#khai tom mud

[morethansalad]

Khao Tom Mud / Banana Sticky Rice Dessert (Vegan)

[coffinboard]

↣ musical artist meme

Put 💕 by artists you like Put ✔️ by artists you dont mind Put ❌ by artists you don’t like Put ❓ by artists you’ve never listened to

Run the Jewels - ❓ Tyga - ❓ The Submarines - ❓ Saint Motel - ❓ Tupac - ✔ Deuce - ✔ Tyler, the creator- ✔ Chance the Rapper - ❓ Aminé- ❓ G-Eazy - ✔️ Kanye West - ❌ XXXtentacion - ✔️ Wifisfuneral - ❓ $uicideboy$ - ❓ Odd Future - ❓ Kehlani - ❓ Logic - ❓ Kodak Black - ❓ Yo Gotti - ❓ Wiz Khalifa - ✔ Creature Feature - 💕 Mindless Self Indulgence - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Rabbit Junk - ✔ La Roux - ❓ Eels - ❓ Future - ❓ Gucci Mane -❓ Denzel Curry - ❓ Drake - ✔️ Eminem - ❌ The Weeknd - ✔ 50 Cent - ✔ Lil Yachty - ❓ 21 Savage -❓ Chief Keef - ❓ Kendrick Lamar - ❓ Rae Sremmurd - ❓ Migos - ❓ Big Sean - ✔ A$AP Rocky - ✔ Schoolboy Q - ❓ Kodie Shane- ❓ Miley Cyrus- ✔ Travi$ Scott - ❓ Kid Cudi - ❓ Young Thug - ❓ Justin Bieber - ✔ Dej loaf -❓ J. Cole - ❓ Jay-Z - ❓ Lil B - ❓ Meek Mill - ❓ Snoop Dogg - 💕 Nicki Minaj - ✔ Lil Wayne - ❌ Lupe Fiasco - ❓ 2 Chainz - ❓ Outkast - 💕 Macklemore - ✔ Ghostface Killah - ❓ Lil Uzi Vert - ❓ Childish Gambino - 💕 The Chainsmokers - ✔ KYLE - ❓ Quavo - ❓ Soulja Boy - ✔ Chris Brown - ✔ Rihanna - ✔ Beyonce - ✔ Fetty Wap - ❓ Lorde - ✔️ One Direction - ✔ 5 Seconds Of Summer - ✔ Melanie Martinez - ✔️ Ariana Grande - 💕 Iggy Azalea - ❓ Taylor Swift - ✔ Bebe Rexha - ❓ Twenty One Pilots - ✔️ Lady Gaga - ✔ Desiigner - ❓ Ace Hood - ❓ ReyCooper - ❓ Nas - ❓ Whitney Houston - ✔ Birdman - ❓ Ice JJ fish - ❓ Shatta Wale - ❓ Eazy-E - ❓ Blackbear - ❓ Imagine Dragons - ✔ Jason Derulo - ✔ Snakehips - ❓ Galantis - ❓ Pitbull - ❓ Kygo - ❓ Skrillex - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Major Lazer - ✔ Flume - ✔ Troye Sivan - ✔ The 1975 - ✔ The Neighbourhood - ✔ Marshmello - 💕 EDEN - ❓ Bryson Tiller - ❓ Ty Dolla $ign - ❓ Khalid - ❓ Post Malone - ❓ Dreezy - ❓ Jeremih - ❓ D.R.A.M. - ❓ A$AP Mob - ❓ Justin Timberlake - 💕 Skepta - ❓ Dr. Dre - ✔ Pouya - ❓ Coldplay - ✔ Ed Sheeran - ✔ gnash - ❓ Glass Animals - 💕 David Guetta - ✔ Avicii - ❓ BØRNS - ❓ Panic! At The Disco - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Frank Ocean -✔ Calvin Harris - ❓ DJ Snake - ❓ Oh Wonder - ❓ OneRepublic - ✔ LIGHTS -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Lily Allen -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Alessia Cara - ❓ Meghan Trainor - ✔ Flo Rida - ❓ Arctic Monkeys - ✔️ Sia - 💕 Lana Del Rey - ✔ Little Mix - ❓ Passenger - ✔ will.i.am -✔ Halsey - ✔️ MØ - ❓ Hozier - ✔ Maroon 5 - 💕 Mac Miller - ❓ Earl Sweatshirt - ❓ Knowmads - ❓ Adele - ❌ Bruno Mars - ✔ The Notorious B.I.G - ❓ The Game - ❓ A$AP Ferg - ❓ System of a down - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Puddle Of Mud - ✔ Drowning Pool - ✔ Wheatus  - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Metallica - 💕 The Strokes - ✔ Megadeth - 💕 Nirvana - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The unicorns - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Linda Ronstad - ❓ David Bowie - ❓ Pink Floyd - ✔ Disney songs - ✔ Queen - 💕 The Scorpions - 💕 Rammstein - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Slipknot - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Disturbed -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Salvia - ✔️ Korn - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Rob Zombie - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Jet - ❓ Paramore - ✔️ Billy Talent - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Stabilo -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Shawn Mendes -✔ Selena Gomez - ✔️ Katy Perry - ✔ Gorillaz - 💕 DNCE - ✔ Demi Lovato - ✔ M.A.G.S. - ❓ T.A.T.U. - ❓ The Veronicas - 💕 Oasis - ❓ Modest Mouse - ✔ Martin Garrix - ❓ NerdOut -❓ Lifehouse - ❓ Thirty Seconds To Mars - 💕 Three Doors Down - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Allstar Weekend -❓ Royal Deluxe -❓ Johnny Cash - ✔ Train - ✔ Us The Duo -❓ In Love With A Ghost - 💕 Lindsey Sterling - ❓ Vanessa Mae - ❓ AJR - ❓ MAX - ❓ Dwayne Johnson - ❓ Dan Bull - ❓ Jon Bellion - ❓ Hollywood Undead - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Erutan -❓ Eurielle - ❓ Secondhand Serenade - 💕 Simple Plan - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Boys Like Girls -✔ Razihel - ❓ Rootkit - ❓ Stonebank - ❓ Pegboard Nerds -❓ Taku Matsushiba - ❓ Breaking Benjamin - ✔ Aero Chord - ❓ Jhameel - ❓ Adam Lambert - 💕 Skillet - 💕 Oliver Boyd And The Remembrals - ❓ Thousand Foot Krutch - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Within Temptation - ❓ Three Days Grace - 💕 💕 💕 💕 My Darkest Days -  💕 💕 💕 💕 The Script - ✔ My Chemical Romance - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Used - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Issues - ❓ Starset - ❓ Parachute - ❓ Five Finger Death Punch - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Shinedown - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Seether - ✔️ Two Steps To Hell - ❓ Audiomachine - ❓ The Living Tombstone - 💕 Nate Wants To Battle - ❓ Corrine Bailey Rae - ❓ Jason Mraz - ❓ Fall Out Boy - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Bullet For My Valentine - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Red Hot Chili Peppers - ✔️ Green Day - ✔️ Blink 182 - 💕 💕 💕 💕 +44 -❓ 311 -❓ Audioslave -❓ Staind -  💕 Incubus - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Marilyn Manson - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Smashing Pumpkins - 💕 Halestorm -❓ Bring Me The Horizon - ✔️ All Time Low - ✔ Pierce The Veil - ✔️ Sleeping With Sirens - ❓ The Killers - ✔ Goo Goo Dolls - ✔ Judas Priest - ✔ Kansas - ❓ Def Leppard -✔ Fit for Rivals -❓ Falling in Reverse - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Set It Off - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Get Scared - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Escape the Fate - ✔ Motionless in White - ❓ Neck Deep - ✔️ I Prevail - ❓ Waterparks -❓ Black Veil Brides - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Jeffree Star - 💕 💕 💕 💕 BOTDF - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Slayer - 💕 The Clash -✔ Ghost Town - 💕 Clean Bandit - 💕 Area 11 - ❓ Iamjakehill -❓ Bastille - ✔ Homesafe - ❓ Front Porch Step -❓ Son Little - ❓ The Fray - ✔️ Amber Run -❓ Days N Daze -❓ Lund - ❓ Never Shout Never - ✔ Dashboard Confessional - ❓ Sam Smith - ❓ Hotel Books ❓ Emarosa - ❓ Have Mercy - ❓ Two Inch Astronaut -❓ Nothing - ❓ mansionz - ❓ The Wombats - ✔ Asking Alexandria - ✔ The