Ethiopia at war with Somalia

Posing, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Here are a bunch of 'Ethiopians' from Jigjiga, albeit they are Somali people, living in what is land assigned to Ethiopia by the British over a century ago, namely the Ogaden.

Somehow, their Ethiopian government, which managed to stay in power by cheating last year, has decided that it can save Somalia from the grip of the Islamists of the UIC and have sent their troops into Somalia. They have also lobbied, together with their friends in the US, to have the arms embargo on Somalia lifted. The United Nations, which seems to know next to nothing about Somalia, and has agreed to the lifting of this so-called embargo which was never policed anyway. They are said to have about 8,000 tropps in Somalia.

They are in Somalia supporting the pretend government, a government which was formed outside the country in Kenya, consisting largely of representatives from the warlords who had made life for Somalis hell for the last 15 years or so. It is a government which spent its first year or so in Kenya before being eventually kicked out as they were just spending other people's money and not doing anything. It is a governement which has no or little general support within Somalia and one which had to find a town outside the capital, Mogadishu, namely Baidoa, to spend its time. It is a government which has no real right to exist or call itself government, except that it is recognised by the idiots at the United Nations and the African Nations sponsoring its existence, such as neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia, both being countries in control of old Somali lands themselves.

It is this government which seems very happy to work with its backers, the (illegitimate) government of Ethiopia and is allowing foreign troops into Somalia to protect Somalia from the very peaople who have finally brought some measure of peace and stability to Somalia, namely the Islamic Courts.

Anyway, it seems as if the war has already started, judging by reports on the BBC, so this should make both the US and the United Nations very happy, however bad it is for the Somalis themselves. Shameful.

And I am sure war is nothing which ordinary Ethiopians want either, rather I am sure they would rather see the back of their own cheating murderous barbaric government, a government, which needless to say is supported itself by the self-proclaimed upholders of freedom and democracy, none other than the United States. Another bloody war on their hands.

Sleepy in Hanoi

Hanoi - sleeping in French Quarter, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We are waking up on our second and last day here in Hanoi. We take an Air Asia flight to Kuala Lumpur this evening, leaving at 18.05, arriving at 22.30, which makes us think that we are also stopping in Bangkok as the flight should not take four hours. (While typing this, I spoke ot a couple of girls from KL who tell us that there is a time difference, with Malaysia being an hour ahead, despite being more westerly than Vietnam. They are from PJ and like us earlier, they were trying to delay their flights back to KL to give themselves more time here in Vietnam. Unlike us, tehy are enjoying the cold weather here!)

It is again cool, dare I say it, cold, and cloudy in Hanoi and this is to be our experience of this wonderful city. The door of the hotel is open AGAIN, letting in the cold air, the sounds of the street, the motorbikes, the hooters, while across the road a shop is full of Christmas decorations, comnined with red Chinese well-wishing messages and makes a bright contrast to the general gloom.

Richard has bought a Christmas tree, Christmas lights and Christmas baubles and I am interested to see how he is going to take this all back home with him, together with all the presents he has bought. We are both going to have to buy ourselves new rucksacks to carry all teh stuff we have bought. Looking at it just now, as I was packing, I cannot say that we have necessarily bought the nicest things, I suppose more the things which are easier to carry.

Life on the streets of the Old Quarter of Hanoi are like a theatre with a collection of the finest characters you can imagine,l especially the old people who sit outside on their tiny little stools, doing some trade or other, luike the old man with the grey beard who appears at 5 am every morning with his wife and who is always one of the last to go home. Not exactly sure what it is he sells, but it is some brew or other. There are endless numbers of women in peaked hats carrying their double baskets on a stick on their shoulder. They will often come up to you to ask you to buy their bananas, pineapples, doghnuts, pastries or whatever. Sometimes, you will say yes, if you are a greedy pig, or hungry, like me, and they return your favour by asking a ridiculous price for their wares giving you, again, the stress of having to bargain down. Actually, we are quite good at bargaining, as mostly we are buying stuff we don't really want to we can easily walk away and see the price plummet as we do!

