Dragon Mountain

We awoke to a very clear morning, suddenly out of our window loomed huge mountains that were completely hidden yesterday. This morning only wisps of clouds clung to their peaks. After breakfast we headed for Dragon Mountain at the top of which there is a perfect viewing platform giving panoramic views of Sapa and surrounds. To get there you need to climb about 1000 steps, fortunately the first sections is through a market so at least you can stop regularly to check out the wares, and boy were there some things worth checking out. The vast majority of the stalls were dedicated to herbal medicines, and the first thing that caught my eye was a stall selling horse penis, and yes I do mean real horse penis with the testicles attached. Check out the photo attached if you do not believe me. We also saw jars of rice wine with lots of different animals in them that supposedly give the wine different powers. Some had snakes in them, others had geckos, bees, worms, scorpions, really you name it, you could probably buy it in a bottle of rice wine or failing that dried ready for grinding and then consuming. I even saw tiger and bear claws for medicinal use!!

Snake and scorpian in rice wine


Lizard in rice wine

Once away from these stalls we passed through the orchid gardens where we decided to take a bit of a break and drink Vietnamese tea whilst soaking up the ambiance of the gardens, so green and peaceful set amongst moss covered rocks, whilst watching men playing Vietnamese chess. Then we headed further up to the European gardens, this time in a much more open area but none the less very well set out and cared for. Then the climb up the final section of the mountain. We chose to go around the back of the mountain first, through Cloud Yard, and by now it was getting very misty again. The mist had swirled in hiding the Dragons Mouth from view so we continued up the mountain to the final platform, arriving just in time to see Sapa and it's natural lake through a thin layer of mist before minutes later it was completely obscured. Having said that, we only had to wait a few more minutes and once again it was visible. The town looks well set out and the influence of the French is very obvious, not just in the architecture but the layout of the town. There really are some lovely buildings here. Finally we began the easier walk back to the bottom taking time to admire the different views on the way down.

After lunch we headed off north to the Red Dao village of Ta Phin. There are only about 3000 members of this tribal group who have common ties to the H'Mong and now tend to live in villages right next to each other and can intermarry. The language has commonalities though the Red Dao have their own written style which they still use. The women wear long wide legged trousers, again in deep blue of black with bands of embroidery towards the bottom. Over this they wear a long embroidered tunic and what makes them even easier to distinguish from other tribes is the large and apparently heavy red hat that they wear once they are married. Another custom is that they pluck out all their eyebrows before marriage and shave off the front of their hair. Obviously a very high forehead is the sign of something... maybe beauty, maybe wealth... Their babies wear brightly embroidered skull caps with beads and silver and bells fastened onto them.





We walked between a couple of villages stopping first to watch men making drums from wood, hemp , string and bits of wood slatted all around which they moved to tune the drum. We then popped into the school as our guide wanted to drop off something to his friend who taught there. All the kids seemed to be wearing traditional dress and were keen to work. At the end of the day we met them all coming home, a little silver pail that contained their lunch swinging from their hands. Finally we visited a cave that apparently if you have 3 hours to spare, and a really good torch you can walk from one end to the other.

As we walked back to the car the mist once again rolled in blanketing the countryside and indicating time to retire to a warm bath, perhaps a foot massage and a good dinner.

Sapa - Home of the Hill Tribe people

We were suddenly awoken at 5am by a loud banging on our door, we were about to arrive at Lao Cai. As we stepped on the platform we were greeted by steady rain that managed to pretty much wet us through by the time we walked around the end of the train, jumped the tracks and walked into the station to search for our guide who was patiently waiting for us. Now for the hour windy drive up to Sapa, home of the hill tribe people of Vietnam. The sun struggled to permeate the thick fog and it was beginning to look like our day was going to be a bit grim. As the hotel we were booked into is being refurbished we have been upgraded to a four star hotel, perched on the top of a ridge. We were greeted with a refreshing hot fruit cinnamon tea. and after an hour the fog began to thin and gave us a spectacular view down the valley. Breakfast was an interesting meal for Richard as he went for the option of having 'Pho' - Vietnamese beef noodle soup which seems to be able to be eaten at any meal. In fact we had a pork noodle and vegie soup for lunch as well. I of course had trouble not having banana pancakes with chocolate sauce, even though I do love a bit of noodle soup for breaky.

