Living in Sapa

As it say, my friend from America Martin is leaving tonight at 7pm. He stayed 4 months in Sapa like every year.
Last night he made a party in Little Sapa and asked more than 20 black hmongs and 8 red zaos to come eat with us.
Classical vietnamese food, nothing special : french fries, susu, tofu, rice, chicken, beer and apple wine.
The dessert was really great : nuts, chocolate, gelified ginger, casshew nuts, and many more :)
See you again next year in Sapa Martin ! 

Today a few pictures added. All are from me and can be viewed in the Sapa 2006 Album :)

Last night Martin and a boy from Mexico cooked an incredible meal !
Mexico flavored food and for dessert.... Mexican chocolate ! Mmmmm yummy ! That chocolate is really great ! Dark, small and very tasty. It's not sticky in the mouth and doesn't melt in the hand ;)
Like sugar in a way.


A nice video of a chinese hmong girl singing in chinese. Look at the splendid hat she's wearing.


One of my favourite hmong song. Sad I don't know enough hmong language now to fully understand the meaning of the song :(

Anybody willing to know more about hmong songs and dances should have a look at that place : http://www.zoosiab.com/video.html 
The movies feature most of the times young people or even children, traditionals clothings and more.
Enjoy ! :)

Today this post will be english and french as I need the biggest audience for that project.

English version >>>

           Hello everybody. I am currently making a project that will be held on several years until the project reaches a suitable level. I will be collecting various hmongs clothes from Sapa and its surroundings in a first time then head for Bac Ha area and meet the flower hmongs to learn more about their traditional clothes.
That will be all for that year but I will be looking for more clothes as I will travel in the areas populated with various hmongs people. China, Laos and Thailand will likely be the first areas I will be heading to. USA will likely be the next step to my project as well the hmongs currently living in France.
If anybody can help me with that project, I would greatly appreciate it. Even if just some informations on some clothes or rares clothings kept for special occasions.

Thanks in advance.

Version francaise >>>

          Bonjour à toutes et a tous. Je fais actuellement un projet qui sera tenu sur plusieurs années jusqu'à ce que le projet atteigne un niveau approprié. Je rassemblerai divers vêtements hmongs de Sapa et de ses environs dans un premier temps puis, me dirigerai ensuite vers la région de Bac ha et rencontrerai les hmongs fleurs pour en apprendre plus au sujet de leurs vêtements traditionnels.  Ce sera tout pour cette année mais je rechercherai plus de vêtements dans les annees a venir car je voyagerai dans les secteurs peuplés avec  diverses minoritees hmongs. La Chine, le Laos et la Thaïlande sont probablement les premiers pays que je visiterai. Les Etats-Unis seront  la prochaine étape de mon projet ainsi que les hmongs habitant actuellement en France.  Si quiconque peut m'aider avec ce projet, je l'apprécierais considérablement. Même si ce ne sont que quelques informations sur les vêtements portes quotidiennement ou ceux portes uniquement lors d'occasions speciales.

Merci d'avance.

The 1st pictures added inside are from Paul Brobrille, a very friendly tourist from Norway. He travels from Norway to Asia in bicycle and went trough China, Russia,...

Soon more pictures from my camera.

You can see Paul's site here : http://www.brobrille.no/sykkel/index.htm
But.... it's in norwaygian ;)
Look at the pictures it's worth the look !

It was a great night yesterday. Full of people and fun in the upper part of the city.
Around the church the black h'mong people who used to be catholics turned around the church 4 times, carrying Marie's altar.
The head of the congregation was made of 3 men wearing blue clothes and several men playing portatives bamboo drums and a big drum carried by a man. It was funny as sometimes the wheels of the drum went into holes and the congregation had to stop for a few minutes.
The men were followed by 11 h'mong girls wearing shiny clothes (thanks to the bee wax.) The clothes were really nice as they were embroided with many small pearls and shiny stuff. Also a lot of old french money was making a nice noise on the hat when the girls were walking.
Then it was maybe 20 h'mong girls following. After that were 5 vietnamese women holding a huge flag where Jesus was painted.
The altar was carried by 4 h'mong men and was in a chinese style. Red with golden dragons all around. The altar was really shiny and nice. Marie was inside a small place with 2 candles and some flowers.
The end of the congregation was made by many vietnamese and tourists following the crowd.

Everybody was singing prayers in vietnamese and then the altar ended under the main door of the church. Marie was taken away from her altar and then carried back to the church.

After that we saw the boys of Friday that were walking around with the dragon again, heading for additional money ;)
We also ate some moon cake (a cake that is made for that time of the year.)

The love market was also full of h'mong people and Daos. Many fun, songs and music. Maybe around 500 people in the upper part of Sapa.