Yesterday, we were called off the street to an eating place outside which a young man was grilling meatballs, which looked and smelled like the kofte we have in Turkey and the Middle East , and which is generally what I eat when I am there - so I was intrigued. It became even better when we came to sit down whereupon we were each served with a bowl of apple soup, then a plate of fresh white noodles, a plate of salad leaves, including lettuce, mint, coriander, lavender and then along came plates of meatballs (I think it must have been lamb, but teh lady said it was pork, whatever, it was spiced just like a kofte) and some spring rolls, all this to be dunked into the hot apple soup. So, so delicious! Bon Cha, it was called and highly recommended.

After this, we took out two motorbikes, with riders for a two hour trip around Hanoi, a scarey experience, given the narrowness and crowdedness of the streets, their inclination to go across red lights. We were taken to a couple of pagodas, the massive West Lake, on the north side of town!, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the railway station (by day!) and the Hanoi Hilton, a prison built by the French to intern and torture the Vietnamese, later used by the Vietnamese to intern and treat very well, shot down American pilots, including the (now Senator) John McCain. We arrived back just on the two hours, paying the lads their 50,000 VND (three dollars).

Later on we were to visit teh Water Puppet theatre and see a delightful water puppet show, water puppets being a traditional form of entertainment before TV, DVD's and mobile phones showing movies and playing music. A curious but typical sight here in Vietnam and Cambodia is computers being used to download music to people's mobile phones. Probably all illegal, but done very openly! The show was accompanied by live music and comprised scenes of village life on the water, with dragons, storks, phoenix, jumping fish, fishermen, fishwives, children playing and so on. Totally delightful and a lovely way to spend our last evening in Vietnam.

Baby of the day

The Flower Hmong women of Bac Ha - eleven, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

I love these woollen hats for the babies. It was only after leaving Bac Ha that I realsied it would have been nice to buy one or two, but time was short, so not enough time to take photos, eat and buy (and bargain for) things. I did buy some scarves though.. any takers?

We are now back in Hanoi, after a good night's sleep on the night train, arriving as planned at 6.00 am, since when we hgave been waiting to get into a room at the Blue Sky Hotel. Richard is up therev now, so I will join him. Cool and cloudy here again, as it was last time we were here. A good thing we decided not to go to Ha LOng Bay, as it'd've been freezing there, apparently. Time to visit teh Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, I think.

The dark side

Men of Bac Ha - selling a dog, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

The Flower Hmong women of Bac Ha

The Flower Hmong women of Bac Ha - one, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

My favourite of the bunch.

Hats, caps and helmets

Housebuilding around Sa Pa, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Although most Vietnamese men seem to wear baseball caps, many of them wear these helmet-like hard hats, in standard khaki colour. These two chpas were happy to take a break from housebuilding to have a chat and a photo taken of themselves.

Market gardening

Market gardening, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Here is a photo of some well planted and tended vegetables planted below the road from Lai Chau to Sa Pa. Somehow the colours do not look so good on this screen, but you can see that there is not a weed to be seen.

By the time the food arrives on the table, it is still very clean and very fresh and mostly very tasty. My favourite as been any sort of meat fried with lemon grass and chili, the last being goose meat (whilst Richard was eating a deer steak the other side of the table). The fresh rice noodles are always tasty and make a change for baguettes and jam for breakfast. Last night, while with our new friends in Sa Pa, we had chips, watching our hostess go out to the market to buy the potatoes, peel them, cutb them and fry them a few at a time, the hot chips arriving at regular intervals on our plate, to be eaten with salt and chili sauce. Not quite Yemen quality, but almost!

Among the Flower Hmong

Flower Hmong women and baby at market in Sa Pa, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Today has been our last day in the mountains, as we are now waiting for the 21.15 train from Lao Cai to Hanoi, expecting to arrive at about 6.00 am tomorrow morning. We finally have our tickets and just in case anyone reading this is looking for travel tips in Vietnam, it would be to think very carefully before using the services of Sinh Cafe. We have not been impressed. Use Vietnam Geographic instead! Anyway, after our escapades of last niught we think we will sleep better on this train than the one which brought us from Hue to Hanoi. Leaving laterb in the evening helps too, I think.