All-American Rejects - 💕 The Front Bottoms - ✔ Fitz & The Tantrums - ✔ Florence + The Machine - ✔ dad. the band -❓ Birdy - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Gregory and the Hawk - ✔ Lenka - 💕 💕 💕 💕 alt-J - ✔ Alex Clare -❓ AWOLNATION - ✔ Bishop Briggs -❓ Daughter - ✔️ Marina and The Diamonds - ✔ McCafferty - ❓ Neon Trees - ✔️ Banks - ❓ Bad Suns - ❓ RHODES - ❓ Cruel Youth -❓ Robb Bank$ -❓ Bones - ❓ Beamon - ❓ Black Sabbath - ✔ Bexey - ❓ Lil peep - ❓ Ramirez -❓ Wu-Tang Clan - ✔ NF - ❓ Bone Thugs n Harmony ❓ Frank Sinatra - ❓ Tomppabeats - ❓ Saib. - ❓ Limes -❓ Muse - ❓ Daniel Caeser - ❓ Gallant -❓ Tom Misch - ❓ Sabrina Claudio - ❓ Brasstracks -❓ Summer Salt -❓ The Walters - ❓ Snails House - ❓ Jeff Bernat -❓ Jeffrey Lewis -  ✔ Max Frost -❓ Caravan Palace - 💕 Daft Punk - 💕 MGMT - 💕 Animal Collective - 💕 Osamuraisan- ❓ Mother Mother - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Decemberists - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Postal Service -  💕 💕 💕 💕 AJJ -  💕 💕 💕 💕 Band Of Horses - ✔ Foot Ox - 💕 Metric - ✔ Jukebox The Ghost - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Cornell - ❓ Young the Giant - ✔ Hue - ❓ Summer Heart -❓ Honne -❓ Willa - ❓ William Wild - ❓ The Antlers - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Cigarettes after sex - 💕 Turnover - ❓ Champs - ❓ Moose Blood -❓ Paradise Fears - ❓ Citizen - ❓ The History of Apple Pie - ❓ Alina Baraz & Galimatias -❓ Zedd - 💕 Mystery Skulls - ✔ Michl - ❓ Khai -❓ Little Joy -❓ Vanic - ❓ Phoenix - ❓ Witt Lowry - ❓ Grieves - ❓ Mac Demarco - ❓ Sloan -❓ Jason Reeves -❓ 2am Club - ❓ We Hold Hands And We Jump - ❓ Against Me - ✔ Boys - ❓ The Cure - ✔ Ke$ha - ✔ Stromae - ❓ Weezer - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Vampire Weekend - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Studio Killers - ✔ Foo Fighters -✔ Queens Of The Stone Age - ❓ Rage Against The Machine - ✔ The Hives - ❓ The Offspring - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Linkin Park - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Zomboy - ❓ Highly Suspect -❓ Keane - ❓ Royal Blood - ❓ In This Moment - ❓ Chevelle - ❓ Ghost - ❓ The Beatles - ✔ Depeche Mode - 💕 Duran Duran - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Franz Ferdinand - ✔ R.E.M. - ❓ U2 - ❓ HIM - ❓ Radiohead - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Modern Baseball - ❓ Aphex Twin - 💕 Grimes - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Phantogram - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Purity Ring - 💕 💕 💕 💕 FKA twigs - ❓ Wolf Alice - ❓ Teen Suicide - 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Cribs - ✔️ mewithoutyou - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Say Anything - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Salvia Palth - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Panucci’s Pizza - ❓ Manchester Orchestra - ❓ Neon Indian -❓ Unknown Mortal Orchestra -❓ Joywave -❓ Blur -❓ Catfish & The Bottlemen - ❓ Bon Iver - ✔ The Smiths - 💕 Led Zeppelin - 💕 Ocean colour scene - ❓ The Temper Trap - ❓ Blossoms - ❓ Kings Of Leon - 💕 George Ezra - ❓ Tom Odell - ❓ Jake Bugg - ❓ The Kooks - ❓ Nothing but Thieves - ❓ Mac - ❓ Keaton Henson - ❓ Noah Gunderson - ❓ Jimi Hendrix - ✔ Stevie Ray Vaughan - ❓ Michael Jackson - 