T Batik in the Hmong sense is the process of painting a design in fabric with a djanting tool and beeswax and then dying the fabric in indigo and removing the wax, thus revealing the pattern. The Hmong work is very intricate from where I sit...requires much fine motor skill, attention to detail, and patience. A textile artist from California joined us...she was taking a series of courses in Laos and Vietnam from minority artists. She was able to explain a few things to us..the position of the tool in the hand, the tool design, the ubiquitous use of indigo from various plants around the world. Back home she grows her own indigo dyes.
The beeswax is melted over a fire as seen below. Because the weather was cold, the wax hardened almost instantly, thus requiring a bit of practice to get anything resembling an even flow of wax from the tool. Either is was too much and giant drops globbed onto the fabric, or too little and nothing went on the fabric.
Beeswax for batik
Corey demonstrates proper position of djanting tool
The djanting tool is different than the ones I bought on eBay and the position for working it was the opposite of what you'd expect. Holding the pen in reverse gives you more control, especially for laying out straight lines. Of course I was pretty hopeless with all of this, creating a pretty messy design. Corey, on the other hand, produced a Hmong-worthy design.
Barbara applying wax to her pattern with My (our teacher) looking on.
Although I didn't need to take the class to realize that my fine motor skills are limited, it was fun to work with the teacher and talk to Corey in more depth about her textile work. We also got to experience what it must feel like to be Hmong with tourists passing by and staring at you. Many tour groups passed us why we were working to check out what we were doing!
The food in Sapa is unremarkable. We ended up taking most of our free meals at the Hill Station restaurant..a very elegantly designed, but freezing cold restaurant with odd reservation policies. The first of the two serves traditional Hmong food. The image below is of a roasted sweet potato elevated to fine cuisine. Of course it was good, if not simple, food.
Sweet potato elevated to haute cuisine at the hill station
There was also the minced pork served in little piles of three (see the trend?). And bowls of mashed tofu. The local corn and rice hootch -- some of it flavored -- was also a highlight.
Mashed tofu
Minced pork served in fancy feast shaped piles. Corn and rice hootch in foreground.
In spite of the beautiful presentation, this was an expensive and ultra simple dining option and I preferred their second restaurant which served cheese platters and hamburgers!
The Bac Ha market is highly recommended in Lonely Planet and had been on our "must do" list for over a year. It sounds great -- the colorful Flower Hmong are major participants in the market and a good place to buy textiles. We took a long bus ride - 2.5 hours - to get to the market. The bus, although a tour bus, kept picking up passengers so that by the end we were sitting 4 across, meaning the aisles were fully occupied. This means you are trapped in your seat, even if you do have an aisle seat!
The flower Hmong were pretty, but to me, their costumes were not as lovely as the black Hmong. The textiles were repeats of what we'd seen already. The major point of interest was the animal market. Up on a ridge above the market were dozens of water buffalo, apparently for sale. Barbara refused to go there, saying they would be slaughtering them, but this was not the case. In fact, although I know they eat the buffalo, their primary use is for farming. They also sold yokes and other apparatus that goes with the buffalo. I really love the water buffalo -- they are so pretty! I feel badly for their hard life, but then they are revered. A red Zao woman, when I told her I had two boys, told me it was better to have boys. She said, boys can own water buffalo, all girls can do is handiwork. So there you have it.
The market also had a number of chickens and ducks for sale, all alive, or almost alive. The folks seem to be able to position the animals so they can't move, so you can never be sure.
The disturbing part of the market were the dogs for sale. So you know the chickens are food (either eggs or food) and the ducks are food (same) and the water buffalo are food and beasts of burden. The dogs...they are NOT man's best friend here, they are food. So what happens? There are many stray dogs all over Vietnam, dogs and cats are never neutered so the boys have big kahunes and the girls big tits. Do folks scream gleefully when they find a litter on their property and bring them to the market as soon as they are weaned (or before!) or do they just capture stray dogs? How is this way of managing the dog population any different than our destroying and then burying surplus animals? These are things to ponder although I doubt I will ever develop a taste for dog.
Less disturbing was the bird market -- these are birds in cages apparently prized for their song. There were hundreds of them with many Vietnamese men looking on -- evaluating the song? The robustness of the little bird? I am not a birder, so sadly could not say what type of bird they had.
There were also a handful of ponies for sale -- I think they were ponies and not mules, but cannot be certain. One had a little wooden saddle on it with no stirrups. I saw one of the men jump on the saddle, his legs in the side saddle position, and he lead the horse around the grass.
Later in the day we saw many water buffalo and ponies walking through town. We were unsure if they had been sold and we're off to their new homes, or if they were going back home after another market day.
Unfortunately no photos... I don't like taking pictures of people without permission...more the occasional sneaky shot and the environment of the market was a little hostile for that kind of thing, although it didn't stop the other tourists!
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