Anyway, after a very very shaky start, we joined the bus tour to go to Bac Ha, home of the market to which many Flower Hmong people go. They would have to be some of the most colourful people in the world,. at least the woman and babies, dressed as they are in a riot of colours, from top to toe, starting with a bright check headscarf, done in a variety of ways, down to beautifully creased skirts and shin straps, finished off with some modern trainers - but then with colouful laces. Every woman there is an invitation ot take a photograph. Incredible! Only there are so many of them there that it is hard to get the space to make a shot without someone standing in the way or bumping you from behind. Anyway, I cannot upload photos on this computer so will have to do so tomorrow. These are a couple of Flower Hmong we spotted yesterday when we were still sober in Sa Pa.

Further, there are other attractions to the market, namely the grim looking men in their dark clothes, the street barbers, the dog and pig market (next to each other and a bit disturbing to see doggies being treated as a potential future meal), the ponies bringing goods to be sold at the market and so on. Unfortunately, we wonly had two hours during which we were supposed to eat something so we did not get to see as much as we would have liked.

This, especially as the Flower Hmong village we visited was in fact quite boring, with just some beautiful views over terraced rice paddies to make it a little bit worthwhile going. Such a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the market in town. We suggested to Xung, our Black Hmong tour guide that next time they offer tourists the choice of an extra hour at the market or a trip to a (boring) village).

It should also be said that the countryside on the way down from Sa Pa to Lao Cai and then along the river valley marking the border with China,. followed by teh climb up to Bac Ha, was simply stunning. Vert green, very neat, endless terraces, jungle, bamboo forests, market gardens, tea plantations and another very picturesque brick factory. The whole area looked as if it was one very well tended and fertile garden. Mum, you would have loved to see the neat rows of cabbages, artichokes, lettuces, spring onions, carrots and the like. Not a sign of a slug to be seen anywhere.

Although we were on the road for five hours today, and then right next to the Chinese border, we hardly saw a single lorry or juggernaut (not that the roads were all that good), but it made one realise that for so much of people's needs the products are grown or produced locally, this being the natural organic and sustainable way to live, in contrast to the out-of-town shopping centres of Europe and the motorways chock-a-block with lorries.

Going ethnic

Around Sa Pa, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Richard started it!

Sa Pa love market

Sa Pa love market, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We made our own love market yesterday. Richard had just finished having what turned out to be a very expensive haircut and we went off to have a coffee. The timing on my camera says it was about 3 pm, although it was very misty by now and getting dark.

Four and a half hours later I was stumbling back down the road, totally totally drunk and dressed in all manner of local clothing including some baggy trousers, lots of bags and some necklaces.

We had made our own love market, with the fiolks at the market including a pretty young Vietnamese girl, this shady character a Black Hmong who started us off on the deadly rice wine, and a host of mainly Red Dzao women, icluding the formidable Mother Dzao. Rgis is about as much as I can remember, I am ashamed to say.

Richard looked after me exceedingly well, and apparently, after putting me to bed, he went to the official Love Market, a Saturday evening affair where the local young lads and lasses are supposed to meet up and find a prospective husband or wife. Of course, the tourists have come and the original participants have left and Richard remarked that it was a very disappointing affair. Still talked about in all the tourist literature though.

Looking like so many Father Christmases

Looking like so many Father Christmases - Red Dzao village women, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Here are the Red Dzao people, the women dress in these red cloth scarves, bordered with white, making them look like so many Father Christmases.

We took motorbikes to the Ta Phin village, about 12 km north of Sa Pa. We could very easily have stayed in Sa Pa, but our curiosity got the better of us.

Here we were each joined by about three women eager to sell us things whilst accompanying us aorund town (following us basically). We were then morally obliged to buy their products, so it seemed, but there was no obvious bad feeling when we bought nothing or from one of the other ladies. We were shown inside their houses and also taken to a wedding party, which in its third and last day seemed to have already peaked!

Tomorrow we will walk to a Red Dzao village and ome back to Sa Pa in time for the Love Market, more on which, tomorrow, I hope.

Young Black Hmong

Young Black Hmong, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Another ever-so-cute young child.

The largest minority tribe here in Sa Pa are the Black Hmong, who wear blcack and navy clothes, made from locally grown hemp, dyed with locally produced indigo, coloured with imported cottons and wools from elsewhere.

