In 1994, i resigned from my short lived career (only 2 and half yrs), a career which i had thought as a child would last me a life time....(what an irony, the only reason i stayed on for more than a year was that i was bonded) :) Well, how some people's aspirations change through the years....
i was bitten by the travel bug when i made my first trip in 1991 to Bali with some hostel mates. After that, the subsequent trips to Malaysia and Thailand got me even more addicted to backpacking and i found that 2 weeks were just too short a time for so much to see and to experience, so i decided before the fire in my heart dies or before my body says 'DGMI'(don't get me involved), i had to make the dream trip of my life....
July 1994,
With a wonderful travel companion MH, we flew to Pakistan and travelled from Islamabad northwards to the beautiful Hunza valley onto the Karakouram highway, overland into China, onto part of the silk road : Xinjiang, Gansu and then into Sichuan where MH had to depart for home while i continued onto Yunnan. Altogether i was away for 3 and a half months and had such a wonderful time that, 13 years later, the experience remains my most cherished and proudest memories.
A few days back, i saw an article in a magazine which introduced the word "gapper"- it originated from Britain in the 80's and refers to a person who takes a long break in a year ( known as a gap year), normally between a few months to one or two years, away from work or studies or whatever, and just travel or does voluntary work away from home during the 'gap'. According to the article, these are normally people between ages 25-40, mostly fresh graduates taking a long vacation before embarking on a career, or people in their mid careers taking a sabatical or people in between jobs.
Erm..hmmm, so i qualified as a gapper then.
The 'gapper' trend has gotten very popular in the last decade. In 1994, most of the gappers i met then were Europeans and Japanese, in the late 90s, more Hong Kongers, and in the new millenium, South Koreans and a lot, and it's really a lot of mainland Chinese. Each time i meet one, my heart itches to 'gap' again....but never more so than during this recent trip to Daocheng-Yading.
My first night in Chengdu Traffic hotel was spent with 2 lady gappers, one a Jap girl who's resigned from her job and gone all over Tibet for 5weeks and intending to do more, the other a Hong Kong girl who's completed a course, gone all over the Tibetan regions in Sichuan for a month and still looking at more...
In Daocheng, i sneaked into Yading with Wong, a middle aged HK guy who's also resigned to travel until he's satisfied.
And then i discovered more gappers in Daocheng itself....the founder of Yading People's Community, also the boss of the first hostel in Daocheng loved Yading so much he left his hometown in Chengdu to set up the first backpacker hostel and subsequently, with the help of a bunch of other gappers including an environment researcher from Beijing and his British student set up a community that looked into improving the lives of the Daocheng community and the preservation of the environment there.
At the hostel i stayed in, the boss also resigned from his publishing job,left his hometown to set up a hostel in Daocheng, which opens only from spring to autumn , as for the rest of the year, he's trekking in the mountains and valleys somewhere or relaxing in some corner in some paradise land.
And then there were more and more of such i come across with in Zhongdian and Lijiang.
Hmmm, how i envy these people, to be able to let go,and live the lives they truly pursue, with passion and in freedom.
Now, I'm SERIOUSLY thinking of doing exactly just that....
。。。。去实现我的野人的梦
Updated 24 Mar 08 :Read a very interesting account in Chinese of this gapper who spent 13months gapping from Guangzhou to Macau, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, India, Pakistan and Tibet. Very captivating story with beautiful and meaningful pictures at http://www.doyouhike.net/forum/globe/1/279778,0,0,0.html
i'm so sorry i actually entertained the thought of putting you away for good and ending my backpacking trips once and for all when i was having AMS (acute mountain sickness) on the way from Kangding to Daocheng during this recent trip. How could i even bother to entertain such a horrendous idea? You are still in such pink (or i should say purple) of health and way more sturdy to waste your life away wrapped up in some PVC, stuffed away in a closet. i have since repented, as soon as my AMS subsided; yea, by God's grace, we definitely have lots more years together to wander around the world according to our time and pace, to explore the beauty and wonders of God's creations without me having to lug a trolley case, to be herded around like sheep in package tour groups yet. And so you would still be my faithful companion, like you've always been, in Pakistan, on the Karakurom highway, in China, in Sri Lanka, in Cambodia, in Vietnam, in Thailand, in Myanmar, in Switzerland, in Turkey, in Jordan, in Bali, in Japan, in India......and where else...
i'm sorry too i had never treasured you enough to get you a cover on all those trips before this year. Only after discovering how the baggage handlers damaged the two backpack covers i've used on you this year did i realise how resilient and sturdy you are. You survived all those rough years since 1994, being stepped on, being thrown or dragged around, going through x-ray scans, lying on dirt and dust in the buses and trains and once was spit upon....without a trace of injury on your body , except of course you looked like you can do with a good dip in the laundry. :)
Thank You Lowe.. and to all the friends out there who had given Lowe to me as a trustworthy companion- always comfortable on my back; never failed to protect all my essentials for my trips; never said no to my stuffing it with more shopping goods at the end of the trip always right to the seams; never got itself entangled with the conveyor belts at the airport. (yea, i had another lousy pack that did) and oh yes, not forgetting the time it found its way back to our home after the airlines sent it to the wrong destination.
i was told Lowe's family no longer come to Singapore nowadays, so it's difficult to get a family doc if anything should happen to it. i really must take good care of my faithful companion that had taken good care of me all these years.
