Bac Ha
Today as it's Sunday, we went to Bac Ha market. Bac Ha is a very nice place, likely 3 hours far from Sapa.
Mountains are very different and are more in a chinese-like style. Many corns, some tea, potatoes and of course ricefields :)
The way to go to Bac Ha is nice up to Lao Cai but then it's about 2 hours of dust roads : unless you like dust you'd like to close your helmet ou wear sunglasses. Everytime a car or even just a motorbyke go, a huge wall of sand and dirt fly everywhere.
However the way is really nice to see and everybody should see this way, at least, one time in his or her life. The way is full of nice trees and sometimes you can see a snake going trough the road as fast as it can before going under your wheels ^^
As you approach Bac Ha more and more flowers hmongs are on the way or the surroundings. Many children play with small cars made of wood without scaring for real cars nor motorbykes. A lot of horses welcome you to Bac Ha when you arrive near the city. Contrary to Sapa, Bac Ha people still use horses to carry heavy things.
The market is full of life, especially the one for animals where local people head on for trading them or buy some. Very noisy place as you can imagine : many pigs, chickens, horses and even dogs.
Many people sell flower hmong clothes. The skirts are really great and when you see them on flowers hmongs people you are almost stunned by the natural grace and beauty of that women wearing incredible clothes.
A small place is set for tobaco traders, selling huge piles of fresh tobaco and allowing customers to try it before buying it. Some people also sell local medecine like roots or dried leaves.
We got surprised today as some people counts in a different way : 50 000 vnd for them is 500 000 vnd so if a deal seems really great you should be sure that you can add a 0 to the bill :D Chinese hmong way of counting as they aren't "friends" with tourists like black hmong people.
Some pictures of that nice day are in a new album called "Bac Ha 2006".
Also got 2 really nice clothing for my project :-)
Mountains are very different and are more in a chinese-like style. Many corns, some tea, potatoes and of course ricefields :)
The way to go to Bac Ha is nice up to Lao Cai but then it's about 2 hours of dust roads : unless you like dust you'd like to close your helmet ou wear sunglasses. Everytime a car or even just a motorbyke go, a huge wall of sand and dirt fly everywhere.
However the way is really nice to see and everybody should see this way, at least, one time in his or her life. The way is full of nice trees and sometimes you can see a snake going trough the road as fast as it can before going under your wheels ^^
As you approach Bac Ha more and more flowers hmongs are on the way or the surroundings. Many children play with small cars made of wood without scaring for real cars nor motorbykes. A lot of horses welcome you to Bac Ha when you arrive near the city. Contrary to Sapa, Bac Ha people still use horses to carry heavy things.
The market is full of life, especially the one for animals where local people head on for trading them or buy some. Very noisy place as you can imagine : many pigs, chickens, horses and even dogs.
Many people sell flower hmong clothes. The skirts are really great and when you see them on flowers hmongs people you are almost stunned by the natural grace and beauty of that women wearing incredible clothes.
A small place is set for tobaco traders, selling huge piles of fresh tobaco and allowing customers to try it before buying it. Some people also sell local medecine like roots or dried leaves.
We got surprised today as some people counts in a different way : 50 000 vnd for them is 500 000 vnd so if a deal seems really great you should be sure that you can add a 0 to the bill :D Chinese hmong way of counting as they aren't "friends" with tourists like black hmong people.
Some pictures of that nice day are in a new album called "Bac Ha 2006".
Also got 2 really nice clothing for my project :-)
