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.