Northern Tour 2014 03

During the night there was really heavy rain, fortunately easing just before we left Sa Pa; I thought the rain would give us at least one day clear of the haze that extended to the most remote parts of the mountains- well it did for about five minutes, if that. We headed back towards Lào Cai, stopping on the way to take some photos. 

Then to the Chợ Phong Hải market, but only stopped for a short while before continuing the drive. Our tour leader saw what looked like a nice restaurant for lunch, and discovered it was their first trading day. The men had been celebrating  since early morning and had already consumed quite a lot of rice wine; our arrival was taken to be a sign of good fortune so drinking and toasts continued. It would have been rude to have refused a toast or two...

Soon after we arrived at the restaurant a group of Dutch guys roared in on powerful motorbikes, they were motorcycle police who spend their annual holidays, in different parts of the world, going on motorbike tours . Over the next few days we ran across these guys several times, almost as if we were shadowing each other.

Driving along, after lunch, we kept on coming across stacked leaves of timber veneer drying along the side of the road and stopped at a mill where they were cutting, stripping and peeling logs. These guys were incredibly patient, allowing us to photograph while they continued working. The timber, we were informed, was destined for use in the match industry, which seems like a real waste.

A little later we came across people hand harvesting rice, as most people still do; bending down the woman (mainly it’s the women) gather several rice stalks and cuts them with a razor sharp scythe shaped handheld knife, she then places them on a small pile behind. Other workers come along to gather and tie the piles together into bunches for the next team to come and carry them, balancing several bunches at either end of a bamboo pole, up to the road to dry before threshing. Threshing though, since electric power has become available, is now mainly mechanised although we did see some people hand threshing during the trip.