Stop and Stare

I find myself staring into the sky very frequently. Eyes not focusing on any particular object. Eyes also not blinking. Mind not thinking about anything. Body not moving an inch. Just staring. Blankly. Feeling the world goes by.

It's kinda mind-relaxing, you know.....

(Taken in Perth)

A stroll in the Park

Our buddy surprised us today with her specially made roasted chicken and veggie with thymes *touched* Although that was our 6th meal for the day, we still gobbled down the whole thing. Not that we were hungry. Simply because it was made with love and was delicious ^^

The big chef behind the scene

Before we headed home in the evening, we decided to take a stroll in the park. IN our short skirts, jeans, v-back blouse, fitted Ts, beaded and leather bags. So over-dressed and so out of place. Others were in their sweaty, oversized T shirts and stretchy shorts/ pants. Ahh... isn't it good that there are mad people like us to make the park more interesting? hehe...

A walk in the park

The walk began like any normal walk in the park but it quickly turned into a crazy photo shooting session. We made funny faces, did creative and silly poses. Many times, I felt people staring at us, judging us, thinking that 3 lunatics must have escaped from the mental hospital. Yeah, like we cared at all..... We were having too much fun to be bothered by how mad people think we are. We are mad anyway when together haha...

Here are some of our creative pictures.

'The wicked twins'

'Ooohh... We are in Paris'

We feel like dancing... la la la...

Doing 'Bollywood' in the park

Human signboard - Here. No, there.. No, it is up there....

Is that our lakehouse'?'
Sunset in Kch

I was amazed by how beautiful Kch is. One of the things I take for granted in life. Mmm... We should probably do this more often. Not just being silly but to slow down, smell the flower and appreciate life...

Hugging My Feet

After months of searching, I finally found them!! *dancing around*

I absolutely love my new shoes!

Sapa, Vietnam #2

Sapa is indeed very beautiful. It's not hard to take a good picture there because every angle of the place is a perfect water colour painting.

Our tour guide, Ky pointed to a dot on the map "this is where you will be spending the night." Ooooo... It didn't seem very far from Sapa town, like only 15cm away ;p If only it was that easy & straight forward.....

We made friends with a few friendly Black H'mong ladies dressed in their traditional costume outside our hotel. They offered to walk with us to their village. Cool! In contrast to the people in Hanoi, they speak very good English. Impressive considering that they don't go to schools. Hmmm... the fresh fragrant rice does make a difference huh? ;p

Me and my Black H'mong friend, Chi
I'm a giant in 'Smurf's Village'!

(Take note of her jungle trekking footwear - cheap rubber shoes)

The 10cm distance means 7 hours of walking under the hot burning sun on muddy brown road, thru the jungle, up the mountains, over the valley, gliding down the steep slopes, across the gushing stream, along the narrow path of rice terraces. Certain places were dangerously steep. We held on to our dear lives by grabbing whatever we saw. Balancing is very important here because the lightest breeze could cause one to fall and die! Yup, it was that scary :) From time to time, Chi, my little Black H'mong friend lent me a hand. If it wasn't for her, I might have already ended up somewhere down there ;p

Green is good for the eyes

Winding road and river
This is the route Lao Chai Village

So hot! Luckily we were well-equipped

One wrong step, then it's goodbye....

See how the Black H'mong gals expertly glided down without much effort?

Believe it or not, the Black H'mong girls travelled like this to and from Sapa town every single day, with a pair of cheap rubber slippers! Mannn... now i wonder why we bother to spend hundreds of dollars on a pair of branded sports shoes haha... :)




The scenery along the way was magnificent. The further we trekked and the deeper we went into the jungle, the more beautiful the place became and the stronger was the smell of nature (& buffalo dung ;p). Standing on top of the mountain, I felt a sense of freedom. So, this is how it feels to be on top of the world? Even the air was different here! My exhaustion faded when I saw how beautiful the place was - mountains covered by clouds, angry river below, greenish paddies with little houses dotted here and there... hmm.. They all went so well together like butter and bread! Somebody once said, not all beautiful scenery is created by Mother Nature herself. Sometimes she needs a little bit of help from human beings. So true in this case. The place is heavenly! I felt as if I was IN an oil painting! The vast of greens made me feel so insignificant. The world is indeed huge!




