Hiking towards Topas Ecolodge in Sapa

2 October 2015 –

Thunderstorms last night!!! 

It rained most of the night and now there are nice, cooler temperatures this morning.  Ahhhh…..

 

 

Breakfast this morning…"banana cakes" with honey. (deep fried banana fritters) Yummy!

 

Today we're leaving the Red Dao/Red Zao village and head towards Topas Ecolodge.  We won't walk the entire way there as it's too far away but we'll get to see the beautiful rice terraces up close. 

A few glimpses of the Red Zao village:

Where are we??? Oh…

 

Where rice cannot grow the farmers grow Cassava (a root vegetable):

A flooded rice terrace:

It feels so nice hiking in the cool, moist air.

 

Terraces of gold and brown…The gold is rice ready to be harvested and the brown are terraces that have been harvested. 

 

Watching families separate the grains of rice from the straw.  This family is using a machine to help with the process. These are Green H'Mong (different clothing and hairstyles from the Red Zao).  I think they're also amused watching us!

Here's a closer look at the gas-powered rice thrashing machine:

Tuan is teaching us a little bit about feng shui.  See that little mirror hanging above the main door (this is a family home)?  There's a difference if it's concave or convex. I honestly couldn't understand Tuan.

The Green H'Mong village:

Bags and bags of rice…

We stopped in at this house to visit the family.  There was a young woman (about 23 years old) with two young children.  Tuan told us that arranged marriages are still common here – and they start getting married at 13 years old. Yikes!  Can you imagine getting married at THIRTEEN??? That's too young!  Although there are several different ethnic groups living quite close to each other (neighboring villages can be different ethnic groups), inter-ethnic marriages are extremely rare.  

I think this woman is Black H'Mong:

 

Water buffalo…

 

Harvested rice paddy:

Check out the rice kernels:

Harvesting rice:

Flowers along the path:

Lady bug…

Do you see those kids up ahead?  They're playing on the board as if it's a teeter-totter.  The kids tried to speak English with us. Very cute!

Taking water buffalo for a walk.  

 

And more water buffalo going for a stroll:

And here is the van!  Let's load up and drive to the hotel…

 

We're here!!!! Welcome to Topas Ecolodge!!! 
 We've checked in…now it's time to locate our bungalow.  Check out the views!  This hotel is located high on top a hill…with an excellent view of the valley and rice terraces below. And mountains

 

Here it is!  This is our little home-away-from-home!

View from our balcony:

 

The inside of our bungalow….lovely stone with A/C AND it's completely sealed.  NOOOOO spiders!!!!!

Off to check out the rest of the place:

There's the main lodge (meals are served upstairs):

A beer for me!Lunch…We had to preorder our meals – which seems a little odd but I guess this place is far enough away from Sapa town that they need to make sure they have all the ingredients on hand. (we're about 45 minute drive from the town)

Here's a map of the area:

Inside the lodge:

Some reading time!

 

And Mark is whittling a piece of bamboo (his walking stick from the previous day).  He's going to make a whistle.

Drying clothing…and swimsuits…

Here's the bathroom….very, very nice….

 

Let's enjoy a cup of Vietnamese coffee…sweetened condensed milk on the bottom (nice thick & yummy layer) with dripping coffee on top.

Time for dinner!

Oh, Ava!!!!

Trying to FaceTime grandparents…

And now it's time for a game of chess…

Check out this bizarre drink Mark is drinking:

Yeah, those are WASPS!!!  Holy ummm….schmoly!And…it's not really good.  Darn.  I was really hope for a honey-like taste but nope.  

Good night!  Tomorrow we're going to visit Sapa town.