Bac Ha & Sa Pa

Our train rolled into Lao Cai about 3 hours after the scheduled arrival. Good thing it was the last stop or we would have been anxiously trying to manage watching for and being ready to jump out at every stop.

We easily connected with our driver and headed out of town to our first stop, the town of Bac Ha. Just the four of us piled into his big van leaving all kinds of room and then the ride began. Yes, here it comes again, we had a determined if not crazy driver who made every turn one to remember. For some reason we frequently get the guy whom no one passes, and he passes everyone.

Moped drivers and their many passengers (we have seen families of 4 all packed on one ped) were like flies on the road to our big starter. As the driver dodged all kinds of things in the road (chickens, dogs, horses, water buffalo) the mopedite was always the loser. I would like to capture a set of moped in action pics, but they happen so fast. There is a child under the poncho on this one, nice view huh.

The roads here go from the majority being really pretty good to semi four wheeling around any given corner. This guy was speed up, brake, speed up, brake, hard right, hard left, up, down. So much so that we were all feeling sick and Riley had to stop the van and get out at one point. That seemed to slow him down for a while. I don't think he wanted a cleanup job. Poor Riley finally did get sick on our last leg from Bac Ha to Sa Pa. I was feeling rough from the start as well. We both had a few too many strawberry Mentos for breakfast ;-(

We intentionally visited Bac Ha on Sunday to catch the market. A number of the indigenous tribes folk come to town to sell everything from fabrics to donkeys. Although parts of these markets are geared towards tourists, I enjoy the parts that are intended for the locals, you really get a feeling for some of the things that go into their lives here. Like this hardware store.

Vietnam is definitely a very materially poor country. Looking at the conditions in which the vast majority live, all but a few Americans could not consider themselves very blessed. But, I do think we need to look twice. Although we have more 'stuff' than and any nation has every dreamed of, are we any happier then those that have the least? It seemed that the more I was given, the more I wanted, and anxiety about keeping what I had and discontent about getting that next best thing was normal. I only became content in what I had when my satisfaction finally came from that which cannot be bought or sold, found or lost, that which can never change or cease to exist, it is Christ who has freed me.

I like this picture. This woman comes clothed in colors and patterns which are distinct to her people group. These garments can take up to a few months to create and represent much of what she has in this world. I don't imagine that this woman is a Christ follower, but she may be living a life that is advised to us by the writer of the Biblical book, Ecclesiastes - that we are to daily enjoy the simple pleasures that God offers us in this life of toil.

Last night we closed our second full day in VN and it already feels like we have been here a week. Patti relayed an article to me that suggested when you have an active vacation, time seems to pass much more slowly then when you are a bit more lazy. We will have some lazy time in a house near the beach down the road here soon.

Today we are hiking from Sa Pa to several of the H'Mong villages to get a closer look at how the hill tribes live. We will be visiting a school which should be fun for the girls. However, it has been raining dogs and chickens (have not seen one cat yet) so we will see if our agenda changes.