suffering bliss

By: JenElliott Mood: full of life Date: 07/28/2007 19:08:31 Music: None

Once again I must begin by saying that suffering is awareness.  We just returned to Hanoi after a few days in the mountains.  The climate up there was a respite from the heat, similiar to Bellingham.  The Vietamese find it freezing cold and bundle up, but it was perfect.  As soon as we arrived in the North we were provided breakfast then began trekking.  I debated whether to bring my rain jacket.  Stacy was hiking in his Keens, which he soon found out was a huge mistake.  Within 5 minutes of walking the rain began to fall, harder and harder.  We trekked down a muddy, muddy mountainside for 7 hours in a downpour.  It was a nice small group, just the two of us, a couple from Paris and a guy from Germany, along with our guide Lan.  Also the local Black Hmong girls hiked the entire way with us, as we were passing the villages they lived in, and they hoped to sell us their goods.  Stacy, of course, was the biggest sucker and bought one of everything trying to buy evenly from all the cute little girls.  So many of you will be receiving some expensive souvenirs, especially little Lux is going to have her hands full.  That evening Peter the German motorbiked out of the valley, while the French couple stayed with us in one of the local minorities home.  It was an amazing night of food, lots and lots of rice wine-the mother kept pouring, and interesting discussions of politics on Indochina and the middle east.  We all slept soundly to the pouring rain, then arose to begin trekking out of the valley.  The trek was even muddier than the previous day.  Oh, did I mention Stacy was the first to fall and had the biggest fall into a pit of thick red clay mud.  He will explain it with physics, but we all know he is a klutz. Ha. Ha.  The second day we all took at least one fall.  The best part was the women (me and Sandrine) were way ahead of the pack, while the boys were inching their way down the slopes.  Jean-Baptiste was being led by our guide-hand in hand, while Stacy was being helped down the mountain by a 65 year old Hmong woman.  I have never laughed so hard in my life.  Unfortunately, I probably enjoyed the trek more than anyone because my shoes allowed me to move quickly and I could enjoy the absolute stunning beauty of the valley.  Each place we go seems to be more impressive than the next.  However, back to the suffering I mentioned above.  After Lunch in a tiny village I asked to use the toilet, to my dismay the woman in the toilet had to step out from cleaning our bowls and chopsticks that we were using about a foot from the squatter I was pissing on.  I was told to wash my piss down with the pan out of the water she was using to clean our utensils.  I laughed but now I have diarrhea, not so funny anymore.  All day yesterday was quite miserable trying to waste time in Sapa and feeling like my guts were playing twister.  Stacy on the other hand ate enough for the two of us.  We were back on the train over night and now we are wasting time in Hanoi, trying to avoid the heat until we taxi to the airport for flight to Danang.  Maybe there I will upload some photos.  It is very time consuming on these computers.

love to all. ciao.