Laos/Luang Nam Tha Province

After riding for three and a half hours from Jing Hong, we got to the border of Laos. Crossing the border is easy if you have a photo and a valid passport. After crossing the border, we continued another hour and a half to the town of Luang Nam Tha, which is known for its trekking, kayaking and rafting. Laos is so different from China and Vietnam. I didn’t see people rushing all over. For example, in Luang Nam Tha, people were more relaxed and they seemed to enjoy their daily life. Luang Nam Tha hardly has traffic, and people don’t seen stressed out and working so hard like in Vietnam and China.
The next day we went for a walk in the afternoon to a water fall near Luang Nam Tha. We passed through many small villages. It was interested to see how minority groups live in their wooden and thatched houses on stilts, and I was shocked to see how they lived with no running water, and no sewer system. They are poor, but they seem to be coping with their situation. I liked to see the women bathing in the river without a bra, and some families were working in the mud picking up some kind of shells, perhaps snails. I thought it was interesting to see most people coming back from work carrying loads of wood, and some baskets with different kinds of vegetables. I could see a whole family even with small children coming back from work looking tired. I was amazed to see that women wear their black traditional outfits with some jewelry, but what impressed me the most was to see the families together bathing in the small river which was coming from the water fall. These families seem to be enjoying themselves after a day of hard work. They were laughing and jumping into the small creek.
I am very sad about the deforestation that we have seen in Laos, I am concerned about the debastation of mother earth. I am scared that if the forestation doesn’t stop the consecuences are going to be horrible. I remembered in my country where I grew in small town full of trees and a beautiful river in the outskirt of San Salvador. I enjoyed the river which is now gone.
Before I came here, I didn’t know much about the history of Laos. For example, I didn’t know about the secret war in the 1960s in which the U.S. dropped over two million tons of bombs on Laos trying to halt the flow of soldiers and arms on the Ho Chi Minh trail and to prevent the Communist Pathet Lao from taking over. Up to one third of the population became refugees. And even today, many people, especially children are being killed or maimed from the remains of the bombing.

Xishuangbanna/The Water-Splashing Festival

We got to Jing Hong the last day of the Water-Festival which is celebrated in mid April. It was fun to see trucks and pick trucks with so many youth on the street pouring water on everybody that they saw. Unfortunately, we had our baggage and we didn’t want our clothes and computer to get wet. It didn’t matter people started to give us a shower, it was a hot day and it felt good. The Dai people believe that the water cleans away the dirt, the pain, and the demons of the year bringing happiness for the new year.
We are still in China in Jing Hong which is in the south of Yunnan. It is a lovely place to be with palm trees along the streets; it feels relaxing, but still crowded to my standards. I was dreaming of resting and enjoying a quiet place; so far I haven’t found it here. I am still thinking of Tiger Leaping Gorge where I hiked 13 miles enjoying three days of peace and quiet. Anyways, here from our hotel I have been watching the street market at night where one can buy jewelry and all kinds of jade ornaments. The market is an interesting place to find antique art craft and wooden carving ornaments.
Yesterday, we took the local bus to go hiking along the Mekong River; we got off the bus and we could see a lot of garbage around the city. As we walked towards the river we continue seeing so much garbage everywhere, I was really sad and depressed. I could see some of the channels transporting dirty water and garbage going straight to the river. The river is so beautiful with palm trees along, yet with so much garbage along the banks and some piles of garbage stacked on the rocks. It reminds me of my hometown where I grew up near San Salvador, El Salvador. The river where I used to go swimming or get water to drink doesn’t exist anymore. It is a shame, we humans are destroying our beautiful planet. I know that China already has implemented the policy of one child per family, but she still need to educate the population about the importance of keeping the river clean.

