Australian Humor ?

and for the non-virgins ? ;-)

Par contre, autant aux states quand on déclare ou pas les fruits (ou saucissons qu'on a dans le sac) ils vérifient rarement, en australie ça rigole moins ! J'avais deux tomates et du pain et comme d'habitude je n'avais rien déclaré. Sauf qu'à l'arrivée, après récupération des baggages il faut les passer aux rayons X... Donc la femme a bien trouvé mes tomates, et m'a dit que normalement c'était 110AUD d'amande (sympa...).

Au final j'ai du faire des petits yeux comme le chat de shrek...

... et c'est passe !

Being a woman alone in Bali...

...is not always easy! But can sometimes help...

Riding the motorbike from Sanur back to Kuta, I followed at least a dozen motorbikes that also overtook the line of cars slightly invading the oposite lane to stop at the front of the red light line.

So, surprisingly, the policemen decided to stop the only non- balinese of the crowd, this was me ! So I stopped next to their hut and he said:

- police check
- okay, hello...
- driving licence ?

So I gave him my spanish licence (I didn't have an international driving licence anyways).

- oh, no international ? come in...

So the other policemen staying inside stared at me, still wearing the helmet :

- is that you ?
- yes, why ?
- are you a boy or a girl ?
okaaaaaay.... so I took my helmet off and told him that my international driving licence was in the renter's office because they asked for it when I rented the bike (si cola, cola !)
He didn't really believe me but I tried...and anyways, he didn't care really, I didn't have it on me, that's all that counts !
I had my bag on me and he asked me where I was going...
- I'm going to the airport, going home today.
- look, the fine for not having the international driving licence is this (250.000Rp ~25USD)
- yeah...sorry but this is all the money I have left.
And I showed him 11.000Rp (~1€) that I had put in my pocket when I was asked to show my driving licence...and he stared at my sunglasses
- are they original ?
ooooooh shit...
- no...
- oh, they are cheap, you bought them here ?
- yes, yes..

And he looked away (pfffffff....)

And from that moment on, it was freestyle, questions ranging from "do you have a boyfriend ? " to "You don't want a balinese policemen as boyfriend? it can be useful", "come to my home"....

So I had to promise him that next time I would come to Bali it would be without my boyfriend and that I would stay at his place....but at least he let me go and said : "okay for this time, because it is you, you can go without pay"...

Thank you....

(perez, sé que entre aixo i el virgin loo t'agradara cada cop més aquest blog XD !)

Kitesurfing Paradise !

Back from Lembogan...at least 15knots were blowing in Sanur. I had no intention of going straight back to Kuta at 9:30am so either I moved on to Ubud to visit a little bit of the inland Bali, or I stayed and kitesurfed in Sanur.

Although kitesurfing was overpriced, I didn't really feel like visiting more ricefields after Vietnam and decided it was time for me to see if it the problem was the kite or me. ;-)

Sanur is a calm touristy city where resorts are aligned on the beachfront. Some fishermen still remain...



and women offering massages on the beach escort you when you walk : otherwise you would not be in Bali !


Tout d'abord, permettez-moi de vous présenter la piscine du resort que j'ai squatté à chaque fois que je suis allée à Sanur. Il suffit de récupérer une serviette qui traine sur un des transats pour passer complètement inapercue ;-)



Et ça c'est l'espèce de laguna dans laquelle les kitesurfers se gavent : vent légèrement onshore mais la laguna est protégée par le corail et à marée basse c'est tout plat !




Moi j'ai kité le matin quand il y avait quelques vagues mais c'était déjà le bonheur !

Après, aux heures de pointe on se croirait vraiment à tarifa...


Donc voilà, super contente, j'ai navigué un peu, remonté au vent (youhouuu !) et même sauté un peu (très peu, je vous rassure). Juste comme ça....


Et puis bon, quelques petites plaies et des bleus au tibia :-)

Le mono était tout un personnage : après m'avoir dit que de loin il pensait que j'étais un mec, il n'a pas arrêté de me draguer et de négocier de bisous touuuut le long... en même temps avec son 1m50 il était un peu ridicule à côté, haha !

Sinon, entre Sanur et Kuta il doit y avoir une petite demie-heure de trajet ... mais elle peut s'avérer un peu plus longue et stressante parfois !

More on that tomorrow !

People of the World : Jesha

Trust me, after the last rainy days in Sapa (Northwest Vietnam) my clothes really needed laundry. As soon as I got to Bali we went straight to Gili Air and hadn't had the chance to bring my stuff to laundry...so my clothes and shoes were in a state you would not have wanted to be anywhere near them ! Once back to Kuta - Legian actually - I went to a small laundry place to drop my clothes off. And there was Jesha, a 31 year old lovely woman with whom I stayed for about 30 to 45 minutes when I was only meant to drop off my laundry. She guessed I has 16 years old... nice guess !