Once our bodies were revitalised with food, we headed off for what turned out to be a reasonable strenuous 3 hour walk, with breaks for shopping of course. We set off down a road that zig zagged down the valley, emphasis on the word down, remember that whenever you go down, then you pretty much have to come back up. We reached the village of Cat Cat with one H'Mong woman in tow, she accompanied us from Sapa and constantly chatted all the way down, determined to get to know us better so that we would then feel the necessity to purchase something from her. The H'Mong are the dominant tribal group making up 75% of the population of this region. Our guide told us that the H'Mong used to die a lot younger than they do now as they had genetic problems, supposedly caused by in-breeding as it was forbidden to marry into a different tribe such as the Red Dao. However more recently this has changed as the government has made efforts to improve education and such taboos as inter tribal marriage have been lifted.

Once we reached the village we then headed down a very long path of steps, and with each step I prayed that we didn't have to climb back up them. My prayers were obviously heard somewhere as we did a circuit and came up the other side of the valley, still steep but at least with no steps. Where ever we walked the paths seem to be lined with little shops selling H'Mong crafts. The advent of tourism has certainly boosted the economy of these communities and so far even though you may find yourself followed a lot, they do not really do the hard sell, and you can walk into shops or stalls without being harassed. We found a waterfall at the end of the path and sat down to enjoy a bamboo stick full of sticky rice that had been grilled on a slow burning fire. Then for the slow walk back up to Sapa, punctuated by stops along the way to catch our breath. We passed several young men with motorbikes who offered to give us a lift to the top, but it seemed a bit woosy to we laboured on. Richard ended the walk very proud of himself (even though our guide called him a whimp!) as we had to cross 3 narrow, high swinging bridges, once upon a time his fear of heights would have prohibited him from doing this and he would have had to turn around and go back.

In Sapa we met our driver again and headed about 20 minutes out of Sapa to the South through thick pea soup fog. We stopped on the road and again walked down the valley to another village called Loa Chai where we had lunch, this time we were assured that it would be a flat walk through a couple of villages and we would meet our driver at the other end. Once again we were accompanied by about 8 traditionally dressed H'Mong women who chatted all the way about family, ages etc. The crafts that they sell reflect their clothing. They wear heavily embroidered long tunics covering knee length skorts and dark leggings. On their head they often wear a thick black band that looks like a topless hat, or a coloured headscarf, or they put coloured combs in their long black hair which is generally worn curled around their head or sometimes just in a plait. The fabric of their clothing is generally made from hemp found growing everywhere in the region, and died dark blue. On their backs they carry a woven basket where they either place goods for sale; embroidered cushion covers, bags, pencil cases, wallets, belts etc or fill with supplies ranging from food to bags of grain, cement or wood for their fires. Or they carry their babies on their back. It seems that the women do most of the work, and this is not just my bias observation, but that of our male guide who said that unfortunately the men tend to drink too much.

The curtain of mist eventually parted revealing heavily terraced mountains used mainly for the one crop of rice that is grown yearly in the warmer months, but also for other vegetables and corn. As it has recently been harvested the terraces lay empty except for the water buffalo wallowing in the muddy water, many with young calves in tow. From Lao Chai we followed a gentle path to Ta Van village. Here we found another tribe of people called the Tay People ( the letter D and T are pronounced as a Z ) very much a minority tribe with only between 2000 and 2500 inhabitants who prefer to live in the lower reaches of the mountains, closer to the river. Their language is similar to Thai however they have lost the ability to write in the old style. They have been in this region since before 500BC but have started to adapt to the different cultures that they live in, namely Vietnamese and Western. These are the people who host tourist home stays, and thus are starting to adapt to different western practises. Their clothing is much simpler and has none of the heavy embroidery. They wear simple yet bright silky tops with simple black trousers.



The H'Mong were converted to Catholicism by the French during colonisation. Today they still follow Catholicism, however they continue to retain some earlier practices of worshipping the sun and moon for good agriculture and superstition still seems to be part of their life as many houses in the villages had a red cloth hanging over the door to ward off ghosts. Today the people of Vietnam tend to either be Catholic or Buddhist, however our guide told us that you cannot get high positions of office unless you are Buddhist particularly in government, and it is not good enough to just convert, they look back at 3 generations for links to Buddhism.

We returned to our hotel at around 4pm, rather weary after a long day of walking. All up the street are signs for massage and special herbal foot baths from the Red Dao people. We will have to check this out at sometime.

Good Morning Vietnam!!

