantations as the roads to these areas were difficult to drive with a van or car. Now if you have not figured out by now, the youngest in our group is in her 60’s and the oldest 83. All these young Hmong men arrive on the scene like a motorcycle gang from the hell’s angels. Except they are all about 20 years old and have two kids or more. I chose the shortest bike figuring I would be lucky to get my legs over the top of the seat, My driver was probably on the high side of 21. I informed him he was driving his grandmother and to take it easy. No fear here, he was very careful going down hills and kept a nice steady pace. Although the downhills were so steep I think I crushed him into the handlebars.
Imagine misty steep lush green hills, curved roads folding back into each other, with sweeping views of rice and tea plantations throughout the lower fields. The sheer beauty of riding through the countryside with layers of dark green tea plants complimenting the florescent green of the rice paddies, the light blue of the mountains, fading to grey and purple in the distance with billowing clouds drifting lazily, it was an experience enhanced by the freedom of the motorbike.
Stopping at a tea plantation we photographed the women and men working in the fields. Soon the women pulled out their phones and it became a frenzy of photo opportunities happening. Everyone was laughing and posing with each other and doing all kinds of stupid photographs.The women dressed in their traditional clothes and us, head to toe in Patagonia.
The afternoon ended with a beautiful valley full of rice fields with the fading sun painting the tips of the rice plant gold.
Evening brought us back to our rooms, dinner then a performance by some of Hmong people. A member of our group, Tom returned the favor by singing Bob Dylan’s song “Forever Young” and talked about how important this trip means to all of us. Again remarking of how no matter what music, dance, and performance is one of the best ways to communicate in a world.