Mother of six, she lost her oldest kid due to an infection before being left by her husband 7 years ago because she hadn't had any girls.

She now runs two laundry businesses and is in charge of two of her remaining 5 kids.

She asked me where I was staying and what was I going to do when my friend left (Fred). Worried about me, she offered me her room upstairs where she rests sometimes. Almost apologising she told me that the room had almost nothng, only "fridge, TV, DVD, fan"...okay, that's about the most luxurious place we've been ! So we came back with Fred to check out the room and stayed there, for 50.000Rp/night, for both of us ! This is probably the best deal ever in Kuta....and in high season !




We then invited her out to dinner, and stopped by every day at the laundry to have a short chat or to leave some laundry for which she would continously refuse to be paid !

She would always make fun of her 14-year-old son who tried to help her out at the laundry sometimes.... and could only iron 1 piece/hour ! Because she could do around 500/day !

When I went by to say good-bye she wondered how was I going to go to the airport and told her I would grab a taxi (my flight was leaving at 1:40am) so she begged me to come by whenever I wanted to leave so taht she could take me. I say beg, but it was actually non-negotiable.

It was a pleasure to see that even in the heart of the busy Kuta you can still find such great people.

Around Lembogan

I wanted action...i had it ! After the two dives and 3h of surfing in the morning I decided to go explore around the island. I was hoping to rent a bike and ride up and down the hill for a a couple hours before sunset... but the bike-renter never showed up. So I started on foot, passed by many private houses and nice kids that loved pictures !



and when I was approaching the bridge that linked Lembogan to Ceningan Island I got a ride from some local man who was heading to work !



Once on the bridge, I crossed it on foot...but you'd better watch out if you wanted to avoid surprises !





At least the panorama by low tide was gorgeous.


Yoni, a young 18-year old local kid was riding his motorbike when he stopped to talk to me. I barely had one hour of sunlight left and he told me I should go all the way up the hill to see the panorama....no time left ! So he offered me a ride on his bike ! Needless to say I wasn't that confident on the bike, riding fast on irregular steep roads, but he was pretty good after all ! And the traditional question didn't miss : "Do you have a boyfriend?" ;-)



Un cop de tornada al pont, em quedaven dues hores a peu si volia tornar cap a la platja on tenia la meva bossa, i per sort, van passar dues motos i una d'elles encara tenia un lloc lliure ;-)

Aixi que no corta ni perezosa, els hi vaig demanar..i resulta que eren catalans ! El mon és molt petit. Aixi que al final vaig acabar dormint als bungalows d'en Jordi, la Joana i l'Alessio, uns bungalows espectaculars perduts bastant endins de l'illa.

L'endemà, dimarts 13, volia tornar amb el nou vaixell public que en teoria existia a les 3pm també aixi aprofitava per fer surf al mati.

I aixi vaig fer...llàstima que era dimarts 13, no tot podia anar bé :

- vaig llogar la taula de surf i tota motivada vaig anar al "spot" que estava com un plat, ni onades ni res...i quan van arribar les onades ja estava cansada de tant remar ! XD

- En una de les onades el leash va passar tant a prop de la meva orella...que em va arrencar una arrecada i la vaig perdre :-(

- cap a la 1pm vaig anar a tornar la taula, dinar i marxar per agafar el vaixell, pero...sorpresa ! "Oh no, no public slow boat today, no customers" Vaig intentar fer cara de desesperada, dient que tenia el meu avio aquella tarda, pero nah de nah, hi havia una cua de gent a la que li havien dit el mateix pero que no els hi havia molestat pagar 3 cops mes car per agafar un "fast boat" (ja em direu, guanyen 45min...). En fi, que am vaig haver de quedar una altra nit al poble.

- els que van anar a fer sumbarinisme un dia després meu van veure el Mola-mola ! quina rabia !

Doncs res, a passar la tarda sense fer gaire res, pero al menys vaig poder degustar l'especie de puré de peix amb cacauets que venen al poble embolicats en pell de platan per...0,10€ !


I si, l'endemà a les 8 vaig poder agafar el famos "slow-boat"...





PS : Fyi, tourist price for the public slow boat between Sanur and Lembogan is 60.000 Rp (~6USD); it runs daily at 8am (and eventually at 3pm during high season but its definetely not reliable, trust me on this one!) and takes around 1h30. The faster boats run more often and cost anything between 100.000 - 200.000Rp/OW.

Lembogan Island - Scuba Diving & Surfing

I still had 5 days left and had no intention of staying in Kuta for this long. Fred had an ear-infection and couldn't do much, not even catch a plane to leave the island ! So I left him in the nice fancy room in Kuta, grabbed my motorbike without knowing exactly where I wanted to go : Ubud, Amed...

After 2h of riding I got fed up with the big trucks and the balinese traffic and decided to run away from it and grab the ferry boat to Lembogan Island where I could also go Scuba Diving.