💕 The Maccabees - ❓ Billy Joel - ✔ Little Comets - ❓ Milky Chance - ❓ Amy Winehouse -💕 Gabrielle Aplin - ❓ The Verve - ❓ London Grammar - ❓ The Who - ✔ The Vaccines - ❓ Joy Division - ❓ Arcade Fire -❓ Jamie T - ❓ The Coral - ❓ Tame Impala - ❓ Stereophonics - ❓ Blaenavon - ❓ Sundara Karma - ❓ Two Door Cinema Club - 💕 The Japanese HouseGromz - ❓ Cage the Elephant - 💕 The Black Keys - ✔ Mumford and Sons - ✔️ Paolo Nutini - ❓ Carole King - ❓ Van Morrison - ❓ Vance Joy - ❓ Ben Howard - ❓ The Hunna - ❓ Alicia Keys - ✔ Jack Garratt -❓ First Aid Kit -❓ Viola Beach -❓ Circa Waves -❓ Foster the People - 💕 Foals - ❓ The Velvet Underground - ❓ The Runaways - ❓ Patti Smith - ❓ X-Ray Spex - ❓ Vince Staples - ❓ Hodgy -❓ Ugly God - ❓ The Doors- ❓ Angerfist - ❓ S3RL - 💕 Dausuke tanabe -❓ sweet trip - ❓ kid606 - ❓ moeshoppost Malone- ❓ Joey bada$$ - ❓ toro y moi - ❓ tally hall - 💕 💕 💕 💕 Portugal. The Man - ❓ Lullatone - 💕 💕 💕 💕 sublime - ✔ grateful dead - ✔ king crimson - ❓ rush - ❓ frank iero andthe patience/celebration -❓ flatsound - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Nothing, nowhere -❓ elvis depressedly - ✔ Cloud nothings - ❓ kimya dawson -💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 guns n’ roses -💕 social repose ❓ Arkells - ❓ July Talk - ❓ Jank - ❓ Father John Misty - ❓ Sky Ferreira - ❓ HAIM - ❓ Declan McKenna - ❓ Sean Bolton- ❓ Beach House - ❓ The xx - 💕 Transit - ❓ Knuckle puck- ❓ Trophy Eyes - ❓ Joyce manor- ❓ Boston manor - ❓ Sum 41 - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Godsmack -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Papa Roach - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Dope -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 P.O.D - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Trapt -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Limp Bizkit - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Pretty Reckless - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The wonder years - ❓ Basement - ❓ American Football - ❓ La dispute - ❓ Surf Curse - ❓ Title fight - ❓ Brand New - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The Mountain Goats - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 The story so far - ❓ Real Friends - ❓ Balance and composure - ❓ A day to Remember - 💕 Elliot Smith - ✔ With Confidence - ❓ Our last night - ❓ AS IT IS - ❓ Senses Fail - ❓ Ween - ❓ Away days - ❓ Sorority Noise - ❓ Broken bells - ❓ Beartooth - ❓ Delta spirit - ❓ DREAMERS - ❓ The strumbellas - ❓ Neutral Milk Hotel - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 National Parks - ❓ Daughtry - ❓ Handsome ghost - ❓ Cold War Kids - ❓ Colony House - ❓ Dance Gavin Dance - ❓ Kodaline - ❓ Sweatshop Union - ❓ The lumineers - ❓ Of Monsters and Men - ❓ Waterparks- ❓ Foxing - ❓ Cyrberbully Mom Club - 💕 daisyhead - ✔️ The Mowgli’s - ❓ Banners - ❓ Billie Eilish - ❓ Switch Foot - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Culture Club - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Eurythmics - ✔️ Tears For Fears - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Simple Minds - 💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 A-Ha - 💕 The Bangles - ✔️ Cyndi Lauper - ✔️ Twisted Sister - 💕 Punch Brothers - ✔️ Nickel Creek -  💕 💕 💕 💕 💕 Poets Of The Fall - 💕

