October 7, Da Bac, Vietnam
We spent most of the day near Da Bac, having lunch and dinner at our homestay, with a hike between the meals. After dinner, we were treated to some members of the village singing and dancing.
Since we were going to be traveling light for the night, we left the bulk of our luggage at the hotel and then boarded the bus. One of our group had mentioned earlier that she had a road trip song that her family had made up, so she sang it for us.
On the way, we stopped by a silk craft village where we visited Vun Art. When we arrived, they were wrapping tote bags which they were commissioned to supply. We then went to see where complex artwork was being created to put onto other tote bags; colored pieces of material were ironed onto a base, and the whole thing gets applied to the tote bag. The designs were very intricate, and the cutting and positioning were precise. The owner of Vun Art explained that they try to hire people with various disabilities (deaf, autistic, etc.) and train them to do the jobs.
We drove the rest of the morning, eventually going a long way on a narrow, steep, winding road. At one point the bus barely got past a truck coming the other direction.
We arrived at the Sung Village near Da Bac and were immediately served lunch, which was served as piles of food on a tray lined with huge banana leaves.
Sung Cave hike
After lunch, a village member came to guide us on our hike, since we would be going through their land. Now and then he would stop and tell us about something, and Bao acted as interpreter. At one stop the guide handed Melody a leaf, but she didn’t know what to do with it. He broke off a small section of the stem at the base of the leaf and put it in her mouth, and she tasted cinnamon.
We eventually made it to Sung Cave and saw that workers were repairing the staircase going down to the cave. Even so, Bao and a few people worked their way down, with a worker digging out temporary steps in the steep dirt slope. They eventually made it down into the cave and then worked their way back up. From partway down, we did see some cave formations.
Our guide next took us to a schoolroom. He said that it’s mostly for adults to learn reading and writing (the children learn in school). People come from multiple villages to learn the script based on Chinese characters.
The next stop was a village home that smoked meat. There wasn’t any meat for us to see, but we did get to see where the smoking was done, over a fire pit in the middle of a big room in the house.
Our last stop of the hike was to see women making patterns out of beeswax on fabric. The wax is melted and then deposited on the fabric using various homemade tools to start a line and build it up. Once done, the whole fabric is dyed in black indigo (which they make from local plants) multiple times a day for about a month, after which the fabric is a deep black. The fabric is then heated, causing the beeswax to melt and the pattern is revealed. They make these items for their customary village dress, which we saw them wearing as well as our homestay hostess. Two of our group tried on the pieces, and while they varied in height by about a foot, it fit well on each of them.
We had some time before dinner, so I went out to the tables in the dining area and started editing photos from our trip through the caves in Phong Nha. There were many more than on a normal day, so even though I had begun the day before, it took me quite a while before I finished the day’s photos. I then started putting together that day’s blog post and picking photos to add to the post. While I was waiting for them to upload, I turned around and saw one of the people from our homestay peering over my shoulder. I explained what I was doing, and then started showing him some photos from our trip. He seemed interested in what I was showing him, smiling and nodding in recognition. Later in the evening, someone said that he had been watching for quite a while before I noticed him.
Dinner and dancing
Dinner was served like lunch, with piles of food on banana leaf-lined platters. Everything was once again very tasty and we made quick work of the food.
A while after dinner, some other villagers came over to perform dances and songs for us, with Bao explaining what the announced dance was going to represent. They then asked if any of us wanted to perform. Since we had just heard one group member’s road trip song, she was coaxed to sing it. When asked if anyone else would like to perform, a couple of women said they had made up a dance while swimming earlier in the trip, so they found an appropriate song and then performed.
For the last dance, we were all requested to participate with them. They handed out bells and sticks and then showed us the basic steps. We then got in a big circle and went around, getting better with each repetition.
Dancing done, a couple of us noticed that the sky was pretty clear, so we tried looking for stars. There was a pretty bright light interfering, but we could make out Saturn. Photos from my phone showed more stars.
Knowing that we needed to wake early the next morning, the rest of us finally went to bed. We were in one large room with curtains, so there was a lot of walking on tip-toe.