Todos los barcos traicionales Balineses tienen una especie de "brazos" flotantes exteriores al barco....y cuando hay bastante mar deben ayudar a flotar, pero tambien a empapar a los viajeros !





Lembogan is a fishermen island, nothing to do with the Gilis...except that tourism is growing at a very fast pace and when one reaches the island it can be a little surprising to slalom between "funship"s and platforms set for tourists taht want to spend a day on board, before reaching an island where luxury villas invade the northern coast and fishermen try to recover their seaweed in between the parked boats along the beach.




At low tide, all the fishermen appear suddently to collect their seaweed and the panorama changes radically.




When I was in Lembogan, low tide was in the evening so fishermen would sort and lay their seaweed under the sun during the day before go fetch new one the next day.





Seaweed is basically used for our western cosmetics (and probably super expensive ones !) although the local fishermen only sell them for 5000Rp/kg (50c€). You may want to think again before buying a 40€ lotion...

After checking out a couple rooms I decided I would stay on the beach again, couldn't be bothered to pay the price they were asking for when the climate is sool nice and all you can see at night from the beach are the stars above you !

Et ensuite j'ai rencontré Melanie, finalement quelqu'un qui, comme moi, n'aime pas Bali ! Donc on a bien discuté, mangé un gros pancake à l'ananas et j'ai finalement été dormir dans son bungalow en cachette car le proprio a vu en moi l'occasion de gratter des Roupies supplémentaires pour une même chambre ! Bref, on s'en est bien sorties et le lendemain matin je suis sortie tôt et y ai échappé à 5 minutes près !

Diving time ! On avait prévu 3 plongées dans la journée, dont les deux premières profondes, mais le capitaine du bateau n'en voulait faire que deux car l'après-midi il avait une cérémonie (crémation). Et s'ils tiennent à quelque chose ici, à part salir leur pays, c'est
à la religion.




Tenia muchas esperanzas puestas en estos buceos ya que por una vez iba sola con el monitor y otro dive-master. Pero fue bastante desastroso. Esperabamos vez peces grandes y el mola mola ! Pero no aparecio...nos quedamos con dos rayas aguila, poca visibilidad, una nube de arena y muchisima corriente.... asi que bajamos a 40m para no ver nada ! Es lo que hay....

En el segundo buceo, mas tranquilo, si el monitor no hubiera ido extremadamente rapido y a 5m del coral hubiesemos podido ver algo. Pero a mi que me cuenten el interes de ir tan rapido, pagar 35USD por un buceo si es para no ver casi nada y salir con 130bar en la botella al cabo de 1h... yo me podria quedar mucho mas ! Asi que ni sola con el monitor no puedo utilizar mas de media botella de aire.

Después de los buceos y una comida rapida, me habian hablado de una ola pequeñita en un lado de la isla asi que alquilé una plancha y fui ! 2h despues estaba rebentada...pero al menos no me podia quejar, habia hecho deporte !

Un dia desastros

Després del fiasco del primer dia de surf a Kuta Beach, vaig decidir d'agafar la moto direccio la peninsula de Bukit, cap a la platja de Dreamland on en teoria estava bé per principiants/nivell mig. Break de sorra i no molt gran...i amb aquest nom havia de ser maco !

Doncs vaig agafar la moto l'arribada a Dreamland és bastant chocant comparat amb les carreteres que l'envolten. S'entra en un espai de no se quantes hectaries e terreny privatitzat, que sembla més un resort que res mes, jardins per tot arreu i carrer molt ben asfaltat. Arribada a la platga, evidentment et fan pagar 5000Rp (~50c€) per entrar i aparcar la moto al sol.

Vaig baixant cap a la platja i un cop allà veig que tots els venedors estan muntant les seves botiguetes. Miro les onades i desastre : trencaven totes de cop i no hi havia cap surfista, no m'extranya !

Parlant amb una dona que fa massatges a la platja em va dir que era a marea alta quan hi havia gent (feia una hora que havia passat...i la propera era a les 6pm!), i que la platja estava plena de meduses. Genial ! Quines ganes !

Aixi que vaig fer mitja volta, i per molt car que fos el kite vaig decidir que aniria a veure si podia negociar alguna cosa per una setmana sencera. Direccio Sanur doncs....

Arribada a Sanur, ja us podeu imaginar el que hi havia : Zero vent ! I mirant a internet havien previst entre 3 i 5 nusos per la resta de la setmana, aixi que segon plan abandonat.

Pero no m'hi vaig poder estar aixi que vaig entrar en un dels grans resorts de vora la platja i amb tot el morro em vaig estirar a la tumbona i banyar a la piscina durant unes dues hores abans d'atacar la carretera de nou.

Conduïr per les carreteres de Bali pot ser bastant dur, entre els camions que hi ha que deixen anar un fum impresionant i la gent que canvia de sentit a qualsevol lloc i s'incorpora pel carril rapid.... un espectacle !