After 3 or 4 hours of trekking, we finally reached Lao Chai Village. Yayeee... because that's where we replenished our energy - lunch! I was starving! Lunch was simple but it tasted so good. It did! Really! And the view from where we sat was awesome too :)

Our cafe is the one with blue shade

Chi's village

Greeted by Black H'mong people. Friendly people.
They all hoped we buy handicrafts from them
Sorry gals. I'm a tourist with limited resources

Simple Life, Simple lunch

After resting for about half an hour, we continued our journey. The village isn't very big - men, women and buffaloes working hard in the paddy fields, kids with (& without) pants running around. We spotted two men washing something in the stream... a closer look and explanation from Ky - they just killed a dog for dinner later. *goosebumps*

Men cleaning dog in the stream

A gathering for the kids only

Full moons Exposed!

Two little girls followed me all the way from the cafe to a resting place, all the while chanting "why you buy from her and don't buy from meeeee?" "buy from me, i sell you cheeeeeaap....". They recited the same phrases over and over again like a broken recorder for 30 mins! So patient, so persistant of them... and me ;p I gave in and bought a pouch from one of them. The other gal was hurt. I'm serious. She ran to stand in front of me, repeat her phrase with tears pouring out like waterfall! Oh dear.... only another purchase would stop that and it did! Thank goodness!

"I sell you cheaaap"

Gals waiting outside rest house

After another 4 hours of climb, we finally arrived at our home. It was a little cottage on top of the hill in Ta Van Village. We home-stayed with a small family of three - parents and a shy kid.

Our cottage

Colourful kiddy pants

Me in Ta Van

Our Homestay 'Dad', making dinner for us

Our beds were on the attic. hmmm.. the bed looked comfy. We even had mosquito nettings to prevent bugs from reaching us at night. OOoo... I loved the place! The blanket seemed a bit too thick though. After being in the hot sun and sweating profusely for 7 hours, I wondered if it was really necessarily to have a blanket meant for winter use. I wished I had aircond instead! haha...

Our bedroom up there

I thought we would be pooping in a hole full of worms but noooo, we had good bathroom facilities here! I know I'd said this many times but THE SCENERY WAS AWESOME here! The sun set pretty early over here too. We got to enjoy our delicious homemade dinner outdoor. What a great feeling that was!

Sunset in Sapa

Homemade yogurt with fresh mango
Tasty and good way to cool our over-heated bodies

After dinner, we helped to clean up. We shared the cottage with another group of tourists from Australia and Belgium. They were fun to hang out with :) Before we went to bed, I sneaked outside to feel the air. Breezy and dark. I tried to count the number of stars in the sky but I lost track halfway. The place was filled with music from the nature - crickets and frogs. So, this is how it felt to be living in the oil painting....

I was thankful to have a thick blanket. It was actually quite cold at night. So lucky of the locals to have free air cond to enjoy everynight! With the cool air and music all provided free by Mother Nature, I went to dreamland trouble-free.....


It was worth every effort to come here...

New Friends

While I was having dinner on Friday night, I heard some noise in the backyard. hmmm.. Mum must be doing gardening, I thought to myself and continued chewing my food.

After a few moments, I heard "Bob Bob Bob"... Hmmm... that sounds like chicken talk?!

Curious, I put my spoon down, walked to the window, looked out and saw

CHICKS!

Chickens lah ahahaha...

Not this okay?

Well... ummm... they will eventually end up there i guess.... ;p

Emmm... I don't eat home-fed chickens. It's just not right (& weird) to eat my own friends! Urrgghh...