Hanoi, a sea of bikes interspersed with the odd car and taxi, you need to take your life in hand when crossing the road. The idea is to stop and pause by the side of the road for long enough for the traffic to see you, then you step on the road in the middle of the mayhem, you can't wait for a break in the traffic as that is never going to happen, you just have to take your chance and step into it. Simply keep looking in the direction of the oncoming traffic and walk bravely and slowly across the road without faltering. The motorbikes will weave their way around you! If you falter, then you will get hit.

Our first experience at road crossing began with lighter traffic as it was the middle of the day on a Sunday and most people were enjoying a leisurely Sunday lunch with family. But by the end of the day we risked life and limb to cross the road as the traffic had certainly increased. Fortunately we were with friends who live in Hanoi, so we just followed them into the fray.

We spent about an hour wandering through the old quarters of Hanoi initially along the street selling shoes. The shops are all very narrow as in colonial times there was a tax on the frontage of buildings, thus many were only 3 - 5 m wide but around 50 m deep. Even newer shops are the same size so I assume this tax is still in effect. Shoes spilled out on the footpath and with all the motorbikes taking up the rest of the pavement, we had to walk along the road, joining women in Vietnamese conical hats carrying their wares in baskets, one on each end of a pole across their shoulders, motorbikes and pushbikes carrying all types of loads, and the odd car. Bikes seem to be able to carry pretty much anything and a lot of it. We saw one laden with a load of eggs, trays of 3 dozen eggs piled 30 high and 3 deep leaving only a few inches of seat for the driver to perch on. What a massive omelet that would have made if he crashed. Others carried whole families, loads of vegetables, huge blocks of ice, boxes of goods, computers, TVs whatever you want I am sure they could manage to carry it. Mike and Amanda said that they just bought a large wardrobe, over 3 meters wide and yes you guessed it, it was carried home on the back of a motorbike!! They also had their flat screen TV and refrigerator delivered, both arriving together on the back of one motorbike.

We passed shops filled with silk and lacquer ware, galleries, bag shops, clothing stalls, flower markets and food markets etc whatever you want I am sure it could be found here. They call it the 36 streets of the old Quarter as it was originally built on 36 streets, but now it takes up more like 50 streets. You could spend days getting lost here in the maze of little lanes or sipping coffee in one of the many coffee shops, one of the great legacies of the French along with their bakeries.

We walked along the shore of one of the many lakes that can be found around Hanoi, remnants of a once flooded Red river. As it was a beautiful day weather wise, not oppressively hot and humid, there were many bride and grooms out making the most of the pleasant weather to have photos taken by the lake and on bridges crossing the water. Apparently it is the tradition in Vietnam for the bride and groom to spend the month leading up to their wedding wandering around in their wedding regalia having photos taken looking like star crossed lovers. There they were in the parks followed by a an entourage, like major film stars with a photographer, someone to sort out lighting, hair and makeup people and sometimes even wardrobe people if they were wealthy enough to have numerous changes of clothes. The brides seemed to be in either full white western wedding dresses with long trains or in deep red western dresses, red being the colour of wealth, prosperity and good luck. Couples seem to be happy to spend US$1000 on an album of photos of just the 2 of them and all in the days leading up to the wedding!!

I am writing this whilst sitting on a train, we are commencing our journey to Sapa, about a 9 hour train trip to the north of Vietnam in a soft sleeper berth. Sapa is situated right up near the Chinese border. My eyes are growing heavy with the clickety clack, clickety clack, clickety clack of the train. Soon I will be asleep.......

The barriers have opened...and they are off.. Iron Fist by a nose.

So can you guess where I have been.... We are in the middle of the horse racing season and Sunday was Ladies day at the Sha Tin racecourse. We were invited to join a group of people in a box with all food and drink supplied. Not a bad way to enjoy our first horse race in Hong Kong. The Chinese love to gamble but there are no Casinos in Hong Kong, so horse racing is really big. Over 80,000 people turned up to this race but being in a box, the crowds did not bother us. We enjoyed a lovely lunch inside airconditioned comfort then headed out on the balcony to view each of the races that were run in half hour intervals. That gave us plenty of time to decide on the better horse for a light flutter and to enjoy each course of food.