Doncs res, com eren les 3h30 vaig decidir d'anar a veure el spot de surf de Canggu, on en teoria també hi havien onades no gaire dificils. 1h30 després hi vaig arribar, pero només quedava una hora de sol i a la platja em volien llogar les taules super cares. Doncs res, molt bé, ja he vist la platja, una altra platja...i de tornada a Kuta, a l'hotel. Per arribar-hi, evidentment em vaig perdre, com per variar...

Ja no podia més ! Gran dia de scooter-surfing...

Que no, que a Bali no tot és tan genial com es veu a les fotos publicitaries eh!?

Scuba Diving @ Gili Air

It's funny to see the face of the local people from Gili when I answered the question : "Where are you staying?" "On the beach"...?!? I don't know, but I love to listen to the waves and see the stars when I fall asleep.

So after spending the night on the beach, under one of the small restaurant-huts overlooking the sea, under the starred sky and hearing the waves all night....the sunrise woke me up. Tough life. Beautiful panorama though !

I was then ready to go diving again.

El agua esta a 29 - 30°C (os dejo imaginar la temperatura exterior), y nunca hubiera pensado tener frio en un agua tan caliente ! Pero es que despues de una hora de buceo lo empezaba a notar la verdad.

Después del buceo del dia anterior, el segundo dia fuimos por la tarde y con Fred, nos inscribimos para el buceo de noche. Hasta media hora antes de partir eramos los unicos inscritos... pero por desgracia dos alemanes que buceaban fatal (dando golpes al coral, levantando arena, golpes de pato en la cara de los demas) decidieron unirse...genial ! Asi que entre esto, la corriente y el hecho que me entro agua en las gafas durante todo el buceo...fue sin duda el peor buceo de mi vida ! Al cabo de 5min ya tenia ganas de volver a subir, menudo desastre ! Y para el colmo, no vimos nada !

En todo caso, y aparte de los malos compañeros que tuvimos, los buceos en la islas Gili son preciosos, colores espectaculares y una visibilidad de cerca de los 30m. Lastima que el coral estétan destrozado : como metodo de pesca, antiguamente los pescadores dinamitaban el coral para pescar los peces que se escondian en él. Vimos varios peces escorpion, piedra, rayas pequeñas, tortugas...e infinitos peces coloridos diferentes !

Et pour ne pas changer, je suis remontée à chaque fois à 100 - 130bar apres 1h de plongée...mais c'est super frustrant !

Le dernier jour j'ai juste décidé d'aller faire du snorkelling au bord de la plage, et on en prend déjà plein les yeux ! A à peine 30m de la plage et 3m de profondeur une tortue déjeunait tranquillement posée sur le sable au fond et en s'aidant de ses pattes avant pour porter des bouts de corail dans la bouche. C'était magnifique. Puis toutes sortes de petites crevettes, des calamars, des poissons nemo, des demoiselles, perroquets...et une infinité de petits poissons qui essayaient de croquer ma main quand je la tendais devant moi...

....oh yeah, and the annoying invisible jellyfish that made your whole body itch after every bath. Everything can't be perfect !

Sorry, no good pictures this time, but my wet camera is not good for diving so if any of you feel generous, donations to buy an underwater case for my compact/reflex cameras are more than welcome !

Gili Air

Gili Islands are three tiny islands that are close to Bali : Gili Travangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air. Basically, Gili Travangan (Gili T) is biggest of the threee and where the party is on 24/7, mushrooms at the menu and where most people stay. Gili Air is much more quiet but there are still many beach-restaurants, and an actual local village lives on the island. I haven't been to Gili Meno but from what I heard it is the quietest of them all and accomodation and facilities are not abundant on the island.

Para ir a las islas Gili desde Bali existen basicamente dos opciones : "fast boat" o "slow boat", sus nombres hablan por si mismos ! El rapido (y comodo) tarda unas 1h30 desde PadangBai y el lento (e incomodo!)....unas 7 o 8h ! La diferencia de precio es notable teniendo en cuenta el coste de vida local : 15€ (ida) el lento contra 30€ el rapido....pero cogimos el rapido igualmente. Que yo ya llevaba suficientes horas de viaje estos ultimos dias.

Arrivés à Gili T, on nous propose multiples sortes de bateaux privés (tous hors de prix) pour faire les 10min qui nous séparent de Gili Air, notre destination finale. On s'apprêtait à attendre le bateau public de 16h (il n'était que 10h) quand on a apercu un bateau de plongeurs qui partait destination Gili Air. Après avoir beaucoup hésité, les responsables balinais du bateau ont accepté tout en craignant avoir des problèmes avec la mafia du transport local et leur chef.... Au final on est arrivés gratuitement sur Gili Air avec suffisamment de temps pour préparer la plongée de l'après-midi. En même temps il ne nous fallait pas grand chose à part signer les papiers et préparer le portefeuille...

