27 Dec. Ba Be

Hiking and boating at BaBe, 27 Dec

So already I'm not too sure what day of the week it is. Which is a good thing when on holiday.
We had soup for breakfast which Ying had made and was lovely.
Spent the morning hiking through the forest and farms.

Water break

The leaves and seed of the same plant.

The scenery was just beautiful.

We walked through a farm where I got to play with the puppy.

To feed the buffalo in winter

We picked some green tea leaves which Ying brewed for us when we got home by putting them in the kettle and then boiling it.

Also for feeding buffalo

We saw this delicate little water canal for sending water down to the farm.

And then some buffalo

And just as we were getting hungry, we crossed a bridge into town.

Town was not too pretty but the numerous dogs around made me happy of course. 

Lunch was here.

Made in this kitchen.

Interestingly, they served msg like salt on the side, while Ying assured me there would not be msg put in our lunch, which was truly delicious fried noodles and egg. The bathrooms not so much...literally past the sad pig styes and chickens was a grungy longdrop.

After lunch we got onto the backs of motorbikes, mine being driven by a tiny girl who looked about 13, and were taken to where the boats left from. The ride there, though short, was really fun.

After a pretty but cold boat trip we reached the cave.

We were taken back to near our village from where we walked back to our homestay. The schoolgirls and boys were all riding their bicycles home past us, stopping to pick fruit, like apples but much smaller.

Ying, who is from Sa Pa told us an interesting thing at dinner.  Sa Pa girls are famous for how much they can drink.

The friends at her table were wanting to test her and she said she will always win. I asked how they do it and she said they are trained from age 10 to drink the rice wine spirit, slowly building up from there. Wow! Age 10!

Went to bed nice and early but the guys sleeping below us are really noisy again tonight. Besides their loud talking, now their smoke has also been coming straight through the big cracks in the floorboards. It's now 10.30, two hours after we went to bed and I'm feeling a tad grumpy, but at least I've got my blog updated.