The end of the World/ Trail of Tiger Leaping Gorge

On our way to Tiger Leaping Gorge from the bus we could see the spectacular views of these high mountains which were astounding. I was looking forward to our hike, but I was worried that I wasn't going to make it. Tiger Leaping Gorge is a place that you must see to believe. We left our hotel at 7:15 am in the morning and we got in the mini bus with other tourists to Qiaotou which is the starting point of the hike. We got to Qiaotou at 9:45 am, we had a cup a coffee at Jane's Guest House. We started our hike from Jane's Guest House; the view is amazingly beautiful with the river below and some rice paddies along the trail. After hiking for two hours we started to see the beginning of the gorge which is the deepest in the world according to many books, about 13,000 feet or more. Wow, what a spectacular sight to see; it is so impressive. I feel that this is paradise if it exists. The mountains are incredibly high. Every step that I took there was another magnificent, breathtaking view. The hike was very strenuous and difficult, but the beautiful jade color river and the giant boulders and water falls made me want to continue. There was a point that I thought I was going to faint luckily, I didn't. My whole body ached and I felt sore, but it is worth it I was walking like a turtle when I started to climb the twenty eight bends after two hours from the beginning. Finally, we got to the Halfway Guest House after 6 hours; this was a great place to spend the night and rest. At this point we were half way from Jane's to Tina's, guest house. The views from our room were fantastic, I could see the higher mountains with snow on top while sitting on the balcony with the view of the mountains in front and the river down below. This is the best hike I ever have done.

Yunnan/Kunming

Yunnan Province (China)
Capital Kunmihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifng, population 1 million
I was impressed to see so many tall buildings in Kunming, it is incredible how many tall buildings it has. We could get lost so easy if we didn’t pay attention where we were since we can't read Chinese Characters, but we could guide ourselves with a little map that our hotel provided us with. I remember twenty three years ago when we lived in China the transportation was so bad, but now buses are efficient. The buses are clean, and some have double decks. Most people seem well dressed and happy. We can see that China has progressed economically and provides excellent transportation for its citizens. I remember we wanted to go someplace when we were living in Chengdu, but it was so difficult to go because the busses were super crowded.

Kunming is one of the largest cities of Yunnan province, it is an amazing city with so many nice parks and different places to visit. Even though we were a few days here, we could see many pagodas around the city. When we were at the park, we saw ten different ethnic groups dancing and playing different music. They were wearing beautiful traditional dresses, it was nice atmosphere to see. China is home to more than half of all ethnic minority groups (56%), Yunnan is nearly 50% non-Han most populous are the Naxi (Lijian) and the Bai (Dali).

Now, we are in Dali, and when we walked, I could see the Bai ethnic groups wearing their beautiful hats which are colorful and match their dresses.

A Hell of a trip from Hanoi to Kunmin

Friday we left Hanoi and took a taxi to go to the train station. The train station was packed with so many tourists asking questions about Sapa and Bac Ha which are beautiful places in Vietnam, but we were going to the border to go to China. We got on the train and the train left exactly at 8:50 pm. We were tired since we went to get the Chinese visa and buy the train tickets to leave immediately.

We shared our sleeping compartment with a younger couple. She was from Brasil and he was Swedish. We talked for an hour about our travel experiences and then we said good night. The train started to move and was going quite fast; each of us got in our tiny little bed. The three of them seemed to be sleeping, and I was looking through the window, but of course it was dark and couldn’t see anything. Once in a while I could see some dim lights and some houses. I felt like I didn’t have enough air, and the train was bumping along. I really wanted to sleep, but I was dead tired. I felt dizzy and wanted to leave the train, but the train was moving really fast. I got a terrible headache and I felt like throwing up. I tried to meditate, but it was difficult since the train was moving fast and making a lot of noise. I felt really miserable. Just when I falling asleep, an attendent knocked on the door and said, “here we are; get your possessions.” I felt drowsy and did not want to leave, but we had to. It was a little bit chilly and foggy. We had a very good breakfast at the border before leaving Vietnam. We walked two kilometers to the border with our backpacks. We went through customs,crossed the river into China, and went through customs again on the Chinese side.

