Vietnam Trip Day 4: Second Day of Motorcycle Trip

We had agreed to meet at 8:30 the next morning for breakfast so I set my alarm for 8:00 and, somewhat miraculously given the lateness of the night before and the quantity of happy water which had flowed, managed to get up, dressed, packed up, and out the door by 8:30, happy that I wouldn't be making everyone wait.  I walked down to the coffee shop where the two brothers, Lam and ?? were having coffee and ordered a coffee as well.  Khoa showed up and asked if I wanted some breakfast and I said sure so he had me move into the restaurant which is separate from the coffee shop.  In coffee shops you can only get coffee.  Khoa and I pushed some tables together and got enough chairs for everyone from our dinner group the night before and I sat down to order and Khoa went off to see where everyone else was.  About a half hour later the three Austrians (I remembered another name: Larissa, but still am lacking the third) showed up just long enough to say goodbye as they were now late for hitting the road.  Then a little while later Jacob and Emma showed up and ordered.  So we ended up getting a fairly late start this morning.  Probably about 9:30.  I will let the pictures tell the story of the rest of the day:

This is the "coffee shop" area where I first started out.

The first stop was at one of the flower greenhouses like we'd passed so many of the evening before on our way into town.  Now we were heading out of town on the far side but the greenhouses continued.

Another view.

Next stop is at a coffee farm.  This one is special though because it makes "Weasel Coffee", which is coffee made from beans which have been through the digestive tract of a weasel!

The beans have been picked and are dryed.

Here's one of the weasels.  Did you think I was joking?  It doesn't look like this one has been eating many coffee beans lately.

Eddie explaining about the weasel process.

Up top they have a nice gift shop and you can buy coffee beans and also cups of coffee to sip while admiring the view.

Mmmmm, weasel coffee!  We eventually passed another place that had elephant coffee but we didn't get that.

Bye bye weasel coffee place!

Next stop is a silk-making shop.  As Darcy and the boys and I saw at the Jim Thomson house in Bangkok, the silk has to be unwound from the little white balls you see on the right side of the table, which are the cocoons for the silk moths.

Unlike the demonstration we saw in Bangkok, however, which was one individual unwinding silk by hand, this place did it mechanically on a large scale.

This is what's left inside when the silk has been completely unwound from the cocoon.

Weaving machines.  I can't imagine how long it must take (and how tedious it must be) to get this thing all set up with all the warp threads.

I'm pretty sure these were the worms (before making cocoons?) which had been fried in a little oil and which we were invited to sample.  I did that but I didn't look too closely at it as I popped it in my mouth, which is why I'm a little unclear now on what it was.  I don't think it was one of those mostly developed moths from the earlier picture though.  It was pretty good, actually, and I could have gone for a few more.

Next stop: Elephant Falls.  The big rocks at the bottom are said to resemble elephants.

Heading off on the path which will take us to the bottom of the falls.

A glimpse of the falls on our way down.

This was just a little trickle off to the side.

Elephant Falls.  

Next we get to go around to the left behind the falls!  It was nice and cool in the damp shade.

Another view of the elephant rocks on the way back up.

After a little lunch break we head to our next stop: another Buddhist temple.

There be dragons!

Some Buddhas?  Based on what I know is coming next I'm suddenly second-guessing that classification.

That's not a Buddha, is it?  All those arms look more Hindu to me.  I didn't process that at the time.  I should have asked about it.

Even more arms.  It's an arms race! (Not to mention a few extra heads.)

 

Our old friend the Happy Buddha.

Happy Emma!

Next stop: charcoal factory.  This is the wood which they will burn to make charcoal.

Some partially burned wood.  Not charcoal yet though.

One of the ovens they load up for the burning.

Bags of finished product.

This is the charcoal.  It's the stuff they use in the little clay fireplaces when you do your bbq at the street cafes.  They also use stuff like this here in Korea at the Korean bbqs which are very similar.  The whole process is pretty terrible from a greenhouse gas standpoint, but then I guess so is flying around the world in an airplane.

Looking into one of the "ovens" (for lack of a better term) you can see how they layer the fresh wood with some partially burned stuff.  I don't understand the finer points of that.  I do remember we were told that they burn it for about 21 days before putting it out by cutting off the oxygen supply.

Khoa also pointed out that the kids are all working in their family business (wood-carvers, flower-growers, brick-makers, charcoal-producers) because the families are so poor.  They don't get much education except in their trade.  Time for some gratitude!

Leaving the charcoal place we will continue down into this valley.

Thank goodness for some clouds.  It was a hot and sunny day, even up in the mountains.

Even a little rain.

Stopping for Jacob to put on a "body condom" as Khoa called it.  (A little lightweight rain poncho).

Next stop: passion fruit bushes.  I can't remember if I've ever had passion fruit before but I really liked it.  Tart and sweet at the same time, also slimy and crunchy (the seeds).

More views.

A farm in the valley.

Next stop: another ethnic minority enclave.  Here are some boys playing volleyball in the schoolyard.  They were quite good!

Giving candy (at Khoa's insistence) to the children.  I felt a little weird doing it because a) candy isn't good for you, and do I really want to encourage that?  and b) wouldn't it be better to give them some money? But who am I to say?  Khoa lives there so I'll follow his lead.  Maybe I'm missing something and it's not patronizing, just pleasant, to give some kids some candy.

This kid didn't want candy, he wanted a light for his cigarette.

Next stop: a floating village where people lived from an ethnic minority who were relocated from a coastal delta.  According to Khoa, they chose this reservoir because it reminded them of home.  Not sure why they had to leave their original home.

There is a lake just in front of the farthest range of hills in this picture.  That's where we're heading for the night: a place called Lak Lake.

 Dusk and then night fell on us as we approached Lak Lake.  This was super scary as many drivers do not bother turning on their lights, and certainly the animals on the road have no lights.  I was sorry we had to drive at night because you'd be zooming along and suddenly there'd be a wagon hardly moving in the road in front of you which you didn't see until you were just on it, or a pedestrian on the side of the road which you might have run into.  Or a cow lurching out in front of you.  Not something I'd do again if I could help it.  But we made it, obviously.

Once we got to town we stopped for some duck and pork bbq takeout and some sweet potato fries to take to our hotel for dinner.  While we were getting that I heard kids shouting and saw a martial-arts practice in progress.

The bbq (duck and pork) woman.

The martial arts practice session:

The bbq stand:

From here it was just a short ride to our hotel, which was also very nice.  As we got there and checked in a demonstration of ethnic drumming and dancing was just starting near the tables where we ate.  You can't see much in these videos but you can hear the drumming pretty well.  About 20 minutes into the show a torrential downpour began and the rest of the show was cancelled.  We finished our meal (which was delicious) and called it a night!