We had seen Hmong elsewhere in the past few days, but they were not necessarily as traditional dress-wise as the Hmong here. The women sem to be very good at commerce and like iot sell you their cloths and these ones all speak surprisingly good English.

Rice terrace at Cat Cat below Sa Pa

Rice terrace at Cat Cat below Sa Pa, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

A view as seen from the walk down from our hotel in Sa Pa, framed in the most perfect light.

Over the mountins to Sa Pa

On the pass opposite Mount Fansipan, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Today we said goodbye to our driver, Mr Nang as he dropped us ioff at our Sapa Goldsea Hotel here in Sa Pa, on the slopes looking down the Cat Cat valley across to the mighty Fansipan range the other side. A more spectacular setting, you could not wish for.

We had bene advised to arrive in Sa Pa by 9.00 this morning in order to be in time to join with the Sinh Cafe tour, but as it happened we wer not to get going until 1.30 which gave us some time to look around the town, notably the market and also take some motorbikes out to visit another village which would not be covered by our tour. We could have rested but when there is so much to see and do, it seems a pity to rest.

So, this meant that we had an early start from new Lai Chau, where we spent last night on two very hard beds. Neither of us could sleep, either because the bed was so hard or because we were scared of not waking up in time. But up we were ready to go at 6.00 am, without any cofffee and while it was still reasonably dark. On our way to the next village we saw numerous tired looking people on their way to work or school, so we were not the only ones. Time to stop briefly at this place for a look at teh maket and take some photos in poor light before starting our 30 km ascent up the pass.

As they had said in our travel plan, all the other passes we had climbed were like aperitifs for the main course, and specatcular it was too, with clouds bubbling over the peaks as the sun shone through. Here is a picture of us at or near the top, to give an idea of what it was like.

The mountains we have travelled through the past few days have resembled a bit those we had seen in yemen, with respect to teh terraces and also Ethiopia with respect to the shapes and vegetation. Sometimes it seemed we were back in the Omo Valley, so similar it was, with the forested slopes coming down to meet the rushing waters of the river. Tody was more like the Simien Mountains, the smell and feel of the air (a fair bit warmere here, thank goodness), the grassy slopes and the feeling of being at the top of the world.

Coming down into Sa Pa from the pass was a long 10 kms, again passing stunning scenery and itw as a great way to end what had been four-and-a-bit excellent days.

Early morning on Pac Hoan lake

Early morning on Pac Hoan lake, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

This was the calm morning after the night before. A night of Boney M, sexy music videos, vodka and beer. We were the only guests at this lovely hotel on the wooded shore of this lake, just 20 kms or so from Dien Bien Phu, not mentioned on many maps. There were three staff and five loud dogs, a large living room with small seats, some glass tables and a massive stereo/video system. It was not long before they were blasting out Euro disco, sounding as if it had come from 1996, and mostly accompanies by sexy videos of sexily dressed ladies dancing around... well with so few women around, it was not entirely surprising.

It had been a long and very enjoyable day and it was getting dark, so it was not long before dinner was served, whereupin one of teh lads found the VCD of Boney M's 20 greatest hits and although we only got to about number 10, I can't think there were any that we had missed. What got them to sing a song about Belfast, during the times of the troubles, goodness knows, but I think that was the end of their pop carrer in the UK, at least!

How to spend an evening with four Vietnamese (including the driver) with such a language barrier. Well,we resorted not to karaoke, but to showing them my moo cards and Richard his photos on his laptop (yes, he is carrying his laptop, luckily enough as this is the only way I have been able to save my photos, the new hard drive already having given up working properly). Anyway, it was all good fun, even though all the Vietnamese found reasons NOT to drink the vodka (which we had not, in fact asked for), mostly claiming that they would not sleep if they did.

The next morning it was an early-ish rise to take a boat out onto the misty lake, just ourselves, some jumping fish and a couple of canoes of local people going past. Infinitely peaceful. Birds could be called singing from the trees and most of teh shoreline was covered in thick green jungle. We have been impressed with so many things here in Vietnam and one thing is the way they seem to be preserving their forests up here in the mountains. The village folk keep to the villages, albeit bringing back firewood, but it all seems to be done on the right scale. Richard, who has been teere, tells me that the mountains in neighbouring Laos are largely treeless, and by the sounds of it even Sumatra seems to be going that way too.

