F E L I N E R S

poos, this post is to make up to u, for my "absence" of more than a week. hee! =)
it is a continuation from the previous post ya

tabby, kitty & johannes
grilled beef for dinner at Ma May on the day we got back from Halong

it was a back to back trip! right after that, we boarded a train at Lao Cai train station
it was a night train & it took 8.5 hours to reach our destination - Sapa
the train didn't stop at Sapa town perse
coz we needed to take a 1 hour (or less) taxi ride into the town
i had a good sleep on the top bunk!
i fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow!

we reached the beautiful mountainous Sapa!!
the taxi driver was insistent that he pull over for us to get down to take photos
despite the fact that we said "no, thank you"
ah well, he pulled over anyway
after a few snapshots, we continued our journey into the town

see the terraced rice fields?

there's a little Reddness in kitty and garf

walking about the town looking for a place to stay

managed to find a room after a short while
and this is the view from our balcony

roses for sale - i dedicate this photo to aristo
"Roses" is ur nickname right?
is it? eh, crap. not so sure.
but whenever i see red roses, i'd associate them with u

flowers, flowers, flowers

these women with red fabric on their heads, they're from the Red Zao tribe
oooh, and the ones without the red head gear, they're from the H'mong tribe
that's about all that i know
there might be more ethnic tribes in this hill *shrugs*

tabby finding warmth from a hug

i don't know what the weather was
but my guess is about 15ºC? what do u think, girls, was it about 15ºC? or 20ºC?
with the ocassional drizzle, it could get kinda cold

walked around looking for lunch
i had Bun Cha

kitty, bargaining with the H'mongs

kitty, planning the day trip with Zee, our local guide, (recommended by Johannes)
and yes, the rest were just nosy-parkers

that's Zee standing in between tabby & i
(and yes, poos, we shall discuss about my fashion when there's a chance. i will explain myself)

going on a motorbike trip! weeeeee!



i've taken several vids from the bike
this is the normal one in the town

i like bike trips!
not being the driver though
i just like being the passenger
i found myself smiling & smiling
feeling the breeze on my face & hair
and oh, it brought my mind back to the days when i went out with a boy who took me out on dates on his bike. ahhh, such sweet moments we had. the times before we joined the workforce. the times when we had not many things to worry about other than having good grades in school.

do u have moments like these?
it's sort of a good feeling, yes?

good thing we get to hike on a few flights of stairs; not on rocks =P

we snacked together with our motorbike riders, after the hike - grilled corn, grilled rice (stuffed in a tiny bamboo shoot), grilled eggs & the local Sapa sweet tea

we went on to visit Zee's family members at her house
it was a 15 minutes slippery hike up this hill
it was raining on the day before hence the muddy trail
my heart was beating really fast throughout

that's her sister (or sis-in-law) on the sewing machine, making the fabric, with kitty, onlooking

notice how smoky the above picture is?
that's because her brother was smoking a pipe nearby
a pipe as long as 1.5 feet or so

they have their own orchard at the back, where Zee plucked a few old cucumbers to serve us

the children of Zee's siblings

Zee's family

see that big pail?
that's where they soak the fabric, after making the colour dye from the indigo plants nearby

look how far behind i was!! ahaha!! if i walked any bit faster, i might slip and slide down

after visiting Zee's place, we went on to trek the valley nearby - it was a 6km trek
managed to pluck few strands of rice paddies
it's sort of in a liquid form inside the soft shells, sweet in taste

no trip is complete without 'the pose'

paddy fields
this is my first time being this close to a paddy field
its green seem greener somehow

Sapa market
went walking around on the following day

trying to get a good bargain

kitty bought 20 numbers of bamboo stools
both tabby & i had to help with carrying 5 each
never had i thought i'd be carrying these along the streets, into the train & across the roads
like i mentioned before, kitty has somehow always made me do things that do not cross my mind

notice the 2 H'mongs on the right? picking fleas!

hey this could be another tribe, ya, kitty? different head gear! and oh, they sell different things too. they were only selling some sort of glutinous rice?

we carry along a bit of Reddness in us wherever we go

ditto

boarded the train back to Hanoi

same-same



how crazy can these people get?
playing frisbee on the streets?
that happened when we were sitting around waiting for the time to board the train back to Hanoi

the Temple of Literature
both tabby & i walked around Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh's vestige in the presidential palace area
that's the house-on-stilts where Uncle Ho lived & worked

no crying this time
i think we got used to parting and bidding farewells