Sapa Day 2

Henry has come on the tour with his wife and these ladies were outside the hotel this morning and surrounded him, all saying 'you buy from me'....

....the lady below was spinning hemp with her fingers and wrapping it around her hand ready for the loom, so clever....

.....we bought from this lady as she had a beautiful baby...

....went on the bus to another Hmong village in Sapa....

....mountains are constantly in cloud...

.....rock and plants on the opposite side of the road...

...we are told not to buy from the children as if they do well they give up their schooling...

....a waste bin, very little litter here or Hanoi, the shop keepers constantly sweep the rubbish from the pavement in front of their shops into the gutter where municipal workers collect it, usually in the evening...

...a windy road down....

....street sellers...

....spot the pumpkin on the roof...

.....fabulous bamboo everywhere....

.....layered rice fields....

.....ducks and hens....

.....the nearest I came to a buffalo...

....hemp seeds drying in the basket, indigo plants for dyeing in the ground...

.....more buffalo in the rice fields....

....Carol using this simple machine to pound rice, really hard work!!

Soap -granite carver....

......the village school....

....dinner time and all the children were helping themselves, no adult present, a real social occasion...

...principal's office....

....staff room, no comfy chairs!

Children coming down with their 'lunch pails'....

....no uniform but many were in traditional clothes.

Doing her washing, cold running water from the mountain pipe in a bowl....

....heaps of rice drying....

...Maize and sweet potato....

....lovely ferns on the bank beside the 'road'...

....this was fun, we were invited to our guide's house up a very slippery, rocky path....

....Lang's home, woven bamboo walls, corrugated roof, the only electric item is the light and sewing machine...

...the open fire for cooking...

....clothes hanging on a rail....

....Lang lives with her parents, husband and 2 children in this one room, her dad is having a smoke!

Her mum offered to dress me in a coat from her mother....

...an open jacket with beautiful cross stitch, families have their own designs...

....now having the belt....

...I had to do a twirl while everybody took photos...

....Carol's turn in a another jacket with batik and some stitch

....the fabric is woven hemp and indigo dyed.

These coats are handed down the generations.

Outside the house a storage bins for corn...

.....bamboo fences and wood drying for the open fire...

....the view from the house

.....Lang and her parents.....

......ready for hatching....

....indigo vat...

.....rather liked this artwork on the side of a bar...

....beautiful flowers everywhere.

>>>>>>

We came to a house for lunch and were invited to help prepare the food, pork and herbs wrapped in a leaf...

....for the spring rolls, finely chopped veg and some small noodles....

....preparing the chips, these have been cooked once, then just before serving are cooked again in sizzling vegetable oil and sprinkled with finely chopped garlic

....the rice from the harvest is stored in the orange sacks....

....the spring roll mixture has 3 eggs added and stiring and mixing is done with chop sticks...

....the pork in leaves frying in very hot oil, these were delicious...

.....we then made spring rolls....

....wrapping a spoonful up.. 

....Brenda was delighted and they were better than mine!!!

.....stuffed peppers for the vegetarians...

....cucumbers are usually peeled, they are the size of courgettes and juicy.....

....beer and garlic chips with a very hot chilli dip...

.....rice salad and chicken with bamboo shoots....

....this was given to the vegetarians, a beautiful tomato rose for decoration....

...cucumber and tomato salad...

....i was delighted to eat my whole meal using chopsticks!!

.....the local street traders followed us and embroidered while we ate our meal, Sue had brought needles out with her to give as gifts, a lovely idea, this lady is delighted and shared them with her friends....

.....demonstrating her cross stitch, they work so quickly and use the work to decorate bags, purses and headbands.

Sapa day 2 to be continued tomorrow or maybe the next day.....