Gili Air es efectivament una illeta molt tranquil.la, i pels que em coneixeu sabeu que noe m'hi puc estar gaire jo en aquests llocs per molt paradisiacs que siguin perquè m'avorreixo rapidament. La platga, tot i estar bastant plena de meduses és agradable per desfer-se de la calor que fa sota el sol imponent. L'illa està oficialment organitzada en dues meitats : la meitat nord i la meitat sud. Oficiosament, el "passeig" de la platja com li diriem a Tamariu, és basicament turistic, amb molts restaurantets amb vistes al mar.

A la que un agafa un cami perpendicular a aquest s'endinsa al poble en el que els locals fan la seva vida independentment dels turistes, encara que en depenen cada cop més.

Some anecdotes :

1) Power : There is only one generator on the island (apart from the diving centers that have their own to fill up the tanks) which is meant to serve the entire island. The generator is said to be older than the oldest person on the island, so it won't be too difficult for you to imagine how much more power is needed these days in which every bar has its own fridge and TV, at least ! So the way they sort it out is that they furnish alternatively the north and the south part of the island. It is obvously not very exact, it depends on the siesta-waking up hours of the guard ;-)

Note : The world cup fever has reached Gili Air too and there is only one cable reception on the island, it being in the north (?) part. Needless to say that the southeners preferred to move to the north to watch the game than to have electricity at home !

Oh and for internet...there is only one internet cafe on the island (and a completely unreliable wifi hotspot), which charges you about 8 times more than what you can get on mainland Bali....good business !

2) Food

You can get basically anything on Gili Air, especially fresh juices (miaaaaaaaaaaammm) and fresh grilled fish (barracudas, snappers, squid, etc.). Or if you want you can also get great pizzas at the italian restaurant! For lunch we would normally get the traditional meal : rice with chicken, fish or tofu wrapped in a banana leaf...and eat with the hands. I can assure you, eating rice with one's hands is NOT practical...not at all !

3) Transport : this is the only means of transport allowed in the Gilis.

Welcome to Bali

"Bringing drugs into Bali is punishable by death penalty" says the sign at the airport....

Welcome to Bali ! This doesn't prevent indonesians to offer you "tickets to the moon" and "mushroom soups" at every corner though !

Destinacio turistica per excel.lencia dels turistes australians (pero no només ells !), no se'm va acudir res millor que venir del 2 al 16 de juliol, en plena temporada alta. Jo que em queixava que Vietnam era super turistic, benvinguda a Bali !

Despues de 12h de espera en Singapur, de las cuales 8 fueron al exterior del terminal porque los amabilisimos de Air Asia no me querian dejar pasar mas de 2h antes del vuelo (consegui negociar un poco mas cuando vieron mi cara de desespero...), llegué al aeropuerto de Denpasar donde Fred me esperaba para partir en direccion a Kuta!

Coming from Vietnam traffic was not surprising at all...it was even quiet ! No honking when overtaking...but as all underdeveloped countries, they drive on the left-hand-side ;-) Also, they don't seem to know what this sign means...

You can find scooters (yes, don't attempt to drive a car around Kuta unless it's at night) riding in the opposite direction, slaloming between cars, other scooters, wanderers, on the pavement or on the street...it doesn't matter !

On reconnait vite qu'on est à Kuta, bienvenus avec des "Yes, transport ?" ou alors, "yes, girls? mushrooms? massage?" et des filles (enfin, habillées en fille au moins) assises sur le trottoir avec des dépliants de leur offre de massage...complet !

On avait prévu quelques jours sportifs à base de surf, plongée, trekk et/ou kite, au choix... Donc direction Sanur le lendemain matin pour echapper à la folie de Kuta et se renseigner sur les prix pour le kite....Quelques petites écoles se trouvent entre les grands resorts qui s'alignent en bord de plage à Sanur. Petit indice, le kite c'est cher, mais là.... 75USD/h pour un cours et si t'es autonome la location du matériel est à la modique somme de 38USD/h... Autant dire que ça nous a vite calmé! Ca et les à peine 10 noeuds de vent qui nous auraient obligé à sortir une 16 ou 18m2, bof bof. En tout cas, si jamais il y a du vent, le spot à l'air magnifique, protégé par une barrière de corail, à marée haute l'eau peu profonde, plate et cristalline offre des conditions idéales ! Dommage...back to Kuta.

Finding a place to stay overnight in Kuta happened to be much more difficult than we expected : we kept trying all the hotels and guesthouses we found and were welcomed with a : "sorry we're full". In the end we found a place, needless to say that bargaining was not even possible : welcome to bali in high season.

After the kite-surf "fiasco", plan B : scuba diving in the Gilis.

Moltes felicitats

Campeona !

