Adventures in Paso

Today we ventured out to visit more villages in NW Vietnam. The views were once again spectacular, very mountainous, along the Red River, then along various creeks, etc. We had 2 crazy things happen, the first village we visited, a Red Hmong village, was near the Laos border, and we were stopped by communist police, who kept us in the village for a while as they checked passports, etc. We weren't allowed to give any goods to the village but they took us on a tour. It felt very uncomfortable, as they were seemingly trying to hide any corruption and show us some of the nicer huts. There was electricity in this village, and it was incredible to see the mud huts w/bamboo and leaves, and little to nothing inside except for a chair and a television. Just goes to show how far technology and media go. The place that I am blogging from right now is also an interesting site, dirt roads and floors outside, pretty grimey, yet there are 20 computer stations.

The other interesting adventure was that while we were having lunch on the side of the road (literally, oh and lunch = rice, peanuts, mangoes, and bread) our bus driver was smoking some beetlenut out of a bong-like contraption, and just as we were getting on the bus to head to the next village, he started puking. The tour guide asked if anyone had an orange, and then gave that to him, and he got up. It wasn't very comforting to know he was going to drive us back through the twisty, mountainous roads. Needless to say, I'm super glad to be sitting here out of harms way for now :)


Tomorrow we are off to Sapa, and will be visiting more villages. It's incredibly humbling and challenging to go from village to village to be either welcomed or turned away. Thuy, our guide, was saying the police didn't want us to give anything to these ethnic minority villages so they don't rise up against the government.

Finally, we are staying at this insane little hotel right now in Paso. Highlights from myself and others in the group include - spiders, rats, no A/C, a restaurant only open at certain hours, a piece of bread for breakfast, language barriers, paper thin walls, mosquito nets (thankfully), and showering from a waistlevel faucet coming out of the wall in the bathroom.... But, I am definitely not complaining, because I know it could be worse. I also know that we are staying at some really nice places along the way.

That's all for now!