Country Gals

Well – I’m here again in Vietnam – told you I’d be back! Lisa and I continued our tour with a full day adventure to the Vietnamese countryside, an area called Ba Vi, several hours outside of Hanoi. Ba Vi means the mountain of 3 peaks (which I attempted to highlight in the feature picture). All three peaks were a little elusive the day we visited – but I was reassured that all 3 are there 😂

Tea Time with a War Veteran

Our morning was spent having tea (actually two different kinds of tea) with a Vietnam War Veteran. In an amazing conversation (with our guide acting as interpreter) we learned about how he was trained in the North and deployed to the South as Viet Cong – travelling the Ho Chi Minh Trail and engaging in battles. Following the war (and under communist rule), he and his wife were stationed at a tea plantation as their ongoing job. When the government transitioned to a free market economy in the late 1980s, they were given a plot of land within the plantation, which they continue to own, operate and live on to this day. We had the opportunity to help with the morning tea picking – but I was told I’d make a terrible tea farmer because I’m too slow 😂

Village Life

The next part of the day was spent in and around Ba Vi – helping to prepare our yummy lunch, cycling around the town, seeing local tofu production and having school kids chasing us around on our bikes – trying to wave to the crazy tourists wearing conical hats 😂 It is so incredibly peaceful cycling through these countryside locations, watching the farmers work in their fields, animals grazing and people just going about their day to day activities. After our cycling through the countryside, we were treated to a Hmong Herbal foot bath – the perfect end to a perfect day.

A shout out to Lisa for getting some video footage of our cycling trip – I’m a terrible multi-tasker and was focused on having two hands on the handlebars at all times 😂