“There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the infinite passion of life.” Federico Fellini
Our 5th day of Northern Vietnam is a curious mixture of activities, places, emotions, reflections. We go from the flow within locals to the visit of tourist places, from the H’mong minding their own business to Dao following us for hours to sell something, from an uninterested glance and smile to a disapproval of not bringing profit, from learning the Vietnamese society to simple meditative moments in the herbal path. And then just being together and sharing the human moments, revealing our own life secrets to each other, discovering each other.

Walking around Ta Van, just few steps from Sa Pa | Mr Linh's Adventures

The morning starts in our H’mong homestay. I’m slightly disturbed, but also very moved by Vietnamese people trying to please their guests (foreigners), making the coffee that might resemble the most the Italian one, preparing breakfasts that’s not at all typical here - (wheat) bread and jam - or this purée soup for lunch at a restaurant that in its style seems more like an occidental one. Would they find the same kind of reception in Europe?! In which country would a hotel change their breakfast menu to Phò noodle soup with beef, just to make their Vietnamese guests feel more home?! Is it really up to them to adapt!?

What a good feeling in the morning to be back in the everyday life of locals on our walk above Ta Van village. Amazing that just a few steps from Sapa’s fervent tourist hub you can feel human again - have this morning hustle-bustle of Black H’mong people who are passing in moto to bring their children to school or back home, on their way to work on the fields, but also already working, mud up to their knees, not minding those 12 + 2 cameras that are taking a 100 shoots of them. How would we feel if the tourists would “ttack“ us with their million cameras just a few meters away? And then this little boy, coming back from his last day of school, holding a certificate saying he’s the best in his class. “Congratulations! Bravo!“ He shyly smiles.

I feel happy when I see my Italian friends (yes, those few days have brought them close to my heart) trying to catch the crazy agitated Vietnamese butterflies on their photos, just like I did every day of my first weeks – waiting for long minutes that a Jungle Queen would open its wings. I’m happy to see them mesmerized by those gigantic bamboos, vital plants for Vietnamese traditional life, so thick that you’d need 4 hands to surround its stem, heads so close to the sky.

David complies with the wishes of our group ) to go to a local “shopping“ and to see the city of Sapa. All right! Let's do something more touristic then for change, during this incredible trip that mostly brings us far from touristic!

The local market - full of colours. Markets are also mirrors of society. „It’s interesting to see all these things that I don’t even know what they are and what to do with them,“ says Giuseppe, the president of the Torino 3rd Age University, “in the food compartment all those parts of animals, dried or not… What are they?!“ There are hundreds of shelves filled with unknown natural medicines - plants, mushrooms, parts of trees, some dried fruits. In how many other countries in the world are people still so close to nature to know all the medicinal properties of everything!?
 

Life in wild green | Mr Linh's Adventures

The crazy City of Sapa – colonial city constructed for French soldiers, so they could have a good rest from their hard controlling work of a colonizing country. Catholic church in the middle of a naturally animist-buddhist country. European resort-style imposing hotels, electrical tourist trains bringing you to the cable car, if you want to reach the roof of Vietnam without physical effort. The magnificent Silver waterfall (Thac Bac), made kitschy with all those stairs and photo platforms for tourists.

In the afternoon we still discover a new community of Red and Black Dao through various little villages. What a crazy variety of cultivation! The huge artichoke plantations “You make a tincture of their blossoms - very good for the liver,“ explains David.
Endless cabbage fields. “Here, the climate is colder, you can have 3-4 harvests a year. Down in the valley, in a tropical climate, so only in winter time.“
“These are bonsai-peach; very expensive! In Vietnamese New Year you decorate your home with this, it has so many blossoms!“
“These are orchids - during the New Year so many cities are all decorated with orchids, so beautiful!“ They cost 500 000 to 5 million each (around 17-170 euros).

Community house teaches us the Vietnamese system of elections, of the country’s administration and one-party system. In the local shop David shows us the difference between a fertilized and nonfertilized egg: “We let the duck brood for about 25 days and then we cook it on steam for 10 minutes and eat with ginger. We even give it to children.“

Piece by piece we put this country, its history and customs together in our heads. Imperceptibly the puzzle gains new pieces each moment.
Dao women in the guise of making friends – “What’s your name?“ “Where are you from?“ “How old are you?“ “How many children you have?“ - following us for long kilometers to then sell us their handycraft and to be angry and sad if we don’t. Their traditional clothes here in Vietnam are all beautiful - those are not costumes kept in wardrobes only for some national traditional dance festival, these are living objects, worn every day!
 

Time to pause and place to chill | Mr Linh's Adventures

We are only two - me and Giuseppe - to go to discover the “small“ Ta Phin cave where Vietnamese soldiers hid themselves during the wars against Chinese and French. I cannot come till the cave mouth without getting in! It’s not possible! I need to see what’s inside! And this “little“ cave turns out to be a fascinating labyrinth where we have to climb, pass through very narrow passages, and find our way. The explorer in me gets its satisfaction… And the Dao women still following us: “After, after you buy me something…?!“

And then, the cherry of the cake: we try out the Dao traditional medicinal bath. Each couple or single gets its little room, hot water filled with extracts of 30 different plants. I put off my light to watch the window-television: the clouds passing by in the evening light and darkening sky. Just relax and learn to do nothing, Ena! No best way to end this day, way full of contradictory emotions and reflections.
The highlights of the day?

“Also our talk at the lunch table,“ adds Giuseppe for the last, “I revealed myself. It’s very important, all the things we see here in Vietnam. But it’s also very important what we share.“