Tagging: anyone !!j

[decouvrir-le-monde]

On the afternoon of November 17, I zipped up my bag, waved goodbye to Ms. Thuy, and hailed an Uber Motorcycle to Sapa O’Chau tour office in the Hanoi Old Quarter. I ducked into the tiny room, paid the remainder of my trip cost, and settled on the bench to wait for the others to arrive. They came, surprisingly, from upstairs. I met the mid-twenties Australian couple I would be spending the next few days with, Tom and Phoebe, just as our taxi to the bus station arrived. Our Hanoi guide ushered us into the car and we made small talk for the half hour drive in rush hour. She was from Sapa, a member of the Black Hmong community, and apparently the tour company housed her in the same building as the office.

Arriving at the bus station, she asked us to wait by the benches as she went to get us tickets. Our bus was going to leave at 9pm. The 6 hour sleeper bus ride will land us in the middle Båc Hà at 3:30am, she told us. We should rest on the bus (try to get as much sleep as possible) for a few hours, and then our Sapa guide would meet us there at 6am and take us to the homestay.

At last it came time to find our bus. I didn’t know what to expect from a sleeper bus. Would it have real beds? Would it be more like an airplane? We mounted the bus, taking off our shoes at the first step, and found rows of double decker horizontal seat-beds. And we settled in as best we could. This proved to be difficult, as Tom is a big guy—about 6’10’’, and the seats were built for standardly sized Vietnamese people, that is about 5’3”.  He asked if we could move to the back seats, where there were no foot cubbies, so that his feet could hang off the end.

After moving, we got to know each other a bit more then settled down to sleep as best as possible. I will say this: it was magnitudes better than an airplane. Motion helps me sleep, and we were actually laying down, but there was little to no personal space. We stopped at midnight, and I got dinner: egg and soya cheese soup. Too soon, the driver called me back, and I went back to drifting in and out of sleep.

We arrived in the early morning and tried to sleep as our guide had advised, then we ventured out of the bus. We stuck out—both by our race and Tom’s height—so our tour guide, Khai, found us immediately.

The morning fog had settled over the tops of the terraced mountains and a chill breeze cut through the air as I hopped on the back of Khai’s motorcycle and we rode through the town to our homestay.

We were met with cups of hot herb tea and got to know our tour guide a little better. He lives in Sapa, a famous area of Northern Vietnam, and is a member of the Black Hmong ethnic minority, native to Sapa. This means he speaks three and a half languages: the Hmong language, Vietnamese, and English. Plus a little bit of French. During the rest of the trip, he taught me tidbits of the Hmong language.

We stuck our bags in a room for safekeeping, and then they brought us breakfast. One by one, we were handed huge steaming bowls of phở. These noodles were different though. They were thin and flat, silkier and more delicate, and had a slight red tint to them. Khai told us that they are made from a different kind of rice, one that’s grown locally in Båc Hà. We slurped it up pretty quickly—it tasted amazing—but still couldn’t finish it all.

homemade breakfast phở

After breakfast, it was time to take our motorcycle tour to the Can Cau market. It was a 45 min drive, through the vast hills and valleys of Northern Vietnam, cut into rice terraces as far as you can see, by thousands of years of human handiwork. Because Tom could drive a motorcycle, Phoebe rode with him, while I rode with Khai. I got lucky in that I think. In addition to the fact that he is a much more experienced motorcycle driver, we got the chance to talk about many things: culture and family and language. And I could ask questions whenever I wanted. 

We talked about religion. Khai and I discovered we were both atheists, and I learned that in the rural parts of Vietnam, very few people are religious. He said, it makes more sense that way. That atheism is the most believable. In the cities of Vietnam, most people are Buddhist, or at least pray to their ancestors, but Khai said that outside of the cities, Buddhism is very rare.

