Ha Giang in the clouds

Fantastic last few days in Vietnam. I did a three day tour of Ha Giang (pronounced Ha Zhang) province with a local guide, Lam Luân. Ha Giang province offers truly breathtaking scenery (similar to Sa Pa  Province) as it is so mountainous. The countryside is dotted with rice terraces and is particularly green in the rainy season. I was lucky to have very little rain and overall excellent weather conditions. I am still shy about taking pictures of people so have not taken pics of the local population, but it was quite interesting to see people of all ages dressing in their traditional outfits.  We stayed on the first night at a homestead in a black zhu village, where the traditional clothing is black wool with embroidered red bandanas for the women.  The dinner with Mama Eung was very funny, everyone got a little light headed because of the many rounds of "cham phan cham" (100%) and the rather excellent rice based alcohol.  I have perfected evasion techniques since i am not much of a drinker when all is said and done, but it is hard to resist a persuasive Vietnamese dinner party (and you're never entirely sure what is considered rude during Vietnamest dinner parties. I had several comments on the fact that i eat with my mouth closed which is entirely at odds with the local fashion).

Luan was an excellent guide and we made several stops on our journey to take pictures.  Really I just wanted to have a constant video stream going to capture everything around me! We saw mountain goats (being herded by young children) and many buffaloes. I visited the H mong palace which was built by Chinese workers for the hmong "king" who made his money through the sale of marijuana (a crop that is still grown today though often to make hemp clothing.)  Got to try many local dishes including bitter melon stuffed with meat and herbs, goat meat, buffalo meat and spring rolls wrapped in piper lolot leaves.
After my Ha Giang trip I took yet another (my 7th?) overnight bus back to Hanoi and have been enjoying just wandering around the city with my friend E who i met in India.  Hanoi is wonderfully atmospheric, a great mix of Chinese, Vietnamese and French architecture. Not to mention amazing dishes like bun cha and bun bo nam bo.  If you go, definitely take an hour to sit and enjoy the coconut ice cream coffee at Cong Caphe (the one in front of St Joseph cathedral is great).

Love, Mia

Worth a visit
HA GIANG
-Bong hostel in Ha Giang province (they can store your luggage)
-the towns of Dong Van and Meo Vac are quite pretty.
-Ha Giang travel for a guide. Flipside Hostel in Hanoi also arranges four day (three nights) tours which are apparently very social and fun.

HANOI
-Ga Hostel (Chicken hostel) for budget accommodation in Hanoi
-the Old City
-West Lake
-Bun bo Nam Bo
-Cong Caphe
-Walking the train tracks (a hassle free / motorbike free walk in Hanoi!) along Le Duan road
-Crossing Long Bien bridge, which was designed by Gustav Eiffel himself.