Allan started to practice his Chinese and asked for the bus to Yunnan that was easy. Then we bought the tickets and it was about 9:15 am. We got on the bus at 10:50 am. After two hours the bus broke down with some kind of problem, but we didn’t mind since the ride was beautiful. We could see high mountains, rivers and small villages of twenty or fifty old adobe houses. I love to see the rice paddies on the mountainsides and the farmers working or selling their products along the highway. While the bus was being fixed, we ate in a small restaurant. First, they brought us a dish of bacon which we didn’t order, so we went into the kitchen and pointed out what we wanted (eggplant, tomatoes, scallions and garlic)which the cook soon fried up in his wok. We had a delicious lunch in that little place.

Finally, the bus was fixed and we started the journey again, but broke down several more times along the way. What it was going to be 10 hours ended up being 13 hours. We got to Kunming at midnight, we were cold, tired and hungry. We got a Taxi and here we are in Kunmin.

Thoughts about Vietnam

I have been thinking about Vietnam and I have concluded that it is so different than other countries that I had visited around the world including the underdeveloped countries. It differs in the position of women in society. I see a great number of women attending high school and higher education in urban cities and in the country side.

Vietnamese women seem to be proud and sure about themselves in the cities. I noticed that they are big contributors to the economy. I see countryside women working from sunrise to sunset in order to support their families. I have seen in the museums from south to north the participation of women during the Vietnam war how much they contributed for the triumph. Yet yesterday when we went on a tour, the guide told us a little bit about the women in this country. I didn't like to hear about the treatment of many women in Vietnam society. The guide said that there are prostitutes for married men because they get bored with the same wife. He also told us that arranged marriages are still customary, especially in the countryside where parents choose the spouse for their children.

Hue

Hue
Now, we are in Hue which is an incredible old and historical city. Hue has been on of the cultural, historical and educational centers with many royal tombs, a citadel, ancient pagodas and gardens. It was a hell of a place to be during the Vietnam war since the city was near the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ)and was the site of the largest battle of the Tet Offensive of 1968. It is amazing to see the number of tanks, bombs and granades that have been dispersed all over Vietnam in different museums.

We went for a walk yesterday to the Citadel, where the emperor used to live two hundred years ago. It is surrounded by large walls and guard towers with a moat protecting the inner area. There are beautiful gardens which surround the big palace. I am sure thousands of people were forced to help build the citadel. I know that throughout history all over the world kings, queens, leaders all over the world have obligated or and enslaved their people to build these huge palaces, castles, and special houses well protected, but I am glad that the United States presidents have been sharing the White House to live in without forcing the people to work and live there as slaves (although surely slave labor was used to build it). I am not crazy about visiting these emperors citadel or temples because they represent the suffering of the people.

Around the Citadel we saw some of the tanks that the Americans used against the Vietcong; it is sad to see such terrible machines that cause so much pain and destruction in this small city. I peeked inside of one of the tanks, I could see still a wire from an old telephone, an old rusted screen and some other gages that the soldiers used during the war. There were six tanks and other anti-aircraft. I was emotional and I thought about the thousands of soldiers from both sides who died here. It was a heavy scene to see because I can imagine the suffering of the American soldiers in this land which is far away from their home.

We went on six hour tour where we had the opportunity to visit the Ho Chi Min Trail, Khe San combat zone, the tunnels of Vinh Moc, and an Ethnic minority village and the Ben Hai river (the former dividing line between the North and the South).
The most impressive site to visit has been the tunnels which I have been so scared to go into because I am claustrofobic, I would go in only to save my life. The tunnels are very impressive and many tourist go inside to experience what the VC went trhough. When the tourists come out of the tunnels, they are sweating and without breath. They get a taste of the horrible conditions that the VC went trhough to save their lives. Here the tunnels were strong, but in other places the tunnels were weak and the Vc rebels died sofocated.