And we talked about language. I mentioned that he speaks 3.5 languages. When I asked if the Hmong language is closer to English or Vietnamese, he hesitated and then decided on English. He taught me “hello” and “thank you” and “what is your name” and “my name is Annika” in the Hmong language. The Black Hmongs, like Khai, live in the Sapa region, but we were visiting the Bắc Hà region. There live the Flower Hmongs, so named for their colorful clothes. Each speak a different dialect, but can usually understand each other.

I learned that his parents and grandparents are farmers and that they have a lot of animals. I also learned that he is 22 and married, with a one-year-old daughter at home. This took me by surprise–he is only 4 years older than me, and he said his wife was 2 years younger than him. That means she had her child and 19 years old. Our guide back in Hanoi had mentioned that people here marry very young. But still, she was only negligibly older than I am now when she had her daughter. I couldn’t stop thinking about that.

But the conversation moved on.

I learned the traditional way of making houses is packed mud and wood, and he pointed out countless examples.

traditional house

But much of the time, we were bathed in a comfortable silence, admiring the view. Every once in a while, we would stop to take pictures and bask in the natural beauty sans the motorcycle rumble.

If not for our sore bottoms, it would have felt like no time at all when we neared the Can Cau market.

All of a sudden, the rolling hills and endless green gave way to a true market–a bustle of transactions and young mothers with children and ancient, frail-looking people lugging impressively sized loads of the days shopping. The smells of fried rice dumplings and fresh produce, steaming soup and dried herbs greeted our senses.

We wandered the market, marveled at intricate handmaid textiles and produce we didn’t recognize. Khai browsed for a colorful dress for his wife. I was surprised that we were some of the only foreigners there.

After an hour or so browsing the market, we weren’t quite so full from breakfast anymore, and Khai decided to buy a bag of tiny oranges and fried red rice sesame dumplings (pictured above). The pink color, Khai explained, is not from the locally grown red rice, but from a fruit that they flavor the dough with. He would point out the fruit later if we came across it, because he didn’t know the English word.

Regardless, they were delicious, as fried food often is, and light, as fried food often isn’t. With a crunch of rice and toasted sesame on the outside, and lightly sweet, chewy glutinous rice dough in the middle. This would tide us over until lunch.

Munching happily, we hopped back on our motorcycles and almost immediately left civilization behind us. From time to time, we passed a group of small kids, or an old lady or two on foot, trudging up the hill with their market load on her back, but mostly, it was just a great expanse of green rice terraces. When I asked Khai how far away most people lived, he responded very simply: “far”. We stopped for a rest after quite a while driving next to a big ledge overlooking the view. We left our motorcycles by the side of the road, trotted up the dandelion-dotted ledge, and were met with a beautiful view. We tried some of the tiny oranges. Just like fat bananas, it seemed as if all the sweetness and citrus flavor of a normal sized orange had been concentrated into the size of a golf ball.

We talked a little bit, but mostly let the vast quiet of the mountains wash over us.

  Khai told us about a waterfall about 15 minutes away, and we decided to go find it. I’m glad we did.

Phoebe on a bridge overlooking the waterfall

the trickling waterfall and some buffalo

At last, we continued the journey back to our homestay, stopping briefly on the way for a bowl of phở at a tiny local restaurant for lunch.

đậu phụ phở (tofu phở) for lunch

A 20 minute ride later, we were back at the homestay.

I didn’t quite realize that morning how big that house was. It was made up of a few separate buildings so that there was room for a family of 7—two parents, three kids, and two grandparents—as well as about 15 guests. We were shown up a small slope to our “bedrooms” in a separate house on stilts.

I say “bedroom” because it was basically a huge vaulted room with three mattresses laid out in various spots. We settled down to rest for the hour or so before dinner.

But not long after, we got a visitor! Our host’s daughter came around exploring. We had met her this morning at breakfast, when she was playing in the same room. So we invited her in, and I attempted to engage her in my best Vietnamese, before I realized her native language is the Flower Hmong language.

Despite this, she seemed interested enough in trying to play games with me. We played some stacking hand games, and then I taught her a game from my childhood, Slide. Then she found my camera. She was very interested, so I showed her where the shutter button is. Without advancing the film, I let her take a couple hundred photos.

