Mai Chau Super Adventure

Left Hanoi this morning and headed west into the mountains and countryside to Mai Chau district.  Ended up being the only two people on the tour so a private tour for us.  Took over 3 hours to reach the village where the tour started, Mai Ha.  The White Thai (white is the color of their traditional clothing) people live in houses on stilts which we had seen in the museum in Hanoi, but here we saw people living in them.  We immediately went on a 1 1/4 hour bike ride through the village, on a concrete path through the rice paddies and on a single track bumpy and muddy section to a lake, up some hills, then back around to village.  Several children shouted Hello to us along the way.

We had lunch with our guide, Nghi, and our driver, rested half an hour, then as we heard thunder and we could see rain nearby decided to head out anyway on our trek on a trail over the mountain to another village where we would be staying the night.  I was a little hesitant hearing it would be a 2 1/2 hour hike over the mountain on a slippery trail, the thunder in the distance, and the reminder to put on bug repellent for the mosquitoes in the forest (more like jungle). But this is what we came for, so off we set.

We  up the hiked up the mountain on a rocky and red clay slippery, sometimes steep, winding path, choosing each footfall carefully.  It was drizzling. The vegetation was dense. For an hour we wound our way up the mountain.  We slipped several times, and almost fell.  At one point poor 5' 3" Nghi was trying to keep us from sliding back down and had to push our butts up the hill. An older lady who lived at the top bounded past us in rubber boots after cutting Kelsey and I walking sticks from bamboo. I already had one. She obviously thought I needed another one.... She was looking for her water buffalo and we had heard its bamboo bell a little earlier.

We made it to the top where she lives with her husband in a beautiful clearing on a small homestead with rice paddies and fruit trees and water buffalo.  We were tired, dripping with sweat from exertion and from rain, and it had started to rain more. We went up into the stilt house to rest a little.  The husband showed us the house - the kitchen area with a fire burning and sleeping area.  The wooden floor had wide openings between the slats.  Big bags of rice were along the wall.  He was laughing and speaking the local language, different from Vietnamese.  He offered us a shot of rice wine, which we drank. He played the bamboo flute and sang a couple songs.  We tried jungle honey (honey he makes from hives he finds in the jungle) and added it to our second shot. Delicious.  Started to rain more, and he poured us one more shot. They have been living on the mountain top for 5 years and this trekking tour has been coming there for a couple months.  The tour company must pay them so they get some extra income.

 

View from inside the house

It was raining more but we had to get down the mountain.  The way down was more open and muddier.  We covered our crossbody bags with cheap rain ponchos. Going down was not as hard work physically, but took a lot of concentration to watch where we stepped. Our shoes were a muddy mess and mud caked on the bottom made them even slipperier. I was the first one to fall in the mud.  Kelsey made it a while longer, and she fell too.  Our guide almost fell a couple times. We were wet though and through, mud on our backsides and water soaked and muddy shoes and clothes.

After an hour we reached the road and walked a short distance to Nghi's family's house where we would be sleeping.

We took showers and rinsed our clothes before dinner.  We ate dinner with the family at a low table sitting on cushions on the floor - Nghi, his parents, his wife and 8 month baby daughter Toi An.  Three more shots of rice wine during dinner.  Delicious bamboo shoots with ginger leaves was our favorite dish. Ice cold watermelon after dinner.  Chatted with Nghi awhile. Then bedtime.  We decided to not turn on the AC, just left the window (hole in the wall, with a wooden shutter) open to the air and night sounds until Kelsey was attacked by a giant moth that found its way into her mosquito netting at 4:00 a.m.  we closed the shutter, turned on the AC (turns out there was AC after all) and slept for a few more hours.

Next day was an easier day.  We went on a half hour flat, only occasionally muddy trail through beautiful terraced rice paddies to another village.

We drove an hour to get to our boat ride on the Black River, a huge wide river surrounded by mountains, with over 50 islands.  The boat parked at a tower ladder in the river and we jumped off the boat into the cool river water.  We swam and floated for a while.

Back onshore we were done for the day and are now on our way to the Hanoi airport to get a flight to Ho Chi Minh for our flight home tomorrow night.