Dearest Bauer,
i must say finding you at Metro years ago was really one of my greatest finds. Like Lowe, you've faithfully taken care of me through all my trips since 1995 and still looked ready to continue for many more trips to come. Thank you for being of such good nature, you are light on my body, you've let me feel cool in hot climate and kept me warm in the cold. You've protected all my clothings underneath from the dust and pollutants in the air and on the roads; you've hidden my money pouch safely from sight but letting it be easily accessible to me at the same time; you've kept my necks and hands well away from the scorching sun ; you've dried up quickly after wash and had also been resilient to tearing after all these years! Thumbs up! Keep up the good work pal !
Let's look forward to many more good times together wandering in the mountains and valleys with Lowe in the days and years to come.
The following was forwarded to me and i am touched enough to want to share it here with you:
[ Babs Miller was bagging some early potatoes for me. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller and the ragged boy next to me.
"Hello Barry, how are you today?" "H'lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas . Sure look good."
"They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?"
"Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time." "Good. Anything I can help you with?"
"No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas."
"Would you like to take some home?"
"No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with."
"Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?"
"All I got's my prize marble here."
"Is that right? Let me see it."
"Here 'tis. She's a dandy."
"I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?"
"Not zackley . but almost."
"Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble."
"Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller."
Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said, "There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, perhaps."
I left the stand smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering. Several years went by, each more rapid that the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his viewing that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could. Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts ... all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.
Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and mentioned the story she had told me about the marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.
"Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim "traded" them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size .... they came to pay their debt." "We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world," she confided, "but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho."
With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.
Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, An hour to appreciate them, A day to love them, But an entire life to forget them. ]
The above story reminded me of a song by Liang Hong Zhi, a Taiwanese song writer who wrote many popular songs, including this simple beautiful piece which i wish to share here. The title is '舍得' (pronounced 'she de') . It means a willingness to love and give unto the needy as Jesus said : "Love one another as I have loved you "
Arrived at the Le Duan Rail Station at 5a.m in the cold drizzling morning of the 8th Mar and waited outside the station for the Van Xuan 2 Hotel staff who had promised to pick me up from the station when i called from Sapa to reserve a room at the hotel. Actually the main reason i decided to stay there was their advertisement which promoted FREE pick up from the railway station. As i was to arrive early morning before sunrise, i had thought it wiser to get someone from the hotel to pick me up rather than me having to hail a motor taxi (xe om) in the dark to any hotels in the old quarters. Regretfully, there was NO sign of anyone coming to pick me up after half an hr wait at the railway station and most people had already left the station. The 'xe om' drivers had been bugging me to take their motor taxis all this while and i was all tired n irritated after a disturbing night in the supposedly 1st class 4-men cabin with a very inconsiderate pair of men who had chatted and snacked through the night.
Made a call from one of the drinks stall outside the station to Van Xuan 2 hotel, (the stall owner had the cheek to ask for 5000VND per minute when a call in Sapa to Hanoi cost only 2000VND per minute in the hotel!! i was only willing to pay her max 2000VND per minute and of course she was agreeable) These people, can makan they makan.
The Van Xuan 2 Hotel staff was not even awake when i called and he apologised for the no show and told me to take a xe om (motorbike taxi) on my own but was reluctant to pay for it !! i gave him a earful and slammed down the phone, decided to go to another hotel recommended by some people on the net and in the guide books -The APPLE Hotel, just opp the Van Xuan 2. The xe om driver agreed on 1 USD for the short ride from Le Duan to Luong Ngoc Quyen but when we arrived , he asked for 20000VND and insisted i gave him in VND, not USD !! i told him to take the 1USD plus 2000VND or leave it. The Apple hotel staff, like everyone else in Vietnam at that hour were fast asleep and not at all pleased to be woken up so early in the morning, but at least they were not unfriendly. The hotel was full as so were all the others in that vicinity, incl. as i later found out ,The Van Xuan 2. Apparently, the 8th March, which is Women's Day in our calendar, is like a sort of Valentines's day over there and it's the wedding peak season, hence, many Vietnamese had come to Hanoi to attend wedding celebrations, and the hotel business was brisk. i had to wait till 7.30a.m before i could get a room for that's the time when most tourists checked out for Halong Bay or Perfume Pagoda trips. Meanwhile, i had this very tech & business savvy, worldly wise travel agency boss, Phong who happened to be bunking at The Apple , to keep me entertained with all his business strategy talks.
