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| Hiking with Tip, our local guide for the day |
According to google maps, Puluong is only 107 miles from Hanoi. Because of the narrow and winding roads it's close to a five hour drive. The contrast between the two could easily make it seem as if they were a million miles away. Hanoi, as I previously described, is a very large city that has all the sights and sounds you would expect.
Puluong, on the other hand, has tree covered mountains that occasionally peak out from the low hanging clouds. Below the mountains are valleys of rice patties and sugar cane fields. About the only sounds that you hear in Puluong are the sounds of roosters crowing, children laughing in the distance and an occasional passing motorcycle. If Hanoi is the "ying", Puluong is the "yang"
We're staying at the Puluong Retreat in the Puluong Nature Reserve. When we arrived yesterday afternoon it was raining so we really didn't do much looking around and as soon as it turned dark we went to bed. When we woke up this morning there was a slight drizzle and clouds didn't allow us to see far beyond our balcony. As the rain stopped and the clouds lifted, the valley with the mountains as a backdrop came into view, and what a view it is!
Puluong Retreat
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| Our balcony view once the clouds cleared |
After breakfast we met Tony, who introduced us to a young man from the local village who would be our guide for the day. He shared with us his Vietnamese name, but told us he went by the name of Tip. I'm not sure if he selected that name as a friendly reminder. If so he has a future as an entrepreneur. His English was very broken but he told us he is trying to learn it. I would have confessed to him that I was trying to learn it as well but I don't think he would have gotten the joke. He had an infectious smile and a kind spirit. We enjoyed him throughout the day.
First up, we did a two hour loop hike. It took us down and through his village where we were greeted by everyone we saw with smiles and a big "hello"! The first half of the hike was mostly down hill, however it wasn't easy. Because of the rain much of the path was slippery and somewhat muddy. Thankfully we managed to stay in an upright position through it all, even though there were a few brief moments when it didn't look like we would. As was the case yesterday in Mai Chau, all of the homes are built on stilts. He showed us one home in the village that was over one hundred years old. We also had a chance to go inside one of them. It had a huge room that served as the "family" room. There were pictures of the family (it was his uncles house) all over the outer walls, plenty of toys for the children and a large flat screen TV. The adjoining kitchen had a refrigerator and a fire pit for cooking. Mattresses (sleeping pads) and sheets were neatly tucked away in one corner. According to Tip, they were spread out on the kitchen floor at night. The house was very clean and inviting. Beth and I both commented on how much we liked the open spaces.
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| This house is over 100 years old! |
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| Water Buffalo are still used to plow the rice patties |
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| Irrigation is extremely important. Most of the irrigation and drainage systems use bamboo |
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| She had gathered a load of grass to feed her water buffalo. She made me feel guilty for having such a wimpy backpack! |
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| Terraced rice patties. According to Tip they will be harvested in about 20 days. |
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| The cooking area in the house we visited. The floors were made of bamboo. |
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| Puluong Nature Reserve Valley |
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| Along the trail |
Once we reached the valley floor we were surrounded by rice patties. To the right of us were patties in a flat field, while on the left were sloped rice terraces. It was an impressive sight. It is also hard to imagine that all that rice will be harvested by hand and the fields will be plowed, not by tractors, but by a plow being drug behind water buffalo.
By the time we finished the hike the drizzle had stopped but thankfully most of the cloud cover remained. This kept the temperature down to what felt like the low 70's. Although it was still quite humid the steep uphill climb back to the hotel was quite tolerable.
My only regret for the day came at lunch. I forgot to take my camera and it was really picture worthy. The menu board listed five items, a potato soup, banana flower salad, stir fried chicken, beef satae' and stir fried vegetables. We thought we were supposed to pick one of them. The server smiled and said "oh no, you get all of them". As with every meal we've had so far, it was amazing.
After a little rest we met back up with Tony, Tip and Ang (our driver) for the afternoon. They took us about ten miles from the hotel for another hike. This time we went through another village where again we were greeted with smiles and "hellos" from everyone. The flat, muddy path led us along a small stream, through rice patties, sugar cane fields and across a suspension bridge. We were able to see several working water wheels along the stream. The water wheels are used for irrigation of the rice patties, however recent flooding had destroyed many of them.
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| Looking up at our room |
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| Crossing the suspension bridge. Like the floor of the house we visited, it is also made of bamboo. |
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| Beth strolling across the suspension bridge |
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| A couple of water wheels behind the sugar cane |
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| The water buffalo wanted in the picture as well! |
At the end of the hike we had a real treat. We had a float trip along the Silk River on a bamboo raft. Our river guide was an older gentlemen whose arms and shoulders could have rivaled any body builder. He spoke practically no English, although with the assistance of Tony he did smile and ask me "Do you want a beer"? Now it just wouldn't have been right to turn down an offer like that!
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| A great way to end a hike! |
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| That's us floating down the river! |
