Sapa

Sapa was the coolest thing I've ever done. I was there with some people I met along the way (a gay couple made up of a man from Portland and another from Munich, along with this really cool Israeli girl), and we found a woman who lived out of town in a small mountain village just outside the main town of Sapa. She invited us to stay with her, and we ended up sleeping with her family.

It was incredible! In the mountain, in a small one room shack with a dirt floor. I couldn't ask for a more authentic experience. I loved it. I helped the men pick rice for a while, and then went for a walk with a few women from the town. Only the first lady we met spoke any English, but everyone wanted to come meet me and my friends. The Israeli girl and I helped make dinner, and prepare the animals (I ate vegetarian for kosher purposes), which was an experience in it's self. I really don't know what else to say... it was like living in the discovery channel for 2 days.

Our guide did everything herself. She made all the food, built the home, worked the land, made the cloths, took care of the children, and had the energy to run around the mountains with us. She did this all while 8 months pregnant. She was just an amazing woman. Apparently, her husband is very bad to her and lazy. She even showed us a scar from where he attacked her. It was so sad, because this was one of the most remarkable women I've ever met!

It was really something else. The best part was that we didn't pay to stay in this woman's home. I think in her mind, we payed by helping her husband to work the rice fields a little, but little did she know we all would have paid hundreds for the experience. This woman (who coincidentally was named Set, and since they can't pronounce a "th" correctly, she thought we had the same name) even gave me two gifts when I left. She gave me a pillow case that she sewed herself, and a pair of shoes that she said was too big for her husband. she reminded me a lot of Bubbie. She kept forcing more noodles on my plate, she hated waste no matter what it was, and she had just the identical laugh to Bubbies. I tried to tell her that, but she really didn't understand.

It honestly seemed like these people may have enjoyed our time together more than the we did, but I'm not sure if that's even possible. I left after just two days, but it was the best thing I've ever done in my life.