Room at The Apple
The hotel staff refused to let me see the room first before i pay up, he promised me i would be pleased with it, a room with satellite tv, 24h hot water for showers, big and spacious. i was beguiled by his friendliness and trusted that the room should be ok since the last 2 hotels i've stayed in Hanoi were alright. i did not check if there was air condition. He asked for 8USD even though the internet and guidebk had quoted 5-6 USD. It was the biggest and stupidest error i made to pay for the room first without checking it out. (he insisted on payment first if i wish to keep my passport instead of letting the hotel hold onto it) The room was at the highest floor, as always in vietnamese houses, after a steep climb, i entered a drab, unappealing room with 2 beds, a TV, a bathroom and windows that looked out into the streets below. The staff was quick to disappear before i could make any complaints or requests. After settling down ( i was really so tired), i discovered the bedsheets were dirty with stains, obviously not cleaned, the floor was full of black ants, there was no aircon , mozzies were flying around and the TV had only one non vietnamese station which was getting remotely tuned at the whims and fancy of the staff downstairs. (satellite TV indeed!). The bathroom was tiny and the soap supplied was dirty! i wanted to check out but since i'd already paid and i was really exhausted (after one whole night on the dirty 1st class cabin of the LaoCai-Hanoi local train with 2 very restless Vietnamese men), i decided to just make do with it and stayed for the night. The Apple Hotel staff had the cheek to ask if i wanted to sign up for the Halong Bay tour with them and said they guaranteed quality service!!! (once bitten, twice shy 揾我笨吗，睬你都傻!) After a short nap and a shower, i went out looking for makan and had the wanton noodles at the stall near the motel i stayed the last round, yummy yummy only 13000VND, very tasty cos like all Vietnamese food a lot of MSG :) Had the Vietnamese drip coffee and french loaf sandwich at the stall opposite too. The streets were full of people selling flowers and young ladies carrying bouquets bought by the guys, it's Vietnamese Valentine's day ! And there were a few wedding banquets about to be held too, in the narrow shophouses in the old quarters.
Took a look at The Anh Dao hotel and found the rooms a lot more decent at USD12 with free access to internet. Decided to sign up with ODC at Anh Dao and also booked a room there for the last night after i returned from Halong Bay. The cost is much higher with ODC (37USD) after bargaining from 42USD) as compared to other agencies which only asked for 26-29 USD for the 2D 1N boat trip. But i had a good impression of ODC from the last visit and they insisted their trips offered a difference in quality. Well, since i've beeen on a 26USD trip before and didn't exactly like the service or quality, i decided to give ODC and an extra 12USD a try.
Halong Bay
Fog seemed to follow me all the way from China to Vietnam to Halong Bay. Weather this time round was much worse than the first time in Dec 04 when i made my first trip here and i think this makes all the diff, 'cos we couldn't see any of the beautiful karsts until late afternoon and even then it was only on and off and before long, the sun got hidden again. i snapped as much as possible with the digi and hoped for clearer visibility the next day. The itinerary this round, as compared to the other trip in Dec 04 was almost similar: We visited only one cave this time (2 the other time) but we had a stop at TipTop island and there was kayaking for Mark n Marlene, and the Danish family. Halong bay IS very beautiful, i would say more so than Guilin. The bay is really massive with numerous karsts and the guide said many foreign enemies had lost their lives there when they attacked Vietnam as they couldn't find their way out through the maze of karts, especially in the fog. There were a lot of boat hawkers peddling mostly food stuff and drinks to the tourist boats but i observed there were few takers as most tourists would be on full board packages already. Felt sad for the little kids, some of them looked less than 10years old, rowing their boats real hard, trying to sell something to the tourists. Life, on the bay, for the 'water people' can really be quite a challenge.
i thank God company on board was good , with 2 Danish couples, one of them living in America, with a most adorable 3n half yr old son, Jamie; an Australian(Mark) who lived in Switzerland and his Swiss girlfriend (Marlene) and 2 very pretty Korean girls. Small group, a good guide, Bao (young chap, non smoker, who listened and attended to our comments n requests attentively). For USD12 more, the boat type n food onboard this round was the same as the last trip except i had a better room this time where the hot water shower works ! :) But the door didn't close properly n the boat staff was not willing to change the room for me, giving the excuse that the other available rooms had not been cleaned. i've become quite disgusted with all these boat people who only wanted to make money out of the boat passengers and not at all concerned about our welfare. Like this female staff who came pestering the'angmos' and the Koreans to buy her pearls; she didn't come to me 'cos i looked really bo-chap :) and the other boat staff who insisted they had no small change when we paid for the drinks with bigger denominations of VND. But when we made payment in USD , they'll give a terrible exchange rate and suddenly produced coins for change! That evening, after sunset, we anchored near TipTop Island for the night. i was getting very very sick , flu that started in Sapa when i went trekking with Ya, so that night i retired real early. Weather the next day was worse than the first, almost zero vis all the way back to Halong Harbour. Sigh! Lunch was at a 3star hotel at Thanh Long, posh place, (much better as c'f to last trip where we were put up at some cramped restaurant in some crowded streets), food however was only so so.
