The Sisters, and the Jones went on a long hike through the rice fields. I wanted to take a shorter way and so the tour people drove Scott and me part way and we were met by some Hmong guides who were gracious enough to not try to get me to buy from them until we got to the little restaurant where we met up with our group. Instead of a 3 mile walk I had a 1 1/2 mile walk down a steep rocky path that sometimes was wet and a little slippery. But they were very helpful. We saw some beautiful scenery and enjoyed the company of these sweet Hmong people very much.
Farm houses.
The guides that walked us down into the valley.
I loved how the corn grows right on the mountain. I thought it was amazing how good they were to irrigate and get a crop. We saw these little pigs running around at some farmer's home.
I thought the rice fields were so beautiful and I enjoyed seeiing close up how they terraaced their crop. When it is time to harvest, the whole village comes out to help each other. Our little guide said that most people never get off the mountain. She didn't know about the Himalayas or other countries by Vietnam. She says they go to school until 6 or 7th grade, then if you don't have money to further your education, you take English class and hope to get a tour job like her, and also you marry and have children and farm. That is their life and she seemed very happy and her English was very good. She was a sweet young woman and we grew to love her.
At the bottom of the valley we had to cross a bridge, a new one, not the old one, thank goodness. Their was an ex-patriot from Australia who comes back during the tourist season and runs this little homegrown restaurant where we ate lunch midway through the hike. It sits on the river. The food was good even though we had one menu choice. IT was a much needed break and we appreciated the change of pace.
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