Mai Chau

Our trip to Mai Chau on the public bus was interesting to say the least. We boarded the bus at My Den station, about 12 km from the Old Quarter, an hour early and snatched up seats in the back of the bus. Thank god we did this, as by the time we left the station a little past 1:30pm, our bus, meant for 26 passengers was already carrying 30. The late comers were seated on short plastic stools in the aisle between the seats. Every 25 km or so, our bus would stop to pick up a few locals flagging the bus down from the side of the road. By the time we neared Mai Chau village we were carrying a whopping 50 passengers, only then was our driver forced to turn other locals away who were attempting to jump on our bus as well. Considering how much money we saved by taking the local bus (70,000d for the local bus vs. 350,000d for a tourist bus), we were quite happy with our decision; however we would not recommend this option for anyone taller than 5' 8", or suffering from closterphobia. We were the only white people on our bus and understood why the travel agents in Hanoi kept telling us that the local bus wasn't 'a good for for you'. It was small, hot, smelly and cramped but we felt quite pleased with ourselves for saving money and having a truly local experience.

(The start of our journey, notice how there is an appropriate amount of people?)

(Us feeling quite pleased with ourselves)

(50 people on the bus! Yep, it's possible)

We had to walk a few km from where the bus dropped us off to our guesthouse in the nearby village of Cao Loc 2, but we didn't mind. About 1\2 away from the bus station (if you could call it that), we were surrounded by rice paddies, mountains and locals riding bikes. On our way to the guesthouse we passed through another village selling all sorts of handcrafted goods; scarves and skirts, bracelets and purses and interesting looking instruments.

("I hope this is the right way... I gotta pee!")

After walking across a bridge and down a dirt road, we arrived at our wonderful guesthouse, Mai Chau Nature Lodge. We were told that dinner would be served at 6:30pm and would cost 150,000d ($7.50) per person, we were a bit surprised to hear the price, as it was quite higher than we'd become accustomed to paying but we were tired and hungry from our travels and agreed to have dinner there that evening.

(view of our room from courtyard garden)

(our room)

(view from our balcony)

We were floored when the local staff placed a spread of food in front of us that was fit for a king. BBQ pork to die for, a vegetable soup with potatoes and carrots, rice galore, grilled veggies, spring roles and even buttered sliced potatoes with garnish. We ate and drank and laughed until our bellies were full and our spirits were high, in our blissful state we vowed to eat dinner here every night. Each night the spread changed slightly and each night our taste buds and bellies were delightfully surprised and satisfied. Despite the slightly elevated price, the food and variety were well worth the few extra dollars; and our bodies much appreciated this filling break from noodle soup!

(dinner)

(dinner Day 2)

(Lunch)

(so happy and content after a great meal and cheap drinks)

On our first full day in Mai Chau we set out on bikes for a journey through the valley to explore the expansive fields of rice paddies and hike to the top of 'The One Thousand Steps Cave'. We set out from our guesthouse confident and excited for our journey; however, about 4km later we were doubting our physical abilities as well as our directional ones. To our dismay, we had been headed the wrong direction for at least 3km and our legs were already burning, so we turned around and headed back towards town. After asking at least 10 locals, “Cave? Steps? Mountain?”, pointing and making confused faces, a nice lady smiled then nodded, and hopped on the back on Caitlin's bike to direct us there herself. To Mackenzie and Samantha's amusement, Caitlin looked absolutely terrified as she attempted to peddle her bike down the road with this nice lady sitting on the back. Quicker than Mackenzie could get out the Camera, this woman sensed that the situation was going nowhere and fast and jumped off the back of the bike as they swerved slowly down the road. To our surprise, she then parked herself on the front the bike and helped Cait jump on the back, peddling the two of them all the way to the steps. Caitlin still looked completely terrified and looked to Mackenzie and Sam for comfort but all they could do was laugh, despite her fear Cait made it to the base of the steps with out a scratch!

We embarked upon our journey up the 1000 steps laughing and feeling lighthearted, thanks to that wonderful impromptu tandem bike ride. However, we quickly discovered that this hike was not to be taken lightly, 1000 steps may sound like a lot, but it feels like a whole hell of a lot more. By step 540-something we officially declared that our trek in Nepal was completely out of the question. Mackenzie and Sam struggled hard, wondering why in the hell we decided that this would be a good idea. Caitlin ran ahead to take pictures of Sam and Mack as they struggled below, all the while hoping to hear a shout from ahead that the end was near but to their disappointment, the stairs seemed to go on forever. Finally, after about 1,200 steps (despite the misleading name), we made it to the top!

(off to a good start)

(dying...)

(but we made it! and look at that view..)

The steps lead down in to the mouth of a giant, stunning cave. We spent a few moments catching our breath and taking in the splendor of the huge cave in contrast to the birdseye view of the entire valley below. After a brief respite, we descended a set of stairs into the main cavern for some cave exploration. We hiked as far as we could into the center of the cave and were relieved not to find any spiders here, only huge stalactites and shining quartz inlaid in the old stones. Caitlin even climbed so high on the back wall of the cave that she couldn't get down, and had to resort to sliding down on her butt which made for some dirty pants!

(we told you it was big!)

(can you see us?)

After our eventful journey getting lost in the valley, hiking and cave exploring we were absolutely exhausted and headed back into town for a nice steaming bowl of noodle soup. Here we discussed what a fools errand our hope to trek in the Himalayas was. First off, we own zero trekking gear. Our warmest clothes are a leather jacket, a jean jacket and a waterproof windbreaker and the only useful footwear we have are some old running shoes. Although the lack of gear poses a problem, we could easily purchase more appropriate gear for relatively cheap anywhere in SE Asia. The real issue is the fact that we have been hardcore vacationing for the past month and a half; drinking beer, eating, drinking more beer and eating some more and we were out of shape to begin with! (Well at least Mackenzie and Sam). Fortunately, we have been offered jobs back in Phnom Penh, although we don't have any details yet, the prospect of settling down and starting our lives in Cambodia makes it easier to accept defeat on the Nepal front. Despite all this, Nepal and the Himalayas are still a goal of ours and we plan to train and acquire the correct equipment over the next year or two to make that dream come true.

After a few weeks of travel and some serious physical exertion we ended up spending the remaining 3 days in Mai Chau just relaxing. Part of the full service package that our guesthouse offered was a traditional H'mong dance show, performed by locals every day in the communal stilt house above the dining area. Because of Sam's love for dance she was particularly excited to attend. They asked the crowd to get involved a number of times and she was more than happy to join in and practice some new dance moves.

It was really interesting to hear the introductions to the dances because they always referred to themselves as the 'Thai people'. After some research we learned that there are many types of H'mong ethnic groups scattered around northern Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Mynnmar. Here in Mai Chau many families actually speak Thai as their first language, although they are all fluent Vietnamese as well.

Apart from eating delicious food at our guesthouse, perusing the local markets and drinking beer, we spent most of our time here researching how to make the seemly short journey from Mai Chau to Na Meo in order to cross the border into Laos. We fully enjoyed the chance to kick back, relax and reflect on all we have seen and done over the past few months. Mai Chau is a beautiful place, full of warm and friendly people who work extremely hard, day in and day out to provide for their families and despite the complicated border crossing we were about to experience, we are very happy we decided to visit this quiet corner of Vietnam.