Back to Hanoi
i went to the drugstore to get strepsils, had dinner at LadyBird's on Hang Buom St(not bad), cheaper n more variety than Little Hanoi's. Bought DVDs at store next to Anh Daos, v cheap: only 16000VND~1USD per piece and from tested playbacks, quality looked good. Hopefully , will be able to work back home. The next day, my last day in Vietnam, i took a stroll around the cathedral square which looked a world of difference from the last time i was there with Hiong in Dec04, so quiet and deserted this time round. Hiong was the sister of King-the manager of the motel i stayed in Dec 04, a very simple girl whose only wish was to find a good man to marry. She was working for her brother at the motel when i was there. She spoke a smattering bit of English and we communicated mostly in part English,(with the help of her dictionary), part Vietnamese (with the help of my phrase book) and part sign language. On Christmas eve that year, she offered to take me to the midnight mass when i asked her about the cathedral. It was really kind of her and i really wouldn't have made it to the mass without her that night. It was like the whole of Hanoi was awake and all going to attend the mass, Catholics or not. The streets near the cathedral were partially cordoned off and only pedestrians were allowed. Still the motorbikes were snaking their way through the thick mass of party -going people and the traffic( human plus motor bikes) was madly chaotic. i had to hold on tight to Hiong's hand or i would have gotten lost in the crowd or gotten knocked over by one of the bikes. The whole town was in a revelling mood. Hmmm, afterall it was Christmas , a time to celebrate....though i wondered how many really appreciated the real reason ? We had to stand throughout the mass but we managed to get a strategic position amongst the packed congregation, in full view of the stage though they had also screens put up like those in Novena Church on major occasions. There was some simple play reenacting the birth of Jesus and the choir sang a few hymns before the mass began. The mass was in Vietnamese but except for the sermon, i could gather the gist of it since all Roman Catholic masses are conducted in a standard way universally with a prescibed priest-congregation response . i even did some explanation to Hiong about what was going on :) After taking my holy communion, Hiong said she was sleepy already so we left, it was already closed to 2am when we got back. The next day i bought her a flowery scented cologne as a Christmas gift and was really glad and touched to see she was genuinely delighted. She subsequently showed her appreciation by treating me to some Vietnamese snacks on the streets :) That was a beautiful experience and a memory i had no wish to spoil so this round i deliberately avoided going too near the motel that King worked becos i didn't want to bump into him again-didn't like his $-mindedness and slyness. Afterall, Hiong wouldn't be in Hanoi anymore, she had told me before we parted that she would be getting married to her fiance and would be moving to the village with him. May the Lord bless her with happy days thereafter. Recalled that M and SW joined me that Christmas night in Hanoi and we set off for Sapa that very night. The tsunami strike Asia the next day-on boxing day, thank God we were safe in the hills of Sapa then. But i wondered if Yann, the Tae Kwon-do black belted french guy i had met on the Halong Bay cruise that year , who had headed to Phuket then survived ....?
The church square this time round was empty but for a grandpa and grandson playing ball at the steps. Returning from memories of the 04 trip, i went to sit by Hoan Kiem Lake after the cathedral. Have always liked the lake. Miraculously, amidst the mad horning and hooting of traffic around the lake, one can actually feel peace and calm and even experience a kind of quiet and silence just sitting there, looking at the reflections of willows in the waters...
Did my shopping in the old quarters before i ended my HK-China-Vietnam trip. So much i wanted to buy, the handmade bamboo crafts, paper crafts, silk crafts, paintings...ceramic and the special weasel coffee (where the seeds supposedly were collected from the droppings of the weasels and an aromatic fragrance is produced from the enzyme in the weasel as the coffee seed passed through its body)..... but i can only carry so much...sigh!
Overall, i didn't like Hanoi or Vietnam as much on this trip as compared to the the first trip in Dec04. Maybe 'cos i'm not feeling too well, maybe it's the lousy weather, maybe it's the awful experience with Van Xuan 2 and Apple Hotel, maybe i didn't get to meet very nice people like during the first round, maybe i've lost that first time enthusiasm but i think most of all it's because i've travelled over from Yunnan and things were of better quality, greater efficiency and more convenience over there, people i've encountered there were less dishonest too. Guess i wouldn't be back to Vietnam, at least not Hanoi for a long while.
(Edited from an email to M at the Lao Cai Railway station on 7th Mar06.. continued)
TREK TO LAO CHAI -TAVAN VILLAGES
The next day the weather was fine with the sun coming out though there was still a lot of fog. Had wanted to walk to the valleys myself but was stopped at the ticket booth (yea, u hv to pay to go to the villages! ), they insisted i hv to hv a guide else they won't sell me the entry ticket! So i walked all the way up back to the hotel & they got me a Black H'Mong girl to bring me for the trek for 8USD. i was looking out for Zi but didn't see her. i got this girl called Za, pronounced 'Ya' instead. She claimed she's 16 too and knows Zi. Ya is a very pretty girl with rosy cheeks, flawless skin and v clean appearance. She speaks much better English than Zi, is more mature in thinking though still mischevous n she's certainly much more professional n considerate than Zi where leading the trek is concerned. i must say the terrace fields here are also beautiful works of sculpt but really nothing compared to those in Yuan Yang.
i had a great time with Ya who brought me on a route different from the last we took with Zi . We walked into the paddy fields instead of on the mainroad n though it was quite a difficult walk, the views and the people esp. the children we met along the way were worth it. She showed me the schools & hospitals of the Zao people and explained the customs and life of the H'mong along the way. i really liked her a lot. :) She said girls in her village go out to find work at a very young age or help out in the fields when young, education is not a priority for girls but i must say her English, picked up on her own through tourists, is really impressive. Indeed, i met girls at ages of four or five, already selling handicrafts to tourists along the trek, without any adults in sight, and they spoke good English too! (much better than some of our Singaporean hawkers, ok?) She also said girls in the village at her age are mostly of marriage age and people of my age in her tribe and village would be a grandmother by now, hmmm, can't imagine me a grandma though many would say i'm already as grumpy as one, ha ha. And she's given me her email contact! Yes, the H'mong guides mostly hv email addresses now !!
