Friday, January 22, 2010

 My “2 H’mong Walking Sticks” - Sa Pa


Several weeks ago when I was thinking of going to SaPa, someone mentioned “it’s great if you have 2 H’mong walking sticks. I looked at them curiously not understanding what they were saying.  It sounded a bit disrespectful but I let it go at the time.

I arrived in Sa Pa, north of Hanoi, home to many different Hill Tribe People. The owner of my hotel mentioned that there was a Photo Gallery down the street. I did not waste any time and went right over. The photographer was an ex-pat from Denver Colorado. After covering all the photo basics he suggested that I spend the day going into one of the Hill Tribe Communities in the area. He was took it upon himself to walk me to the park and introduce me to a guide.

After negotiating a price, my Guide, Zi and I agreed that we would take the easier trip today to her home village.
Zi my guide
As we headed out, I felt like the Pied piper with 3 additional women in tow. All spoke English reasonably well so we covered the basics, starting with our respective age, marital status and # of children. Perhaps 1 Km out of town, Zi asked if I wanted to take the seldom taken route to her village – sure sounds like fun. This is when I learned the definition of “2 H’mong walking sticks”. Steep hills, tons of rocks and small quasi ledges to be negotiated. 2 of these 3 tiny woman, one on each side, wearing plastic sandals helped hold up and balance the big American lady wearing her super technical hiking boots. Oh, I forgot to mention that both of these ladies are in their 40’s. The 3rd woman was carrying a 2 month old baby on her back.




My 2 H'mong Walking Sticks



Both of my new 'best friends", each came up to about my shoulder




More to come soon,
Carpe Diem,
Lorrie


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