Zhanar with our H'mong tour guides - Peng, Chu, Shu, Mee, So and the youngest girl whose name we didn't get.

We met them in Sapa town shortly after our arrival. Mee was very outspoken, and I saw her joking with some of the other tourists - more than a match for a hapless 20 year old british boy who yielded some good laughs for Mee's gang.

Zhanar and I wanted to go for a short hike to Cat Cat village so I hired Mee & company as our guides for 10,000 Dong each (about 70 cents). It was a fun walk. Mee told us how indigo dye is made and showed us some indigo plants. All of the traditional clothes are colored with indigo, and you can see a lot of blue hands around the village as a testament to the labor that goes into it. Every house we visited had their own indigo vat.

We had such a nice time with these girls that we hired Mee and two of her friends the next day to take us to some other villages as well. I only wish that we had brought all six on the next day's hike.  

The television room at Lao Chai village. The TV was playing a movie in English, and everyone was pretty focused. No wonder these kids speak English by the time they are 8. 

Two H'mong girls on their way somewhere, probably going to pick vegetables or collect bamboo to make a cooking fire. 

Mee's Aunt, mother of the twins in the next photo. 

Twin girls who turned out to be Mee's cousins. We met their mother later, fixing a fence. And their father too, carrying a pole back from the village. Their brother was a little toddler, who we met about a mile away, hanging out with another toddler. 

Inside the classroom 

In front of the H'mong village school in Lao Chai. The school consists of 3 or 4 classrooms with Vietnamese teachers. 

An outlying building of our friend So's house in Lau Chai village, where we stopped for a visit. that's Mee standing by the fence. 

Here comes trouble. These are Red Zao women coming the other way on our hike, and determined to sell us something. Since I'm a softie, I bought a bunch of stuff. If you're one of the lucky folks who I gave something to, you can probably see it in this photo before I bought it. 

Zhanar and Dina on a classic little stool in front of Mee's house near the H'mong village of Ta Van. We stopped there to wait for the motorbikes to take us back up the hill to Sapa. Mee's brother was chopping turmeric when we got there. It smelled like ginger but was ink colored. 

We went for a walk near Mee's house in the fields near Ta Van village. 

Old russian motorbikes just keep going and going. This guy was a cousin or friend of Mee's who took us to the next village for a tour. 

Young H'mong mother. All of the young women were approaching Zhanar and asking how old she was and how many babies she had. They were all shocked that she is 31 and has only one baby to show for it. Most H'mong women marry at around 18 and have several children by their early 20's. 

Near the end of our hike the sun came out for a few brief moments and I tried to take some photos. This one has Chu, Peng and Mee (left to right). Mee was the most outspoken, and spoke very good english. Chu was the next most talkative and I wish that we had brought her with us on the second day. 

Our H'mong tour guides - Peng, Mee, Shu and Chu. Chu was very sad on the second day because we didn't buy anything from her, and I regret that. I think she took it as a personal affront, but we really were out of money. 

That lovely building you see below in the mist is the "Monkey House". You can see monkeys there. 

Mee (left) and Peng (center) on the steps down the hill that lead from Sapa to Cat Cat village. 

A mother and daughter returning to the village from Sapa town with some puffed corn and a bunch of freshly picked herbs. 

These women are carrying bamboo home to make a cooking fire for the evening meal. Mee told me that she can carry 40 kg of wood herself - and she's only 11.  

We arrived in Sapa at 7am - and it was cold and foggy. On the way there I was thinking "I wonder if we can find a pub with a fireplace..." I was overjoyed to see a fireplace right in our hotel's restaurant. I highly recommend the "Baguette and Chocolat" if you go to Sapa. $18 per night for a nice clean room and a pleasant little restaurant with breakfast included. 

The night train to Sapa. Our trip to Sapa was miserable, in a train car with a tourgroup that I think might have been the Chinese Olympic Chain Smoking Team. We didn't sleep much. The ride back looked grim too - we heard a clamour in the hall, and opened the door to discover another Chinese tour guide hollering into an electric bullhorn. However, she must have been telling the group to keep quiet and smoke outside between cars because we had a great sleep on the way back. 

On Saturday morning, local folks hang around the church. Some kids were playing soccer and these girls were having a little photo session. I asked if they were tourists and they said they lived in Hanoi but it was just a nice day to be out taking pictures. 

Taking a break from our backpack purchasing expedition. Ha Noi is a great place to buy a backpack. And to take some portraits against interesting walls. 

One day we rented a motorbike to putter around the old quarter. I know the Americans will balk at this, but it's safe enough. You see plenty of families on scooters there -- without even a baby carrier. Besides, in the old quarter you can never go more than about 10 miles an hour. We also got Dina a nice little conical hat to keep the sun and rain off her head. She was a big hit with the locals and tourists alike. 

We had a nice leisurely lunch at Puku, an upstairs Cafe in old town Hanoi. While we were sitting there, one of the waitresses leaned over the balcony and called to someone down on the street. I asked her what was going on and she said she had called to a street vendor who was selling cakes, to ask her to wait downstairs. I went down with her and she bought some sticky rice cakes in a bowl of sweet soup from an old lady with a conical hat and a vietnamese backpack. Delicious.