Finally saw Zi outside The Royal in the evening. She saw me too but didn't seem to recognise me. I didn't call out to her lah, just in case she has no idea who i am. Afterall, she only has yr pic :)
COC LY MARKET cum BOAT TRIP
Just came back from the Coc Ly mkt plus the boat trip along the Red River. The long drive there, the relatively much smaller mkt, with the same kind of Flower H'mong pple and the boring river trip was all together not very worth the effort n cost (USD20). Think i should hv just stayed in Sapa to enjoy the town. The market and the church square were interesting with some stalls around and old tribal ladies hand-sewing away.
my one hr is almost up, hv only just enough VND for 1 hr access. So bye for now!
(Edited from an email to M at the Lao Cai Railway Station on 7th Mar 2006)
Once over the Vietnam side, i can tell the diff in the efficiency n quality of the service, esp where transport is concerned. The Chinese r definitely a shade ahead. i had an exasperating time waiting for the bus to set off from Lao Cai to Sapa. i got on the minibus (12seater) at 2.45pm,(Vietnamese time) the bus moved off to all over Lao Cai to collect passengers before returning back to the original spot again to wait for some more passengers! Finally, we only get to really set off for Sapa at 5.15pm! i was already developing a headache after no water n no food for the whole day thru the ardous journey YuanYang to Hekou that i told myself i should hv just remained in Yunnan and not come over to Vietnam at all !
Sapa
When i arrived in Sapa, it was already sunset and as expected, foggy all over.The saving grace was The Auberge where i stayed. It's really got some class, its boss n staff, except the manager(the boss' son) r really nice, warm and welcoming, the rooms are built in a French villa style building with mini gardens along the corridors, the USD15 rooms came with real fire places but i decided to take the USD10 room which was already v spacious, with a bathtub, an electric Ariston water heater n TV. Had a good night's rest, though the damp and cold was as bad as Yuan Yang's. Could really do with a cozy fireplace...:)
Early morning view of Sapa town from The Auberge:
Sapa Bac Ha Sunday Market
(Markets in the villages around supposed to be a social place for the young men and women from various villages in the mountains to meet up and get to know each other and hence start a relationship, hence the weekend market in Bac Ha used to be called 'love market' but due to the influx of curious and nosy tourists, you hardly see any 'action' at this 'touristy' market between the young men and women but apparently, the 'love markets' are still quite prevalent in the more remote parts of the mountains.)
The next day was a rainy day in Sapa, still i went to Bac Ha (USD10) with a very lovely Swiss couple n their very very adorable 4yr old girl, another elderlyFrench couple with their Vietnamese friend who speaks French and is the boss of a hotel in Hanoi. He invited me to stay at his place when i return to Hanoi. Bac Ha was not raining, but the weather was rather gloomy and somehow the market wasn't quite as interesting as the last time we were there, some stalls were missing. Come to think of it, it's very similar to the ShengCun（ 胜村）Market over the China Yuan Yang side. Maybe, due to the proximity of the two places which are near the border, the people have similar culture, might even be from the same origin. Took a lot of pics of the Flower H'mong with the digi as well as the film camera.
When the market buzz died down, we went on a shorter trek (compared to the last time you were here), this time into the village very close by.
We had a little time left due to the shortened trek and were lead on a stroll along the Vietnam-Chinese border which i found a waste of time since i had walked over from the other side the day before.
That night i shifted to The Queen 'cos they had a room with fireplace that only cost 4USD, but room was right at the top and it's definitely no joke climbing up and down the steep stairways of Vietnamese houses esp. when u keep forgetting something u want to say to the staff downstairs at the lobby and there's no intercom. i had a good taste of that when i was abt to take a bath and found out the heater didn't seem to be working, had to put on all my clothes again, run down to the lobby, asked the staff to come fix it and then run up again. After she's 'fixed' it, (actually the switch was in off position lah but no indication of it mah), i attempted to take a bath again to find that it's still NOT working, this time i just put on the towel, ran down 4 storeys again to tell her. She said i would have to wait for 30mins for the water to get heated, well, she could have told me earlier b4 she went down , right? i was freezing in my towel and quickly ran up again. Finally after the bath, i still felt cold and decided to have the fireplace lit. Afterall, the fireplace was the main reason i shifted over. Well, i've never have to start a fire in a fireplace or keep it going in my life so that was quite an experience, not one i would like to relive again. It wasn't quite like a BBQ fire, somehow the papers and the damp wood that was supplied to me by the staff didn't burn too well and i had to keep on restarting and fanning the fire to keep it going, else it died quickly. Can u imagine me, getting in and out of bed the whole night, trying to fan and keep the fire going cos it was really really cold, think most of the cold air come in from the chimney, and the hotel didn't supply thick blankets like those in China.
