3 on a bike

Our day in pictures, exploring beautiful mountainous Sapa (work in progress as rushing to catch our flight home)

My travel companions are very happy to be here in Sapa:

This is where the day started in our cosy bungalow at the top of a hill.  We woke up to an incredible view of the hills and valleys around us, full of paddy steps being prepped for planting in two weeks.

Taran and I meet Moon, who is going to take some guests out trekking.  I love her outfit.   She says she prefers to wear a t-shirt when it is hot as the material is thick for this heat.  She shows me how she does her extremely long black shiny hair in an intricate web of combs and clips every day.   So stylish.

We hire a bike.  Note my styling of sun hat under the helmet! We are warned that with three of us on it the hills might be a struggle.  But this does not deter us and off we go... with Kelty on acceleration, Taran on navigation and me as musical director.

Our first stop is a popular waterfall.  Kelty is photographed by some tourists.  Do they think he is George Clooney?  

It is a holiday in Vietnam (Reunification Day when the North and South came together again) and everyone gets a day off work - but not these wonderfully dressed ladies.  Where are the men, I ask? Probably with their feet up enjoying the holiday and a Hanoi beer.

We came across a busy market full of colourfully dressed locals selling food, tourist gifts, tree roots, and all sizes of knives.  

And we found some corn and yams for lunch in this shop.  This lady also sold an array of what looked like medicinal herbs, musical instruments, rugs, mats, local clothes so we decided that we could easily live in this space as she catered for everything.  

Next stop - the highest point.  There was a line of scaffolding constructions on the top of food stores, which you could climb up to enjoy the mesmerising view.  You got the feeling that they were all competing with height and there might be a time in the near future that one of them might take it too far and a selfie might go horribly wrong.  

When leaving our bike was parked next to a group of kids all wearing face masks.  

This is now quite a common sight here and in the other Asian countries.  Kelty read an article which talked about the younger generation using them to act as a firewall from society, much like headphones.  Studies have shown that many youths wear masks as a way to avoid interacting with society.  In a world where interaction is done more often through social media, avoiding social interaction can be welcome.  Also, many women slip on a mask when they want to dash out to the store for something quick without having to put on make-up.  Other Asian women wear masks as fashion accessories, with specific masks that match their outfits.  It is increasingly becoming a convenient way to look and feel attractive, while staying modest with one's face hidden in a culture that values modesty.

Enough said, I think I prefer this look.....