We started our days betting following a system that a colleague of Richard's insisted was the only sure way to win. This failing dismally, after the third race we changed our strategy to a more successful one of choosing the winner based on the name of the horse and the colour of the silks that jockey was wearing!! Suddenly there was much excitement as our horses continued to pound down the final stretch in the lead. By the end of the day we had lost somewhat more than we had won but as much of it goes to charity, we didn't really mind and besides we bet such small amounts that the bookies laughed at us. Later we read that HK$958 million had been made on the day, that is over US$123 million or Aus$134 million or S/352 million (Peruvian Soles). For one day's taking, that is a lot of money in anyones language. Both the racecourses in Hong Kong are actually owned by the government and as previously mentioned much of the money that is made goes towards some charitable cause or another. After just nine race meets this season, the government has apparently earnt over HK$1.2 billion (US$15,000,000,000 Aus $16,000,000,000 S/44,000,000,000) quite a nice little investment wouldn't you say. (The photo right is of Richard with his bookie and his first winning ticket!)

Midway through the afternoon, a nice man came and offered to show us around the racecourse. We went down to the pre race parade area where all the owners with their wives and daughters - sporting large concoctions on their head made from some poor bird, or three or four, - were proudly admiring their horses. This was also where the winners came at the end to receive their cups. Then we went into the members section of the track to watch a race conclude, standing right at the fence in front of the finishing post. The thunder of hooves coming down the straight, the screams of encouragement, the ease with which the horse and rider became one, the beauty of the horses, with each stride the movement of muscle clearly visible working beneath their glistening hide, this really is the King of sports.

Happy Loony Lunar festival

We celebrated Mid Autumn Festival on Saturday night the 3rd of October under the light of a beautiful, perfectly full moon. The Mid Autumn Festival, also know as the moon festival, mooncake festival, or Lantern Festival (I hope I did not forget any special names) takes place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the biggest, roundest and brightest, and boy did they get the timing right this year, it was the biggest, roundest and brightest moon, not that my photo does it much justice, sorry... The round moon is important as the term round implies family reunion in Chinese. So the Moon Festival is a festival for members of a family to get together wherever it is possible and it is also a time for lovers.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is Hong Kong's biggest festival aside from Chinese New Year. Bright Lanterns in the shapes of fish, rabbits etc. have been hung in the foyer of all the towers in our estate to celebrate the event and the city also seems to be draped in colourful ribbons and decorated with elaborate displays of lanterns, and moon cakes are on sale everywhere. So what is a moon cake I hear you cry. They are traditional cakes always designed in a round shape to look like the moon. The pastry is traditionally made with four egg yolks to represent the four phases of the moon and they generally have sweet fillings of nuts, red bean paste (my particular favourite) lotus seed paste, dates etc. However now days they can have any sort of filling, from savoury to even ice cream. This year some of the ice cream companies got into the swing of the festival and made their own line of ice cream moon cakes. I really should have tried one of these, but never saw them on sale close to home so figured they would melt before getting them home. But why not eat them then and there, where you bought them... I hear you ask.. and yes you do have a point. Well there is always next year, they are on the top of my list to buy then!! I even saw some moon cakes advertised in the shape of a bare bottom!! (the term 'to moon someone' in English slang means to show them your naked bottom as a prank!). Moon cakes usually come in a box of thirteen. This is to symbolize the thirteen moons of a 'complete year': the twelve moons and one extra moon...why an extra moon... who knows! We only bought a bit of a taster box with 4 moon cakes of different flavours most of which I enjoyed, especially the one filled with shredded coconut and nuts and the one with red bean paste (which is one of my all time favourite sweets from my time living in Japan) I do not think that Richard is as keen on red bean paste as I am...

So why is the moon so important to the Chinese. There are a number of moon cake festival legends. There seem to be two main legendary figures, Chang E and the jade hare. So here is a bit of history for you.

According to a story from the Xia dynasty, Chang E was the beautiful wife of the divine archer Hou Yi. He saved the world by shooting down nine of the ten suns that would otherwise have scorched the Earth. As a reward, he received the herb of immortality from a goddess. However, his wife knew that if he ate the herb, people would suffer eternally from his tyrannical rule, so she ate it herself instead. The herb made her float upwards to the moon. Hou Yi's deep love for his wife was the only reason he did not shoot down the moon.