(Edited from an email to M from Vietnam Lao Cai Railway Station on 7th Mar 2006)
Hi !
i'm in an internet station outside LaoCai Railway stn right now, 3 hrs more before my train departs for Hanoi n nothing to do, it's only 20c per hr for internet access, so let me update my last few episodes.....
UPDATE ON YUANYANG :
When i called from Kunming to try to book a room in Yuan Yang, i was told the weather was sunny with some fog and clouds, and i smiled to myself, thinking- "perfect for picture taking". Sigh, weather turned drastic when i arrived. The vis overall was less than 10m. The first 2days in Yuan Yang was really depressing due to heavy fog that covered almost everything from roads to houses, let alone see any rice terrace fields. i caught only glimpses of the famouse rice terraces here and there and was not at all satisfied. It was like the day we were trekking in Sapa in '04, the day after the Tsunami.....
Actually, i thank God our bus managed to arrive safely from Kunming, after a window pane behind me shattered to pieces due to the extreme change in temperature , miraculously without injury to anyone, after winding round and round the hills with the driver constantly sounding his horn cos the vis was so bad i could hardly see anything more than 2m ahead of the bus and i was sitting right behind the bus driver. i thank God he was a safe driver and didn't attempt to speed or cut lanes despite the fact we were getting quite late; there were a few occasions when a vehicle suddenly loomed into sight from the reciprocal direction just when we thought there was nothing ahead.
Yuan Yang town is very very like Sapa, with gentle slopes all over, and the hill tribe people (mostly Hani and Yi) still dressed in traditional garb except they don't harass travellers like in Sapa. Food is dirt cheap here, a bowl of noodles 1.5yuan, internet access 2yuan per hr with good speed n software, but transport n accomodation is relatively more expensive and standards relatively lower. i had a room which had a door that couldn't close properly and a heater that runs only for 2 hours in the evening and if u miss the bathing hours, that's it....
There were a lot of photo enthusiasts here waiting for the fog to clear, they were always in a ever-ready mode with tripods all on standby already cos one never gonna know when the fog will move away and even then u might only have a few moments of glimpses of the beautiful rice terraces, so cannot afford to miss it :)
i saw from the news that the bad weather is all over China,Hong Kong n i believe it's raining also in S'pore. It's apparently due to a cold front, shifting southwards, n some areas even unexpectedly snowed.
i had to postpone a trip out to the terraces with a beijing lady and a 70++yr old Shanghainese man residing in HK 'cos of the poor vis. I was afraid i might hv to extend my stay here n might have to skip the Saturday Can Cau mkt or even the Bac Ha mkt in Sapa but......
thank God the last day at YuanYang was quite fruitful for the Good Lord kindly blessed the land with sunshine and markedly improved vis though fog was still prevalent. Took quite a number of shots because the rice terraces were really impressive: great works of sculpted land by man's labour made possible by the elements of nature provided by God; the mushroom huts of the Hani people also made picturesque spots on the beautifully scultped terraces and the markets were also colourful with the Hani and Yi people. Regretfully though, i did not hv enough faith to wake up for the spectacular sunrise that morning over one of the most captivating rice terraces, could hv kicked myself when i saw the pics of the other photographers. Sunset, however was a disappointment to all who hv patiently waited for hrs at their 'choped' spots, the fog came in to mask the sun at the very last crucial moment!
Yuan Yang is really very similar to Sapa but i think i like it better here. u must really come n take a look if you had liked Sapa. Firstly, it's easier to get here from Kunming than to Sapa from Hanoi. Most of all, trekking is free and language is not so much a barrier. Throughout the places we've seen in YuanYang, the hill tribe pple r mostly kind, honest,helpful and r much less mercenary than those in Sapa. Nobody pesters you here, except at that sunset spot(Laohu Zhui), where i think tourism had spoiled the locals. The children had been taught to sing jingles that 'suan' tourists for not giving them money or buying anything from them and the local adults had stationed themselves at the most strategic spots to demand unofficial payment from pple taking photos of the rice terraces. Else, it's truly a beautiful place worth coming back to.
The World Vision has just started a project here this month to help the hill tribe pple by training them to be guides n they r also promoting responsible tourism here. They hv been v helpful in providing info even tho we didn't give them any business. Hopefully, they remain as helpful always.
On the last night before i left, i shared my room with a nice Taiwanese girl also travelling on her own. We had a good time watching and discussing the characters and plot of yr favourite show "金枝欲孽" ( which is a rage right now in China ) till late night... looks like me hooked onto it liao :) We r at the part where the emperor had just slept with Yuying n An Qian is planning to leave the palace.
Can u tell me what happened in the end huh? Did the 3 girls (an qian, er chun, yuying) reconcile with each other? Did the two men (bai yang n kong wu) turn evil? Did anybody die ? i probably will not get to watch anymore once i leave YuanYang, so pls pls pls, tell me ! tks :) hmmm, must see if i can get the pirated version b4 i come back....hee hee.