Després de quedar-me encallada en una illa sense connexio al mon un dia més, arribo una mica tard (pero mas vale tarde que nunca no ?) per felicitar a la mama mes guay de totes !!

Aixi que encara que estigui lluny i no et vinc a veure molt sovint, penso molt en tu eh!!

Segueix guanyant molts campionats que aixi podre fardar de mama i tu et moriras de vergonya xD !

A veure si quan torni d'aqui 3 setmanes estas aixi de morena eh!?

Moltes felicitats de nou desde Bali !!!

Hmong Tribe Quizz Answer

So the question was : what is the mysterious mark some Hmong people have on their forehead ?

It is the result of the application of some traditional medicine. It is the traditionnal way they have to treat headaches. And from what we learned it is used in many different countries.

They heat the bottom of a cup with fire, put some rice wine in it (and a piece of a buffalo's horn) and stick it into their forehead. When it cools down it will suck the blood in the head and increase the blood circulation....the mark will stay 4 or 5 days.

And no more headaches ! Apparently it works and doesn't hurt....I still don't really want to give it a try !

Thank you to all the doctors that can correct what I haven't understood or not well explained above !

So the winner is..................

Comments Contest Result !

You wanted it... you kind of cheated it for it....but you got them !

Bobolze is the new winner of the cambodian chopsticks !!!!

Very few other activity this past month though :-(

1. Bobolze (17)
2. Kika (10)
3. montserrat (3)
4. Rafa (2)
5. Olga (1)

Next winner, for the first fortnight of july, will get a small (yeah, I only have a 40L bag after all...) souvenir from Bali ! Keep it up !

Bye Bye Vietnam

After three great weeks travelling with Marta around Vietnam, there are some things we are glad to leave behind, and others.....others that we will probably miss !

That is happening in Hanoi, the last glimpse we got of Vietnam.

No more smiling ond women bumping into you on a bicycle...

or new houses foundations made of bamboo next to our room,

or messy garages where they can probably repair anything (at a touristy price, of course...)

or people eating on the streets.....sitting on tiny stools and talking for hours under Hanoi's heat

or aerobics around the lake ! Well, aerobic... yeah...well....their feet are stuck to the ground though !

No matter the heat, no matter the rip offs....we had a great time !

Et juste avant de partir, je me suis aventurée dans une salon de coiffure pour une petite séance d'épilation à la vietnamienne. C'est pratique, comme elles n'ont pas de poils elles s'y sont mises à 3. Je ne vous raconte pas le spectacle, je pense que je devais être la première à passer depuis très très longtemps ! Bref, la première étale le premier bout de cire chauffée à la casserole : "okay?" "yes yes okay"....et merde, ça bruuuuuuule ! Elle s'aprête à l'arracher...mais le fait du haut vers le bas : ça partait de vraiment loin ! Donc je leur ai montré comment faire et puis avec plein de bonne volonté de leur part, après 1h de souffrance je suis ressortie....vivante ! :-)

Just a couple curiosities that visitors should be aware of :

- In Vietnam, there are always 4 different prices :

1 ) vietnamese that were born there and still live there

2) vietnamese that moved to the place

3) foreigners that live there and can speak little vietnamese

4) tourists

You guessed right, the 4th type of person will always get the highest price unless accompanied by someone belonging to any of the above.

- every car/microbus has its own personalized honk sound !

- driving in Vietnam : always have a finger of your left hand on the honk and two of your right hand on the break..... be ready ! Vietnamese will honk whenever overtaking someone, even if he/she is only walking on the pavement --> do the same ! And whenever a microbus is behind you....you'll be better off letting him overtake you, they are usually on a hurry and will not stop honking until you let him by....

Before we end, we would like to thank :

- Minh pour les contacts !

- Nga pour la soirée !

- Nhan Tran for the excellent trip planner he is, we loved the Northern region !

- Nice travellers which who we spent good times....and local people that opened their home for us !

Thank you all.

Heading to Bali now, where I will travel with Fred for a while : surf, trekk, scuba diving...

I met fred in Argentina...and for those who don't remember him, here goes a small reminder !

Désolée Fredo...

Hmong Tribe customs & Quizz !

I have so far talked about 3 different tribes that live in the Northwest of Vietnam. Basically Hmong's and D'zao speak different language even if they share villages sometimes : they all (thoso who go to school...) learn vietnamese in school now and use vietnamese to understand each other.

No matter howw good they look in the pictures and how welcoming these people are, the minor tribes who live in the mountains in the north are often despised by "vietnamese" (understand northern-vietnamese) who look down on them. It is extremely hard for them to start an actual business in Sapa, all the travel agencies run by vietnamese coming from the big cities are taking advantage of the local people and underpaying them to guide tourists around. Some Hmongs (and probably D'zao's too) have tried to start businesses but vietnamese authorities ask for ridiculous amounts of money to buy the licences and all the hopes are vanished.

