A week in Hanoi and Sapa

Things have been busy in the Kingdom of Wonder and I am sorry to say that blog entries have slipped. I have a few almost ready to go, and have been capturing all my adventures, but have been very lax at writing things up. Too busy living it! So, here goes....

Back in February 2017 I wasn't lucky enough to head to Vietnam to do a recce for an upcoming philanthropic travel trip for one of my clients donors and interested travellers.

I flew into Ha Noi on the Sunday evening and was met by my guide and driver. I headed to the hotel and relaxed and got some rest. I had been Ha Noi in 2015, so took a small walk around and fund a nice local restaurant. 

Day one involved exploring one of Ha Noi's most stunning hotels for the group to stay in. The rooms were lovely...

..and the views form the roof looked out over the lake and Turtle Tower - whose legend can be read here: http://www.travelingthruhistory.com/turtle-tower/

Next I had several NGO visits, who support a range of things from education to supporting children who live n the street to anti trafficking. If you have an interest in these NGOs and their work take a look here http://gophilanthropic.org/gophil-expands-trafficking-work-vietnam/

After several days visiting inspiring NGOs it was time to head north to Sapa. You have a couple of options to get there, one is a mini bus that takes around 5 hours, the other option is an overnight train. The carriages are shared between 4 people and I would recommend a bottom bunk - the top ones are tricky to get in and out of if you need the loo in the night!

"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer." - Corrie Ten Boom

I slept ok, but not wonderfully and landed in Sapa early doors. I was picked up by a driver and headed to the hotel for a shower and a few meetings with trekking companies and hotels. 

I had been careful to book the trip around Tet (Vietnamese new year) and had three meetings with trekking companies booked. Unfortunately, after Tet comes some of the festivals for the ethnic minority tribes in the region - which no one had mentioned when I was booking these meetings, not helpful!

I met with one company - the fabulous Ethos Spirit. Owned by a Vietnamese lady and her husband (from down the road back home). They were so knowledgeable about trafficking and the reality on the ground in the area. The stories and information they shared were fascinating and super sad.

The things I learned as a part of researching that trip, on the trip and since have been amazing. There are so many awful things that go on in this world and the world of trafficking is so complex. Again, I urge you to look here http://gophilanthropic.org/gophil-expands-trafficking-work-vietnam/

The mist in Sapa was insane. When I was there the year or so before you could see stunning rice steps for miles, this time, you could see no more than 20 meters and may as well be walking on the pennines! 

One of the first ports of call was to check out the main hotels. All shrouded in mist, but lovely non the less...

The two best days of the trip were to follow between hill trekking and a local festival. 

The first of these days was spent with one of the Black Hmong guides from Ethos Spirit. 

At the time my back was still in recovery, so I could not do a huge amount of trekking, but had trekked the region the year before (some cute pics here: https://thetravelsofladyg.blogspot.com/2016/05/trekking-in-sapa.html ). This trip was more to get a feel for the trekking company, guides, region and local knowledge.

After a short time observing the English class for the guides...

...we headed to a local market and picked out some good - pork, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach etc.

We took a short drive and then a short trek to our guides house...

...before preparing the food and cooking together...

...and then the family all joined us for lunch...

Our guide showed us the grain mill in her house too.

We then headed back and it was time to chill out at the hotel for a while.

Next day, I was due to meet with the other trekking companies, but everyone was at the Ta Van festival in the next valley. Yesterday's driver hadn't been too keen or too flexible, but todays driver was lovely and very much up for a trip to Ta Van, so off we went. Once we arrives he left me too it and I headed into the valley...

This festival was a really special time of year for the whole community. It is a great time for people to meet  people, catch up with family, play games, keep their culture alive... 

"A national festival is an occasion to refine and rebuild the national character." - Narendra Modi

...and possibly meet a husband or wife. In Homing culture it is traditional for the boy to 'kidnap' the girl - she will stay at his home for a few days and if she wants to marry they can, and if not she can leave. The trouble with this is that if a girl goes missing for a few days the families do not worry so much as they assume she is with another local family. In fact, in today's climate she may have been tricked my a trafficking broker and within a day could be miles into the interior of China being sold as an unwilling bride or prostitute with no local language ability or way get home. These festivals are great fun and, as for any teenager, the chance to meet a potential boyfriend / girlfriend very exciting, but in modern times it is important to be super cautious.

At the festival there are dancing shows...

...and games - which seemed to largely involved balancing, climbing or catching animal skills.

This one involved chasing and trying to catch ducks - whoever catches the duck wins the money. I definitely felt sorry for the ducks, but they were not injured and infact I think the men got more injured bumping into one another!

As any festival there were plenty of toys and food and souvenirs to buy.

And even a place to get a blessing.

Soon it was time to get the train back to Ha Noi for one final night before flying back to Cambodia with a head full of travels and new knowledge.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” 
― Mark Twain

Mum's Cambodian Christmas 2016

Arriving in early December (2016) Mum and I had some time together in Siem Reap to chill out. We had some nice dinners, hung out with friends, and took in the Angkor Photo Festival - much of which was centered around photos and interviews with Khmer Rouge survivors and was very interesting and special to see this older generation sharing something which normally remains silent.

Service of tea and lemon meringue pie at a little tucked away tea house.

'Tea is the elixir of life' - Lao Tzu


Dinner with friends at Mie Cafe.


