Feb 14 10 day NW Loop 2 Markets

Cock fighting a male watching activity -  Bac Ha

Meat purchase- Bac Ha

Stayed in Bac Ha and were up early for the market to beat the bus loads from Sapa then further up into the mountains to Lung Phinh market - it was so cold!

The local dress is part embroidered, part Chinese factory made and is practical enough for the bike!

Touristy Bac Ha

Local Lung Phinh

Fresh vegetables - Lung Phinh

Photos - Is that me? Lung Phinh

Feb 14-10 day NW Loop 1 History Lesson

French bunker

Dien Bien Phu  35km from Laos border is  used as the caravan route between Myanmar and China.

This is where Viet Minh soldiers under the command of iconic general Vo Nguyen Giape over ran the last French outpost in 1954.

The defeat was so overwhelming that it effectively brought an end to French colonial rule in Vietnam.

Sanitised Vietnamese tunnels

In the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the Viet Minh demonstrated the creativity and determination that later characterised the long struggle against the USA and South Vietnamese forces.

So proud are some people that they have changed their family name!
The commonest surname is Nguyen and we met several Viet.

Modern

The country is pulling itself into the present day at an alarming rate.
Beautiful valleys flooded for hydro-power schemes.
How do you make a town in the mountains?
Flatten the smallest, concrete the buffalo tracks sanitise the villages for home stays.
In ten years all might be greened and the infrastructure up to speed but for now we were pleased to have a guide as only the local dialect is spoken.

Ancient

In 1986 the government began allowing farmers to work individual plots of land now Vietnam is the world's second largest exporter of rice.
The growing of it remains as backbreaking but not quite such a time consuming activity - better seed and fertilizer.
Trying to walk between paddy fields on broken mud walls requires precise balance.

At a lunch stop - local medicine

Common sense or "might is right"?

Remembered from New Year's Eve 2013. 

A large cruise ship (330 m long, 9 m draft, 15 decks, 10 pools, 17 bars and lounges, 4500PAX - you get the picture)  is leaving Patong Bay in Thailand. She is in probably 25-30m of water and the bay is 3 miles wide, giving to open sea. She is travelling at slow speed - considerably less than her cruising speed of 22 knots.

A small, probably 10 m, power boat is approaching from the cruise ship's starboard side.

When the power boat is  about a quarter mile off the ship gives 5 blasts on her siren, indicating that the watchkeepers were unsure of the other vessel's intentions. In such circumstances the signal is usually interpreted by small boat operators as "get out of my way".

The power boat skipper calls up on VHF radio stating "I have you on my port side. I believe that I have the right of way".

The response from the ship is "You are less than 20 metres - you have to give way. Read the Collision Regulations".

The power boat makes a rapid course alteration, as common sense says should have happened.

However, it is interesting to speculate which of the collision regulations were felt by the cruise ship officer to give his ship the right of way.

Rule 15: Crossing situations.
When two power-driven vessel are crossing so as to involve risk of collision, the vessel which has the other on her starboard side shall keep out of the way and shall, if the circumstances of the case admit, avoid crossing ahead of the other vessel.

The cruise ship is the give-way vessel.

Rule 9b: A vessel of less than 20 metres in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the passage of a vessel which can safely navigate only within a narrow channel or fairway .

The entrance to the bay is wide and deep by reference to the cruise ship's draft. Not applicable? 

Rule 10j:  A vessel of less than 20m in length or a sailing vessel shall not impede the safe passage of a power-driven vessel following a traffic lane.

There is no traffic separation scheme. Not applicable

Rule 8f (iii): A vessel, the passage of which is not to be impeded remains fully obliged to comply with the Rules of this part when the two vessels are approaching one another so as to involve risk of collision.

Might is right!  In fact it was probably too late for the cruise ship  to take any effective action. 

Heading for the mountains

View from the balcony of our bungalow at the Riverside Resort in Lac village near Mai Chau. If we wanted cooler we've got it - 15 C or less. The bungalow is bamboo with large gaps and open eaves. Probably too cool to need the mosquito net though.

Ouch!

Some of the figures around the traditional Jurai tomb house (for up to 30 bodies) could probably put girls permanently off the idea of marriage! The male figures reminds us of a similar one in stone at the Roman ruins of Timgad in Algeria and of Polynesian Tika figures - some things are universal!

Some swing

This couple showed how a bamboo swing can go nearly horizontal. Others needed more practise

Chinese New Year - this time of the Horse

This time at the Hanoi Ethnological Museum. Many traditional games, performances and entertainments at the museum. This singing troupe leader's face was very expressive.