Back to teh lake, we stopped off at a Black Thai village, to see the local men building a new wooden house, one man could be seen sharpening his saw and really the very basic tools seemed to have been used. The houses are very well designed and most of them have red brick tiles on, sourced no doubt from the many brickworks one sees scattered around the countryside. The houses are on stilts and underneath, one finds pigs, chickens and dogs running around. The puppies and teh piglets are so adorable, although I must say I am more in the mood to eat dog than pat a dog since on of them had a bite at my trousers last night as I was walking back from a closed internet cafe.

Back at the hotel it was time to say our goodbyes to our new friends and soon we were on the road down to Dien Bien Phu, site of the famous battle which saw Vietnam beat the French as the first major step of getting the French out. Again, a word of admiration for the Vietnamese.... they have managed to see off Imperial China, Imperialance and Imperial USA. They can be very proud and as I mentioned before, they seem to be very good at doing teh right thing, where so many other countries fail.

Dzao baby

Dzao baby, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Too cute to be left out of the blog, this chappie was being carried on the back of his father, as we came down the mountain into new Lai Chau. Last night we were in old Lai Chau and tomorrow we cross the highest pass in Vietnam, passing Mount Fansipan, the highest peak in Vietnam at 3,140 meters, on the way to Sa Pa, where we join our other tour. This was the tour we had originally arranged up here in the mountains, and it is a trip which many tourists will make. We are very happy to have taken this particular tour which ahs been absolutely spectacular - so thanks very much to Uncle Malcolm for suggesting it, Vietnam Geographic Holiday for organising it at such short notice and also to the ever patient Mr Nang who has driven us around for the past four days. One thing about Mr Nang, apart from being an excellent driver and a war veteran (we have seen the wounds in his legs) but he likes his music. So we have been listening to the same selection fo what we think is four or five songs for teh last three-and-a-half days since we told him we preferred Vietnamese music above the American easy listening stuff with which he started off in Hanoi. He is also a keen football fan and we think that the reason he was late for breakfast this morning is because he was watching the Manchester United-Benfica match at 2.30 in the morning!

Fishing net

Fishing net, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

The mountain folk do not seem to be such great fishermen as the ethnic Vietnamese on the coast who have lots of fish farms and shrimp farms and so on. Anyway, yesterday we came across these two men bring in their net, with one tasty looking fish caught before paddling away on their bamboo raft.

Afternoons are a great time to travel through the country, as people have finished their work and often go to the river to ahve a wash (the owmen wash their very very long black hair - which they normally have tight in a bun at the top of their head, over which goes the scarf/headgear). You will also see children playing around with buffalos, young men having a game of football on a field of newly cut rice and even foot volleyball... in which incidentally, Vietnam won their first gold medal in the Asian Games in Doha!

Richard being dressed by Dzao women

Richard being dressed by Dzao women, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

It was all very fetching but the cloak was too small and the price too high. Anyway, these Dzao women had great fun dressing Richard.

Old lady with gangrene

Old lady with gangrene, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

We were invited into the house by the husband, who offered us rice vodka, which we were not allowed to sip, but had to drink down in one go. Richard chickened out, but I didn't so I promptly had a new glass filled which had to be downed. I don't think it was actually all that strong although it felt like it as it went down. At least one gets a warm hand shake from your drinking partner when one has completed the task.

This lady had a plastic bag over her right foor and although we had both noticed we thought it polite not to look at it or mention it, until the husband started pointing at it. Anyway, she seemd to be taking it in her stride and was happy top have haus as guests in her house, however briefly.

Hmong women

Hmong women, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Hopefully all the 200 or so photos will tell the story of what a wonderful trip we are having here in the mountains. As you can see the weather has improved greatly and it is beautiful to feel in the sun on one's face in the clear mountain air.

The driver took us off-road up 10kms or so for views across the valley to the mountains bordering China, which was about 10-20 kms away. All along teh way were people busy at work building the new road, including these Hmong woman at the end. At first they were a bit shy to be photographed, but eventauuly they even started getting specially dressed for teh photos. Beautiful colours, brilliantly lit.