Delicious cocktails


Flavored gin tasting party.
Both mine and mums were made in a hurry and tasted like drain cleaner! the passionfruit and pineapple ones someone made were delicious though! There were also some unusual flavours like blueberry, rosella and miracle tea. Somehow we were all pretty restrained (see quote below, no one wants that going down!) and I believe there is even some of the gin left to this day!

“The most dangerous drink is gin. You have to be really, really careful with that. And you also have to be 45, female and sitting on the stairs. Because gin isn't really a drink, it's more a mascara thinner. "Nobody likes my shoes!" "I made... I made fifty... fucking vol-au-vents, and not one of you... not one of you... said 'Thank you.'" And my favourite: "Everybody, shut up. Shut up! This song is all about me.” ― Dylan Moran

When I was at home sick over Christmas 2015 (and we should both have been in Cambodia) I promised mum dinner at Cuisine Wat Damnak - one of my favourite 'treat places' here and the dinner did not disappoint with Cambodian delicacies and a French Twist delicious wine and fabulous service, we had an awesome time. The final plate is of Cambodian fruits...

Served with chili salt two were quite delicious and the one that looks like cucumber is one of those fruits loved over here for it sour taste that sucks all the moisture from your moth - urgh!! The rest of the meal was so divine I took no photos!

We enjoyed a fabulous evening at Phare circus (acrobatic, no animals of course) watching their new show - 'Same same but different' which showed various aspects of life and how Cambodians and foreigners react to them. I love this show as I have been in so many 'same same but different' scenarios and have learned to love and embrace cultural differences here and in other countries (in the main!). The show illustrates how foreigners love to (Brits for sure!) queue and Cambodians all dive right in! How foreigners hate and avoid the rain, but Cambodians love and embrace it! How cultures eat and drink differently - and how foreigners sometimes overstay their welcome in restaurants and bars when Cambodians want to go to bed! It also illustrated aspects of the death of some of Khmer culture as foreign influence takes its toll, alongside how we can work together when things like power outs happen.It is a gentle, funny and poignant illustration of the world I straddle.

My work was very busy and mum had a really bad, persistent pain in her toe which really caused her issues in getting around. We had hoped to go to Myanmar, but for various reasons it fell off the cards. And will be enjoyed in Christmas 2017 with mum and bestie!

Christmas day was spent enjoying food, drink and silly gifts with friends, poolside. 

At the end of the year we headed first to Phnom Penh, before Kampot and Kep.

Our first stop in PP was the Royal Palace, then the Russian Market, followed by Toul Sleng (S21) and the Killing Fields.

Royal Palace.

Royal Palace.

Royal Palace.

We also headed to the Russian market... 

...and saw someone making the leather punched shadow puppets.

Having lived here a couple of years by this point I really felt it important to visit S21 and pay my respects. Mum and I took our own pace here in order to reflect and take breaks when needed. We were keen to be sensitive and took few photos - I did want to share a few as this is such an important part of recent Cambodian history and good for people to understand what happened.

The rules of the time.

S21 was a school (Toul Sleng) converted into a prison, during the Khmer Rouge regime. Here some of the worst atrocities took place. In some ways what got me the most was that the buildings were just like every other school I have ever seen or visited here in Cambodia, somehow this emphasized the juxtaposition of what normal life was like before it was destroyed.

The classrooms / cells here were filled with everyday objects turned into items of torture.

Memorial.

They also have a display of photos of people who were taken by the KR and some images, implements and stories of torture. Which, in my eyes, were not something to take photos of.

Killing Fields - somehow very peaceful, yet powerful. The place has many mass graves, and the infamous tree that babies ad children were killed against. Again, not a 'kodak moment'. We were actually quite shocked at the Khmerican tourist climbing on things and taking selfies and really not getting the significance of where she was. 

Soon enough we were down in Kampot, taking in river life and the sleepy town atmosphere.

One evening we enjoyed an amazing sunset river cruise where we saw both flying fish and fireflies!

There were four others on the boat with us and one of them had no idea how physics on a small, flat bottomed boat worked and kept running around the boat from side to side to take snaps, the guide had to keep trying to keep him still or move other people around the boat to keep us from capsizing, which could have been interesting!

 On my birthday / NYE we headed to the Fishmarket restaurant for a nice meal and some drinks. All along the river people (including kids as young as 2yo were letting off fireworks and soon enough we had made a couple of friends and were doing our best Harry Potter impressions too!

Soon we discovered that the place was due to shut at 10pm ish so the staff could have a party and welcome in the new year! We were soon ejected and realized everywhere else was also closing, so headed back to the hotel to enjoy the fizz we had bought with foresight by the river as we watched fire works and welcoming in the new year.

 We spent a day up at Greenhouse relaxing and swimming in the river. We also had a day in Kep - enjoying Rabbit Island, when we finally got there. Our tuktuk driver was about forty minutes and we had booked on a boat to go to the islands. We had to laugh as he seemed like a very methodical man whose tuk tuk read 'safety first' as he drove like a bat out of hell, looking through his one eye, way over any sensible speed all the way from Kampot to Kep (usually about an hour, this time about 40 mins) to get us to the boat! Terrifying!



We relaxed on the island for a while before heading back to get crab at the crab shacks on the mainland.

"The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach." - Henry Beston

Next up sundowner cocktails at Knai Bang Chatt looking out over the water...

Soon we were heading back to PP and then SR feeling refreshed and ready for the new year and after a few more nice treats and some time healing sore toes (mum) and bad tummies (both) it was time for mum to fly home. 

'I really don't want to say goodbye to any of you people.' - Christa McAuliffe