The despise for these local people goes as far as treating them as "cat-people", a vietnamese mum told his son to finish his food or "cat-people" would eat it. In many cases, vietnamese won't even try their food, considering it as "dirty".

And honestly, we've met many Hmong's and D'zao people and they are the most lovable people we've met in Vietnam, welcoming and friendly....and those who could speak better english too ! Smart people....

Here goes a short reminder :

- D'zao : Women wear a red foulard on their head and have the forward part of their head shaved. We saw them in Ta Phin village.

- Flower Hmong (Hmong La in Hmong language, la standing for colorful) : You may remember them, from Can Cau market and the Bac Ha region. They wear extremely colorful dresses and live around the Bac Ha region.

- Hmong : (Hmong Ru) I refer to them as Hmongs, but it is the Hmongs that we find around the Sapa region (Khu and Bao belong to this tribe). It is with them that we have had the chance to exchange more given their higher level in english and the time spent with them. There are some interesting facts about them.

They wear blue indigo jacket and skirts, and have the head covered (optional) by either a hat or a scarf. Indigo is made rubbing a plant and mixing it into water. Bao was showing this to me on this picture, and I had the hand blue for a couple of days !

As for the other tribes, women are in charge of the knitting and some field work and men take care of the buffaloes and responsible for killing the animals when the occasion to eat meat arises.

They eat meat in rare occasions such as when they have family over for lunch; rice, corn and cucumber being the basis of their daily diet.

Religion : some are catholic (Bao) or christians, converted probably by the french during their stay in the region. Most of them remain "chaman" (phonetical transcription), believing in a life after this life and worshipping a spirit.

We have also met some women that told us about their own experience. In particular this woman who had 4 kids, only boys. Her husband wasn't happy with that and married another woman, bringing her into the same house.

We have been wondering since the begining of our stay what did some women have on their forehead : Bets are on !

Whoever gets closer to the real meaning will get a vietnamese souvenir !

You can answer by email or comment. Answer on July 10th !

Personnages du Monde : Bao

32 ans, appartenant a la tribu des Hmongs du village de Xi Pan, près de Lao Chai.

Bao est une femme de courage, et pour ceux qui ont lu l'article précédent, vous la reconnaitrez sur les photos. Elle a du sauver Marta de glisser au moins 5 fois en 4h, et elle nous a gentiment invité chez elle après nous avoir montré le chemin de Lao Chai, village touristique par excellence à proximité de Sapa.

Son niveau en anglais n'était pas suffisamment élevé pour la soumettre au questionnaire, mais après une journée passée avec elle on s'en va émues de son acceuil.

Pour ceux qui ont prévu de passer un temps dans la région de Sapa et qui ont envie de visiter son village ou qu'elle vous emmène vous promener quelque part, n'hésitez pas à l'appeler de notre part, elle sera ravie de vous y accompagner. En effet, pour visiter les alentours de Sapa, il est inutile de prendre un tour guidé par une agence, le mieux est de demander à une des femmes appartenant à une des tribus minoritaires de vous y accompagner. Ca vous coûtera moins cher, vous leur filerez un coup de main et surtout....elles vous montreront leur village comme il est, pas comme les guides vietnamiens le connaissent. Elle vous emmènera en général chez sa famille et vous fera partager sa culture et ses habitudes.

On a retrouvé Bao sur le chemin de Lao Chai et elle a fait office de guide depuis, nous a montré les coins, les chemins non transités, expliqué les coûtumes des différentes tribus et invité chez elle dans son humble maison rencontrer ses enfants et partager un repas et des moments magiques dans son petit village.

Bao lutte jour après jour pour nourrir ses 4 enfants. Certains jours elle fait le chemin entre son village et Sapa à pied (~6km), d'autres en taxi-moto. A Sapa elle se fond dans la foule de femmes Hmongs qui envahissent les rues et essayent de vendre leurs sacs ou foulards faits à la main aux touristes.

Bao est une femme exceptionnelle, comme surement tellement d'autres Hmongs qu'on a croisé à Sapa qui supplient "buy from me! buy from me!" et qu'on n'a pas eu le temps de bien connaître.

On ne peut que vous recommander de la rencontrer, voici ses coordonnées.

Téléphone Bao : 01 67 95 14 509

Poble de Lao Chai i molt més !

Lao Chai és el poblet més famos que hi ha al voltant de Sapa, de fet es diu Lao Chai de manera genèrica a una desena de pobles que hi ha aprop. Si preguntes a les dones i nenes que corren per Sapa, la majoria venen d'allà, i és que dient aixo s'eviten més explicacions encara que moltes vinguin d'algun dels poblets veïns.