The legend of the jade rabbit is a story about three fairy sages who came down to Earth and transformed themselves into old men begging for food from a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The fox and the monkey were able to offer the old men food. The rabbit had no food to give the old men but rather than turn them away, he offered himself as a meal, jumping into a fire to cook himself. The sages were amazed by the rabbit's sacrifice and transformed him into a jade rabbit and let him live in the Moon Palace. I remember thinking about how funny it was for a rabbit to live on the moon when I was living in Japan as they also believe that there is a rabbit living on the moon but he is making and eating mochi (Japanese rice cakes)!! But I suppose we talk about the man in the moon!! I wonder what animal or being ancient civilizations of Peru believed lived on the moon. Any one with any ideas please let me know.

One of the reasons the Lunar Festival is celebrated by lovers throughout China is the role of the man in the moon in Chinese mythology. The Chinese have a saying: "Marriages are made in heaven and prepared on the moon". Apparently it is the man in the moon that does the preparing! The old man keeps a record book with the name of every newborn baby. He knows everybody's future partner and the decisions that he writes in his book are irreversible. Therefore, wannabe lovers go to the hills at the time of the Lunar Festival, and gaze at the moon hoping that their wish will be granted...

The moon cake is even said to have played an important role in Chinese history. In the Yuan dynasty (1280-1368 AD), China was ruled by Mongolian people. According to legend, the revolt against the Mongolians was coordinated to take place on the night of the Moon Festival. In the lead up to the festival, the rebel leaders ordered the making of special moon cakes, with messages about the attack baked into them. This is how they communicated with each other and successfully organized the attack and overthrew of the government.

Happy Moon Cake Day

Join me for a tour of our apartment.

Before we can actually commence the tour, we have to get to our apartment. First we need to walk through the gardens, past one of the ponds and a waterfall.

Now we are approaching our tower. Careful when you look up that you don't strain your neck. It is a long way up!

There is always someone to greet us with a smile, even if they do not speak English. It is amazing what you can get across with a bit of sign language, or failing that just ask one of the people entering the tower to translate for you.

Now we will walk into the Foyer where it is always lovely and cool to wait for one of the 4 lifts. The view out the window at the end makes the wait easy. It looks straight out into the East Lamma Channel. Sorry the picture is so dark!



Now up to the 34th floor where you will find our door. We are apartment B. There are 8 apartments on each floor, so as you get off the lift you need to turn to your right.

Now ring the door bell and I will let you in!

Welcome, welcome, welcome to our humble abode. It is only small so the tour will not take too long. This is what you will see when you first walk in. Please take off your shoes and put them in the little cupboard that you can see. It is common in Asia to remove your shoes whilst in the house.

This is what I call the living area of the house. Just a little area to sit down and watch TV or just look out the window at the harbour below. Richard is very proud of his new 42" flat screen TV so he is obviously going to spend more time looking at that than the view!

Next stop is the dining area, which is really just part of the living room. There are only 4 chairs in the apartment, but I know that more will fit around this round table, so I will have to buy more so that at least 6 people can sit down to dinner.

Come into my little kitchen, but if you think this is small you should have seen some of the kitchens we looked at. At least Richard and I can both be in the kitchen at the same time and there is plenty of cupboards which I desperately need to store all my Jalpanina pottery dinner sets!! And yes that is the washing machine in the kitchen. There is no room for it anywhere else, and this is where most people have theirs.

Now we are looking down the hall to the other end. Not that long is it!!

On the right hand side you will find a little room that could be used as a storage room, or a maids room but for us it is the office. It is very small and at the moment very untidy as things have just been thrown in and there still needs to be a considerable amount of sorting done. But it does have 3 bookcases which we really need and have filled completely.

Next let's walk down to the very end of the hall to our bedroom. You should have noticed by now that the theme is.... small, but it is very comfortable. The next two photos are taken in our bedroom. Again we have amazing views out the window which you have seen in one of my earlier blogs. The bedroom does have 2 large built in closets which you cannot see in the photos. I obviously have the largest one!!

And of course it would not be a master bedroom with out an ensuite to go with it. Behind the door is the bath. It is great to have a bath again, in fact we have two as the other bathroom (which looks exactly like this one) has one as well. So if you are coming to visit, you do not even have to share our bathroom!!



And lastly lets have a look at the two spare rooms. Now these rooms really are very small, just enough room for a single bed (and not very long at that... my feet just touch the wall if I stretch), a built in desk and built in cupboards.

So there you have it, not a lot but for us it is now home.There is of course room for visitors as the sofa folds out into a double bed and there are two spare single beds. I hope you enjoyed the quick tour.