Oh..i must tell u abt the inspiring pple i met the last few days here. 3 Guangzhou young nurses, a 75++ old gentleman with his 50++yr old employee and i got together while having dinner at the famous "小余饭店" where we had a sumptuous dinner. The next morning, we went by foot to look for this rice terrace field (龙树坝）despite the fog. Well, all would hv been less adventurous if we didn't take the wrong advice from a local and ended up on a v tough 3hr trek on a path into a village with dogs barking at us; climbing n descending thru muddy,steep & narrow paths like those we walked thru in Sapa with Zi on that raining day; worst, we ended up treading on the thin steps of the rice terraces that were already filled with water. All these, thru the fog was already a little difficult for me with my bag n cameras, imagine the 75++ old gentleman, carrying his Canon EOS 1, with 3 long n short lenses plus lens hood n what not, plus he's quite big size and has Parkinson's disease.
i take my hat off to him and also to the 3 Guangzhou girls who, though on a very tight schedule (they had a bus to catch to return to Kunming just after noon), slowed down their pace, took turns to patiently hold onto the old gentleman and literally moved step by step with him across the rice terraces. It was a tedious n'precarious' task 'cos all might end up falling into the water-filled muddy fields if one slipped but thank God we all made it thru. Even though we didn't get to see the beauty of that place that morning, i saw beauty that really inspired me: the old gentleman who did not at all complain, who showed me if u have to n really want to do something, u will be able to do it regardless of age, disease or size. i was even more inspired by the 3 girls ' selflessness. Even as they rushed off to catch their bus, they did not forget to call the old gentleman on the handphone to check if he had reached the main road and they even gave him a driver's number to call in case he needed transport back to town due to exhaustion.
i thank God for all the kind pple i've met on my trips, incl. this round. The encounters alone r worth the journey already even tho this time round, weather has not been as fantastic as the Meili Snow Mountain trip.
YUAN YANG TO HEKOU
The bus from Yuan Yang to the China-Vietnam border Hekou, was supposed to take only 4hrs so i didn't pack any food but i started off at 7a.m and ended in Hekou at 3.30pm Chinese time.(8 & half hrs!) China is in the process of building the highway from YuanYang to Hekou * and there r a lot of road works and road blocks along the way. It was a torturous journey with many hours stalled at road blocks and jams, didn't help with all the unavoidable inhalation of second hand smoke in the bus coupled with a madly impatient driver using all sorts of unscrupulous ways to cut queue. At one point he detoured to the works area by the river in an attempt to cut ahead of the queue that was stalled by the road block ahead and ended up with the bus unable to move up the slope back onto the road even after several 'bull run' attempts due to the steep angle. Finally, we all had to get down the bus to help push it up....'gey kiang'!
The whole journey was along the road just beside the scenic Red River (红河) n i believe it will be a v pleasant ride once the highway is completed, but till then, no way i want to do that again.
* update : as of 28th Feb 2008, the highway from Yuanyang to Hekou is officially opened
Hekou is , surprisingly a very modern, thriving town, with good wide n clean roads, modern buildings, expensive looking hotels. The crossing of the border was relatively fast n uneventful though i did notice the customs officer at the vietnamese side trying to 'eat' the 'tofu' of the groups of Chinese girls crossing over. Thank God me no tofu :)
Arrived Kunming from Dali wee hours of 24th morning and contemplated going back to the Carmellia hostel to get my clothings but changed my mind and took the next available morning train direct to Luoping（ 罗平）. That was a big mistake.....
Weather was wonderful in Kunming but as they say here: yunnan 'shiba guai' (云南十八怪), Luoping was drizzling and freezing cold!! I left my thick clothings in Carmellia Hostel before leaving for Dali ‘cos Dali wasn't cold and Luoping was not expected to be. It was supposed to be the sunshine clear weather season and the rapeseed (油菜花) fields are supposed to be at their most beautiful, best amongst the country, golden with full bloom and sunshine. As such, the town was flooded with many people who had come to seek the famed flower fields and even though the rooms there all do not hv heating service i had difficulty getting a decent room at an affordable price. Had to make do with whatever price i could bargain to for whatever room they had left to spare me. And it was a damp and cold room with no electric blanket but at least there was enough hot water for a bath (the heater runs on solar and the skies then weren't too keen to supply the solar energy) Sigh! as long as i get to see the beautiful flowers, i'm ok lah, i told myself.... i was told they had held the Rapeseed Flowers Festival (油菜花节) for consecutively 8yrs and this is the first yr the weather turned gloomy, in the past, it's bright n sunny !