De tornada a Sapa doncs, vam decidir anar caminant cap a Lao Chai. Una de les millors maneres de fer-ho és demanar a alguna de les nenes que venen bolsos pels carrers de Sapa que et dugui al seu poble. Aquestes nenes se les saben totes ja, i quan els hi vam preguntar només deien "quant pagueu? quant pagueu?" Aixi que vam decidir que hi aniriem soles. Preguntant per aqui i per alla, teniem sempre noies que ens seguien "I follow you" i marxavem quan els hi deiem que no els hi comprariem res.... Vam seguir caminant una estona per la carretera i ja ens començavem a preguntar si no ens haviem equivocat, perquè nosaltres voliem caminar per la muntanya !

Fins que va arribar la Bao i ens va dir que ella ens ensenyaria el cami : "the small path", tal com li demanavem nosaltres, i no per la carretera evitant camions i motos....

Aixi que la vam seguir, vam pagar el dret d'admissio al poble (15.000VND) i vam tenir el "small path que tant demanavem ! Entre arrossals i pedres relliscoses...

la Bao, amb les seves sandalies li va salvar la vida al menys 3 cops a la Marta, que no parava de relliscar. Pero el desastre havia d'arribar ! I amb la camara a la ma, va relliscar en una de les pedres i splash! directe al bassal.

La camara va sobreviure, per sort.... i el pantalo i la samarreta van quedar ben marrons ! Sort que la Bao era aqui per ajudar-la a netejar-se, quina monada de dona...

Jo crec que devia tenir la impressio de caminar amb invalides al darrera !

En vist del gran exit, sort que al poble de Lao Chai, ja ben adaptat pels turistes (amb restaurants a l'entrada i tot) els carrers eren més amples ;-) Allà se'ns van ajuntar dues nenes més que vivien al mateix poble que la Bao. Durant el cami ens intentava explicar les diferencies entre les diferents tribus que vivien allà, i el ritme de vida que duien.

La Bao ens va convidar a casa seva, i vam anar caminant bastanta estona per la muntanya per arribar-hi, seguides de les nenes que vam deixar a casa seva pel cami. Un cop arribades, ens vam quedar de pedra. No és la primera casa que veiem pero cada cop que en veiem una és una sensacio especial.... Eren 3 cabanes on vivia la familia propera i ells a la casa d'asobre. Vam entrar, acompanyats dels seus 4 fills, vestits només amb una samarreta bruta pero amb grans somriures. No van parar de jugar, de caure, de pegar-se i tibar-se dels cabells, pero no els vam sentir plorar ni un moment : aquests nanos tenen gens diferents.

Aixi que la Bao, després del 10km de caminata encara tenia forces per preparar el menjar per tota la familia. Primer tallar bambus per encendre el foc,

per després posar l'arros i la carn que havia comprat pel cami a coure.

La casa era molt humil: els nanos sempre disposats a ajudar, una escala que mouen de lloc a lloc en funcio d'on volen pujar a buscar reserves d'arros, bols o altres coses a l'altell.

Hi havia un clau a la paret que aguantava 3 papers amb dedicatories d'altra gent que havia anat a casa la Bao : una parella d'espanyols, una de francesos i uns altres de no sé on. No devia pas anar-hi molta gent allà.... la majoria es queden en espècies de "Homestay" de Ta Van o Lao Chai que semblen més hotels que cases de gent. La Bao ens va proposar de quedar-nos a dormir pero encara eren les 2 de la tarda i l'endemà voliem llogar motos a Sapa.

Segueixo emocionada per l'acollida que estem tenint en aquests poblets del nord de Vietnam. Tot i el turisme que es desenvolupa a velocitats d'espant, els Hmongs guarden aquesta hospitalitat i t'obren la porta de casa seva en tot moment, et presenten encantats a la seva familia i comparteixen aquests moments senzills que et fan realitzar que lluny de la ciutat, el temps avança a una altra velocitat : hi ha temps per compartir, per parlar, per acollir i coneixer a desconeguts....

El menjar estava delicios....

i per acabar, després d'haver-li comprat ununa foto de familia en la que només falta el fill gran a qui li estaven tallant el cabell en aquell moment.

Al tornar, vam pujar la Bao i jo en un mateix moto-taxi i la Marta en una altra per tornar cap a Sapa : a la vietnamita, sense casco, 3 en una moto i atravessant bassals impresionants.

L'endemà vam donar algunes d'aquestes fotos a la Bao, i va generar furor entre les seves companyes Hmong que hi havia davant de l'hotel ! S'arrencaven les fotos "very beautiful ! very pretty!"...

Gràcies Bao.

Si veniu a Sapa, no contracteu cap tour amb una agencia: busqueu noies que us duguin al seu poble..i obviament, nosaltres no podem més que recomenar a la Bao, una dona plena de valor i coratge que us acollirà increïblement bé ... digueu-li que veniu de part de la Monica i la Marta, s'enrecordarà !

Aqui va el seu telefon, Bao : 01 67 95 14 509.