Jane, they are especially for you.. muahahaha... They are garden chickens and most importantly, mum puts in a lot of effort and love to raise them, FOR YOU. So make sure you eat them all and none goes to waste! hiak hiak hiak...... Can you foresee what dishes you will be enjoying this weekend? ahahaha...

BTW, Jane is coming back this weekend for the weekend! Yayeeeeeeeee.......

Sapa, Vietnam #1

There are two ways to get to the untouched world, Sapa - (i) a 12 car ride on poor winding road which guarantees great views or (ii) an overnight train from Hanoi to Lao Cai (pronounce: Lao Gai) and by road to Sapa. We chose the latter because it's definitely less tiring ^^

Looking for our cart in the rain
The one on the right is the Choo Choo train that's taking us to Sapa

Our 5-star room on the train - soft bed & air conditioned
My cozy little corner in the room, 'the bed up there' and switches controller

Initially, I thought the noise from the choo choo train would keep me awake as I'm a light sleeper. Amazingly, I went to dreamland the moment my head hit the pillow!

After an 8 hour overnight train, we finally landed in Lai Cai. As soon as I stepped out from our train, instantly I felt alive and relaxed - the fresh smell of the countryside, lazy morning sun, gentle wind sweeping past and the hassle-free feeling of a small town. Peaceeee... (^V^)y

530am - Still a sleepy head

I made sure I stayed awake throughout the bus ride to Sapa so I could store every single beautiful view in my limited-spaced hard disk (i.e. my brain). I didn't wanna miss anything! I am glad I didn't fall asleep as the scenery grew more and more breathtaking for each kilometer we travelled! The bus went uphill and then downhill and then up up up into the clouds. In the distance, I saw clouds covering parts of the mountain and beneath the clouds, I saw farmers and buffaloes working hard in the rice terraces and paddy fields. That was a perfect oil painting!!

Then, on the narrow winding road where our bus travelled on, I saw minority people dressed in their traditional constumes walking. Some carrying babies on their backs, some carrying farm tools and some directing their buffaloes and ducks to one side of the road to avoid our bus. Life seems pretty simple and calm over here. I let my mind drifted away....... Is there anything else that they expect in life? Do they ever want more? Do they ever stare into their beautiful heavenly scenery and wonder what the purpose of life is and if there should be more? Are they ever lost? Not in the jungle but in life...? So many thoughts but none with answers.....




After an hour of deep thoughts, we finally landed in heavenly Sapa. It's a little French town surrounded by mountains, fogs, rice terraces and paddy fields. It is serene.




Our bus stopped in a narrow lane with French looking buildings on both sides.



What excited me the most was the bakery & restaurant nearby. It is so French looking! It reminds me of the bakery in one of my favourite 宫崎骏's cartoons called 小魔女宅急便. Did the famous Japanese cartoonist get his inspiration from Sapa I wonder?




I almost rushed down from the bus into this place so I could have a taste of the freshly made breads, buns and cakes! Probably that's how they taste like in the cartoon too.... That will be my 1st mission after returning from jungle trekking!! I promised myself that!

The hotel where we would be staying the next day is situated on a hillside overlooking the mountain and rice paddy fields and terraces. We could have our breakfast and admire the incredible scenery at the same time. This is what I called LIFE! And one of the best things about this hotel is the buffet breakfast. After such a long night, my tummy was already growling with hunger! Everything was so fresh here! Even the bacon! And the locally grown rice is big, round, fat and juicy that I couldn't help gobbled down a few plates! *Burp*

Yummm.....

After breakfast, we met up with our jungle trekking guide, Ky who would be our eye opener for the next 3 days in Sapa. We would take off to Lao Chai Village on foot where the Black H'mong tribe lives in a few minutes time.

Excuse me for a second, Jenn wants to sit at the balcony to enjoy the heavenly scenery of Sapa now....

To be continue.........