Then it was time for dinner. A feast for the whole family, plus Khai (who was visiting from Sapa) and 9 guests. It was a meal similar to the ones I have with my Hanoi family. Individual bowls of rice, and some dishes I recognized–tomato grilled tofu, meat and vegetable clear soup–plus a couple extra vegetarian options. Since meat there is less available, vegetarians seem to have an easier time.

Here though, we were given something else, something special: homemade rice wine. It tasted very strong, but I think it was only about as alcoholic as a beer. Everyone at first made the same mistake of drinking it in a shot. This is how the locals drink it, but it meant that everyone was given a prompt refill. I glanced at Khai and saw that he took a small sip and left the nearly full cup on the table. We followed suit.

After dinner, I asked if we could help clean up, and then they invited us to drink tea in the other house. We agreed of course, and were met in the other small wooden house with small shot glasses of steaming green tea.

We sat around a table, awash in warm Hmong conversation and laughter. The grandfather sat at the end, smoking Vietnamese tobacco through a handmade bamboo bong. At some point, he offered it to anyone wanting to try. Most of us were too timid, but Tom tried it, as did an Italian tourist.

a very underexposed picture of the bong in use

Soon after, we retired to bed. After taking a shower, I stepped back into the sound of beautiful music. Apparently, our host had come to say good night and share some traditional music. He played a homemade flute. And it was incredible. I cannot describe it, and I didn’t take a video, but I did take a sound recording. This blog won’t let me upload audio files, so I made it into a quick simple video with some footage I took on the trip:

The next day, breakfast was banana pancakes made by our host. They were delicious, and still hot when he served them to us. Even so, we struggled to finish them, and left the table very full.

Then it was time to walk to Bắc Hà market. This was a short trip, and well worth it. There were some similarities to the Can Cau market, but here the market was huge.

After we browsed a bit, Tom and Phoebe decided to walk around the lake and meet us for lunch later. So Khai and I wandered for an hour or so. We passed many stalls selling traditional medicine–dried herbs and powders. We passed cooking herbs, fruits, and roots that Khai introduced me to, and a row of people selling slabs of something pale and slightly purple. Khai asked the sellers, and we were told they were cuts of local tofu. At the edge of the market, we found the row of people selling rice. Huge, human-sized rucksacks lined the street, holding varieties of local and imported rice.

I bought some items I will not disclose (to be holiday presents soon), and we decided to break for tea. I got Lipton tea (omnipresent here) and said yes to the woman’s offer of a half passion fruit. It was served with a bowl of sugar, and I was expecting it to be very sour, but it was oddly very sweet. We sat back, sipped and munched, watched the motion of the market, and talked.

Afterwards, Khai bought some more of the fried rice sesame balls, and then he went to make our lunch reservation and left me to wander on my own. After browsing for an hour or so, I made my way to the restaurant where we all met up. We were served a traditional lunch, with rice and a couple different Vietnamese dishes… plus French fries!!

After lunch, we embarked on a horse cart to take us back to the homestay.

Here, we had a bit of time to kill, so I played cards with Tom and Phoebe for an hour or so (while talking about American vs. Australian politics) and then I went for a walk. I wandered into town, and took an offroad that looked like it would turn into a slope. In this, I was right.

My little walk turned into an hour long hike up a small mountain. It was absolutely beautiful. There’s something to be said for hiking alone. And experiencing the beauty around you without the sound of a motorbike or other people talking. It’s nice to be able to take everything in at your own pace.

And on that hike, a mile or so away from anyone I knew, thousands of miles from home–out of wifi (and I assume out of cell service, although I didn’t try)–I was probably the most remote I’ve ever been. It was extremely peaceful.

I got back, took a shower, and packed–just in time for dinner. We ate and talked, rode to the bus station, and started our long, traveling night home.

Bắc Hà and Can Cau On the afternoon of November 17, I zipped up my bag, waved goodbye to Ms. Thuy, and hailed an Uber Motorcycle to Sapa O’Chau tour office in the Hanoi Old Quarter.