Lào Cai-Ha Noi | Report 8 | The People of Tay Bac

On The Lao Cai-Hanoi Road. Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

The itinerary has us today returning from Lào Cai city, the capital of Lào Cai Province. It borders the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in the Yunnan province of Southwest China, and the Chinese influence is quite pervasive. The beautifully appointed Swiss-Bel hotel was virtually empty of guests, except for a handful of local Vietnamese, and us being the only non-Asians. Our Ha Noi minder Huyen rode an overnight train to take us back, and to solve any issues if we had any during our return trip.

The journey back to Ha Noi took us from 09:30 am to about 5 pm, door to door. A middle section of the highway is still blocked off due to last minute repairs, but the toll gates are open and we drove on this new highway for quite a while. The back roads were in bad condition due to the rain caused by the typhoon, but I've seen much worse.

On the way, we stopped to photograph the rice harvest in the gorgeous paddies, and chanced on a small house where these elders were tending to their grandchild. There was some reticense after this photograph was made because traditional Vietnamese normally do not like to be photographed in threes (and/or other odd numbers).

Ha Noi felt like home. The chaos, the commotion, the noise...and naturally the lip-licking Pho Bo at  Pho 10 on Lý Quốc Su street. A bowl of pho bo and a bottle of Hanoi beer set each one of us 60,000 dongs or just under $3.00. It really can't be beat.

Dodo Kopold Opens New Route on Annapurna South

Slovakian climber Dodo Kopold has climbed Annapurna South along a new route, and in solo Alpine style, according to this article over at Climbing.com. He topped out following 40 straight hours of climbing, reaching the summit of the 7219m mountain alone.

Dodo has come to Annapurna to climb with Martin Minarik and Elisabeth Revol along the South Face of Annapurna I, but as we've heard a few times already, the weather conditions on that mountain were just too treacherous for safe climbing. With that mountain off the menu, Kopold elected to make his solo attempt on Annapurna South, by going up a 7100m route to a western ridge, which he then traversed to reach the summit itself. His descent took him back to the saddle and down the face there amidst deep snow.

The article indicates that the Slovak climber carried just 40 meters of rope, 8 pitons, 8 ice screws, and 10 quickdraws. He also had three energy bars, some dried meat, and a light stove, which he used to melt snow for drinking water.

Expect to hear more details on this story in the near future. This appears to be another impressive, and dramatic, climb out of a guy who already has a full resume. Great work Dodo! Congrats!

Café Dao, A Vietnamese Love Story | Medium

CAFÉ DAO

“No one in our village was as beautiful as she was…we liked each other since we were 12 years old…”

And so explained 92 year-old Thai Truang Dao explained why he married his wife, Thai Mo Ba.

Both welcomed graciously me and Maika Elan in his small home in Hoi An, and allowed me to photograph wherever and whatever I wanted.

Thai Truang Dao started a small coffee-shop in his home town during the mid forties and with some leap of imagination, could be considered as the Howard Schultz (Starbucks CEO) of Hoi An.

Readers of my blog have seen that I'm trying out the various new storytelling platforms, and Medium is one those. It's a blog publishing platform, founded by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone a couple of years ago. It has evolved into a hybrid of non-professional contributions and professional, paid contributions, an example of social journalism.

I'm glad to be returning to Hoi An, where I hope I'll be able to revisit the couple, and give them prints of these photographs.