I absolutely loved Mai Chau!
The ride up to Mai Chau thru Hoa Binh was a lil bit of hell though… weaving thru’ the maelstrom of motorbikes in Hanoi was only the tip of the iceberg… the dust churned up from the dusty roads, pollution from the farms, mills, factories etc… fumes from vehicles and not to mention the variety of honking from vehicles big and small…
the weather was freezing too… 7 of us packed into the land rover… 2 Aussies, 2 singaporeans, 1 Viet driver & 2 viets-turned-American…
after a good 5 hour drive through thick fog that reduced visibility to approx. 30m up in the mountains, we were in some valley, surrounded by stilt houses, rice fields and peaceful surroundings…
no Internet, no shopping centers… cept for the occasional brrrriiiiinnnggg of a cellphone, there wasn’t much else cept us… 5 stooges trekking thru ricefields, finding out about the different cultures, avoiding cow dung, dog poo, cat poo, muddy fields etc…
Had fun balancing me on the grassy patches, trying hard to avoid the mud =) crossing a bamboo bridge, climbing up muddy rocks… having the dog and kitten follow us around, the 1-legged monkey… the tribal clothing… the not-so-traditional viet food…
The market in Mai chau was pretty amazing… chatuchak doesn’t come close…. the raw meat, tobacco heaps, pasar malam style knick knacks, stacks of vermicelli… the viets were as amused by us as we were by them…
cheered on unknown viet women in a tug of war… the strength and great sporting attitude was a sight! The way the villagers cheered each other on =)
Slept in mosquito nets and the weather was freezing! approx 10 degrees with just 2 layers of tees, tights and thankfully, my fleece jacket =)
The blankets they gave us were amazing!
Had to leave for Hue via overnight train and our driver sped us back to Hanoi in about 3hours… I puked =) *lol* about 10mins to the hotel n I really couldn’t keep it in any longer…
it was all good anyhow =)
Looking forward to meeting Jake n Simone in Hoi An again =)
Kate and Sasha gave me their brand new maxolon which really helped me sleep like a baby on the train…
a wonderful 3 days =)
