So far, I have changed 590.00 USD into the local currency for the
Hmong and the Red Dzao women in the market and one Viet who
could not change dollars at the bank because: broken, less than 5.00, or the
old style without the new security strips in them. It would be nice if the clueless
customers with dollars would bother to change them into Vietnamese money.
The wood in the village used for cooking is bamboo and some hardwood sticks.
No logs or charcoal. May's brother has a propane tank and a small stovetop burner too.
Also, this new house has something I've never seen before in the village: a HUGE chimney over
the fire pit. FINALLY, a fire and no smoke all through the house. A vast improvement!
I was watching Ku (Mays' sister-in-law) cooking and noticed she was spooning something
onto a frypan from a 10-gallon vat. OH, BABY it was pig fat. I asked her if she could cook the
veggies with water and she did. There was no vegetable oil in the house just white goo from
one of many pigs that live (lived) in the pen at the house. A little bit of oink in all the food.
Water Buffalo: Normally one or two but Ku has 2 adults and 2 juveniles. They need to be taken
out so they can feed on the hillsides and then brought back to the pens. They are very expensive
to buy and often die when it gets cold here in the winter. It can snow here.........They are used for
plowing the fields. There are 2 dogs at the house. Nobody plays with them, and they are fed scraps
(mostly old rice). Their job: cleaning up crew and warning if someone approaches the house.
There are chickens and sometimes ducks at homes. No cats about but in the past, they were used for
mousing. Guess no mice anymore.
Toilets? Neither house had one but there were small rooms built for that but not completed. In all the
years in the past there never were any indoor or outdoor toilets. You just walked out and did your
business. Just like camping.
The babies in the houses had diapers.....in the past the kids would run around naked or have no pants
and **** all over. Progress? Maybe....where do those disposable diapers go? Not sure as there is no garbage
pick-up in the villages. Burning perhaps....oh great burning turds drifting over the house........or dumped outside.
Being in the villages will set your brain on this setting: "scrambled" because everything you know is wrong.
Was there a shower at those houses? Nope. Toilet ditto. Sink ditto. There was running water in the kitchen for
cleaning dishes down low about a foot off the floor.
A kilo (2.2 lbs. in case you forgot) of fresh tofu in the market is half a dollar and tastes nothing like what you would
get in the stores in the USA. ******* amazing and still hot if you get up early enough. Fresh bamboo is a real treat
to eat too here. Just great in all sorts of dishes.
Weekend markets are huge and the parking lot in front of the market
and along the sides are loaded with vendors. Here are some pictures
and a few inside the market also. Note the motorbike loaded with plants
for sale and a couple loading some huge heavy bag onto one. Who needs
a car or a truck?
Saturday Market in Sapa, Vietnam 5-27-2023
