Birthday Shenanigans

 The month of May is a special one to me; I have given myself permission to celebrate for the entire month, and especially the weeks before and after May 11, the day my mother birthed me. I live by the philosophy that if you're going to celebrate, celebrate big--don't pin all your hopes on that one day, but celebrate many, many days. Words to live by.

So every good thing that happens in the month of May, I attribute to a celebration of life. This month was no different, and Allen planned our next awesome adventure to coincide with my birth-week. This past week we traveled to the north of Vietnam, approximately 30 miles from the border with China, to a place called Sa Pa. The ride on the bus took about 6 hours to go close to 200 miles. We chose to go during the morning when we could see the landscapes of Vietnam; an option was to take a sleeping bus, but we passed on that idea.

Wednesday: 

We left home just after 6 am and for 5.5 hours we traveled no more than 500 feet above sea level; the final 1/2 hour took us up to 5000 feet, where the air was cooler and cleaner and the vistas were breathtaking. Sa Pa reminded us a lot of Park City, Utah: beautiful mountains and lots of hotels and restaurants for those who use it as a "jumping off" spot for their adventures. Sa Pa is famous for its terraced rice paddies which cover every hillside, and although we didn't see the rice paddies fully planted and green, or ready for harvest and golden, we saw a great variety in the colors and loved what we saw.

We paid a little extra for our tour so that we could have our own personal guide on our adventures and we were glad we did. Ta May was our guide and was a native of one of the many tribes in the area. She was able to show us a lot and explain various traditions and planting facts.

Our first day of hiking, Wednesday, we walked down steep hills to visit 3 different villages. We packed well for our trip to Sa Pa with umbrellas and rain ponchos, and left them in our suitcases where we would be sure to find them after we walked an hour in the rain. Great. Fortunately, there was a building where we could take shelter until this storm blew over. In spite of the rain, we loved it. And the rain was a blessing to the farmers, who needed the ground to be wet to plan their rice. 

Here we are with Ta May, our friendly, knowledgeable guide. She lives in a village 20 km away from Sa Pa, with her husband and 2 children. When she is not doing tours, she is farming, sewing, teaching her daughter the skills she will need, etc. If anyone travels to Sa Pa, we recommend Ta May.

At the beginning of our walk, we were joined by 3 H'mong women who carried their wares in the baskets on their backs. They accompanied us down the hill for an hour or 2 until they needed to turn off the path so they could walk 2 more hours to their homes. Here, they recommended that we buy some of their handmade products; we couldn't say no.

Back in Sa Pa for the night, we wandered around to see the sights. Many H'mong women are on the streets, hoping that tourists will want to buy some of their handicrafts. They also have their small children dress in native costumes and dance, hoping for donations.

Thursday: 

After breakfast, we drove to a mountain pass to the north where there is a large Buddha statue and a place called Heaven's Gate.

This is Heaven's Gate, looking out across the valley.

Heaven's Gate, on the summit.

On the way down to Sa Pa, we stopped at Silver Falls, a beautiful waterfall that reminded us of Oregon.

After lunch, we headed to Sa Pa station to ride a train to the base of Fansipan Mountain, where we would get on a cable car to ride to the summit--almost.

From the train, the views were spectacular.

And from the cable car, the views were even more so!

We rode up through the clouds and ended in the fog on the summit of Fansipan Peak, at over 10,000 feet in elevation. There is a massive area of buildings and statues and temples, all created for the visitors who come for the amazing experience. We didn't have any views on this day, as were in the clouds, but it was still impressive.

From this point, we still had 600 HUGE steps leading up to the summit, but Ta May knew a shortcut, so we got there a bit quicker.

Then it was back down through the clouds, where we got the amazing views again.

Back in Sa Pa, we found a temple to visit.

And the view of Sa Pa from the temple...

Friday:

Today we walked down to Cat Cat Village, where the natives have taken advantage of the amazing place they live and the appeal it has to foreigners.

On the way to the village are many shops that rent outfits for you to wear in pictures... Way too hot for me!

All the way down the steep stone steps, shops border the path, where you can buy holistic medicine, buffalo jerky, lamps, clothing, food... anything you can imagine! It reminded me exactly of Perfume Pagoda, where we went a month or so ago, with shops all the way down the stone steps.

In Cat Cat Village itself, we found a beautiful waterfall, bridges, shops, the river, and native dancing. It was such an amazing place!

We arrived home Friday night around 8:30 pm. 

You may not realize it, but you have just experienced a miracle: I have winnowed down over 1000 pictures into the blog you see before you. And it was  H A R D.  If you want to see ALL the pictures, come visit us in California in about a year!

Saturday was spent with the missionaries again, although Allen was nursing a cough and stayed home. I held my music class at 3 pm, English activity was at 4 pm, and a missionary correlation meeting was at 6 pm, which Allen joined via Zoom. Saturday was our Elder Hoang's birthday, so we stayed after the meeting and ordered dinner together, which was delivered by Grab scooter!

I'll leave you now with the knowledge that my birthday and Mother's Day were the very next day: they were enjoyed and busy and I'll write about them in the next blog!

We had a wonderful experience going to Sa Pa and seeing so many things, and learning so many things. God truly has created a masterpiece in this part of the world, and there are so many parts of the world we would love to explore--here and elsewhere!  But a favorite part of the world is wherever our kids and family and friends are.

We love and miss you!