Well, the rain didn't stop the next day still and i decided to waste no more time, took the bus to '金鸡岭' (Jinji Ling) to see the famous fields. The rapeseed flowers (油菜花) were really really astonishingly beautiful. It cheers me up just looking at them when i was on the bus from Kunming to Luoping. Think: acres and acres of land all filled with bright yellow(golden in sunlight) blooms of the flowers, it's like 'hong tu di'(红土地) in Dongchuan except it's less terraced-like and not as multi-coloured though there are also blooms of other flowers; would really be very very pretty in sunshine had it been clear weather, nonetheless, they were still beautiful, in a sad way on a cold rainy day..... i cut the stay there by one day 'cos i really couldn't tahan the cold(10deg & below), eventually only did the Nine Dragons Waterfalls (九龙瀑布群）, which is worth the 60yuan entry fee (was 30yuan last Sep). The several falls at different altitudes were quite impressive though they were not the most spectacular ones in China. The view from the higher vantage points ovelooking the river and the rape seed fields was worth the climb up the slippery and wet path. Didn't do the river rafting trip down the supposedly very scenic 'duo yi' river (多依河), didn't visit the 'Buyi' tribe(布衣族) too but saw their villages around the waterfall, maybe next time.
Dinner was at a shop in town that supposedly sold claypot rice but turned out to be more like a Korean cuisine with rice served in a claypot accompanied by a course of about 8 to 10 small dishes of what looked similar to those served in a Korean meal...no complaints 'cos it was delicious and cheap. (15RMB for whole course)
Click for Luoping Slideshow
Back to Kunming
Kunming was bright n sunny again. Really like the Camellia Hostel. They should be a model for all other hostels in China. Stayed with a Korean nun one night and another with a China lady looking for job in Kunming, strange guests. Went to Xinhua Bookstore n found they have v good guide books on Vietnam, taiwan n HongKong but i couldn't carry so many things lah so i just bought the Yunnan guide. Went back to the City Cafe but the cute waiter no more there, :(
(Edited from an email to M from an internet cafe in Dali (Yunnan) 23rd Feb 2006 )
Hello ! Greetings from Dali !
I'm in a very very nice cafe (Cafe de Jack) in dali right now, it's got wonderful ambience n music n food is reasonably priced n delicious. i had this 'la banana flambe' thing yesterday night which comprises of three bananas cooked in brandy n orange juice in a pan that goes into flames right in front of me, 12 yuan only!!
Dali, like Lijiang has changed considerably from my last visit 12 yrs ago as Yunnan is now a popular destination in China and there's an influx of tourists doing the Dali-Lijiang-Shangrila route on tour buses. My first impression of the present Dali was less than lukewarm after having been to Lijiang but i've come to like it for what Lijiang is not. It's definitely got less attractions in its surroundings c.f to Lijiang but it's got a correspondingly much less tourist crowd. i didn't see a single tour group here at all, at least not those with flag-carrying guides. Its old city is smaller than Lijiang but this means navigating is fairly easy. I'm kind of glad there isn't any Disneyland or theme park feel in Dali as there is in Lijiang. Most of the tourist cafes here r empty n they certainly don't hv the noisy bustle at night like Lijiang. Most shops in the old city r actually still v much catered to the local pple, and all housed in v traditional buildings-the Bai tribe architecture. Prices here r certainly cheaper than in Lijiang incl. accomodation. And unlike Lijiang where they have gone all environment friendly, u do find pple here spitting n splashing water on the cobbled streets though not as bad as elsewhere in China.
i felt kind of sorry for the 'touts' trying to get pple to go on a day trip with them. It's easy to cycle around here n most backpackers would do so whilst those who would take the day trips out on vehicles would have been cornered by their guesthouse staff already so the 'touts', mostly old pple, didn't appear to get much business.
i went to view Mt Cang and Er Hai 苍山洱海 and the 3 famous pagodas (大理三塔) and met this v nice pony-cart driver uncle who has 3 daughters; he was so upset that at my age i'm still unmarried that he went on and on quite seriously abt introducing some 'nice' fellows to me and kept stressing that it is not good to remain single :) ha ha ! 'jia-lat'
On my way back to the guesthouse after the 3 pagodas visit, i passed by this park that's just next to the alley where my guesthouse is situated and decided to pop in since the guesthouse staff did say there are some 'cha-hua' (carmellelias) still in bloom. The flowers were not at their most beautiful, however i had an enjoyable time watching two groups of very interesting ladies, one group of middle age and the other all senior citizens practising dancing inside.(They call ladies 金花 here in Dali, remember they call them ‘胖金妹’in Lijiang ? :) ) It was very interesting and heartwarming at the same time watching them and my heart wished for our people , at their age, to be as active, as hale and hearty and strong as these people ...
Oh, i must tell u abt this hair salon i just went to. It's run by this guy who was the designated hair stylist for 'Pin Guan 品冠' of "WuYin LiangPin 无印良品" when they came to Dali. The hair sytlists there all wore v 'hip' hair styles n their skills were also not bad judging from the customers who had their hair done there. i just had a wash, trim n blow, all for 8 yuan. It's 6 yuan if u choose Pantene or Head n Shoulders shampoo. i like the meticulous ways the guys do the cut for their customers. They took an hour average for every customer n for mine too, even though it's only a trim!! So if u ever come to Dali, u must visit this salon. :)
Ah..my dinner is ready , so bye for now.
p/s: i'm leaving on the night train back to Kunming. Happy Working !
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十多年后旧地重游。。景物新旧参半，人事已非
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