Vietnam continued

Sooo....let's see...after our quick tour of Hanoi we jumped on a train that left for Lou Cai at about 9pm. The train was supposed to arrive at 5:15am. After a fitful night of sleep in a bed not fit for a big man like me (still enjoying that :) I realized we were stopped in the same place for an extended period of time. Around 9am our guide came to our car and knocked on our door and turns out that there was a mud slide that blocked the train tracks due to the extraordinary amount of rain they have been receiving. Most people make the most of the extra time and buy chickens and beer form the locals knocking on the cab windows and have a 'party' in their cab. Long story short about 100 card games and a couple chess games later we were on our way again. BTW, teaching Judy how to play chess with my portable set, she is but a grasshopper. We finally arrived at Lou Cai about 2:30 PM. Longer than I would have preferred on the train. At this point we have traveled for extended hours by plane, train, car, boat, etc... Anyway, we then connected with our driver and headed on to Sapa. A mountain town in the North of Vietnam "1 mile high" as Duong (our guide) would say. We spent the next two days wandering around town and the local hillside villages. It was super foggy and you could not see more than 30 meters in front of you (I'm speaking in meters and celcius now). Half creepy, half cool. Felt kinda like a horror movie, American Warewolf in London stylee. Judy and I wandered around the town and the market....we make a point of visiting the markets of every city we visit when we can. They say a lot about the lifestyles of the locals. Nothing like seeing skinned animals hanging from hooks to give you a feel for the local life. OOOH, and speaking of markets...I like to 'adventure' with local cuisines (still have not had dog yet...that I know of...). When in Rome, right? I found solkworm grubs (imagine maggots but biggger and fatter) and they were alive! I stared and contemplated the joy of ingesting and subsequently regurgitating them up, nothing like staring at a pulsating mass of overgrown maggots to stir the appetite, when I was informed that I had to fry them first. Damn. Maybe next time. Anway we spent the next day visiting different towns of tribes that live in the hills including the Hmong (pronounced Mong) and Dao (pronounced Zao). It was actually really interesting seeing how they lived off the land, made their own food and clothes and pestered tourists to "buy from me?", "I have baby, you buy form me?" Of course ignoring the fact that I point out that they all have babies. They were all actually very nice but used car salesmen have NOTHING on these people. When we arrived in one of the Dao villages about 16 women surounded our car. It was a little intimidating, even a little flattering at first but actually they were all very nice. Asking our age (a polite question, right), where we were from, our names, how many children we had, etc. They learned their English from tourists (better than TV, right?) They followed us thru the village expecting us to eventually buy from them. They have nothing, we are rich Americans, etc... If only they knew. We visited a local house and I sat by the fire and drank rice wine brewed locally (rice version of moonshine basically) by the fire (inside the house in the ground like a campfire) with our guide while Judy negotiated with the hoards. She appreciated that. I kept telling her it was good negotiation practice. Just walk away and the price will drop in half I tell her. She feels bad. Needs more negotiating practice. It was a good expereince. Some of the women have gold teeth which is a sign of wealth for the family. Back home we call them 'grills'. I pointed out that they had no words like pimp and Gangsta written in the gold. I think I got one or two of them complataing this. I feel sorry for the next tourist that meets a Hmong with 'Rice' or 'player' carved into their 'grill'. Good times. I think you can describe it two ways...1) We trekked thru the mountains of remote Norther Vietnam and visited the local indigenous people. Like traveling back in time 1000 years, these brave people live off the land making use of everything nature has to offer. Their humble homes and friendly peaceful ways make you feel as if you are but only a step away form your ancestrial roots. You can almost imagine guiding the water buffalo thru the fields cultivating this years rice harvest that will bring your family and tribe much honor. Version 2) It's still freaking raining here? Does it ever stop? Drug out of our warm and DRY hotel we one again walked ankle deep thru mud into a remote busted down dilapitated village of people who live off the land so well then they 'woo' you to give them all your cash or they'll cast a voodoo spell on you while smiling a big gold smile on their faces. Live off the land huh? What the heck do you need my money for? Do you see any gold in my teeth?? They just smile more. WTF, is that cow sh*t I just sepped in? It's knee deep! Seriously, what is able to create such a thing? And what the hell is that smell? Is that me? Watch out! Another moped has just flown by almost knocking me over, beep beep beep, and drenched me in more filthy poo\mud water. Gross, I think I got some in my mouth. Will we ever make it out of this place? OMG are those spiders? They hurt when they bite? No kidding, they are as big as my freaking head! OK, that chicken is eyeing me funny, that's it I'm out of here. Seriously it was a good experience. I am glad we did it. So after that we took the train ride back, this time uneventful and arrived back in Hanoi and jumped on a plane early and headed to Phnom Penh. A couple other things. Lots of people wear masks. When I first saw I think SARS in a ignorant mass media educated sort of way. Turns our people wear these because of pollution. Most people ride mopeds or motorcycles and theses spew exhause and not having a car to protect, makes sense. Who wouldda thunk it. Also, exercise to them is a 'brisk walk' in the AM or as we call it...'walking'. They also wave their arms up and down to stretch. I tought Duon how to do situps. He was amazed we could do such a thing. I feel very oblivious to the world outside my bubble after this conversation with him. Also Vietnamese is a tough language for me. I want to make a joke. The Vietnamese currency is call the dong (hee hee). So anyway I want to tell Duong he is Money. Very smart guys, deserves a compliment I think. So I say U R Dong Duong". Very Semi-super Genius (good in theory, horribe in practice). Judy is rolling and Duong is looking at me like I am in idiot. Ironically they are both right.