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| A little break at Le Petite Cafe, Sapa |
My last trip to Sapa, Northern Vietnam took place in March 2009. Joining me were my good brother Subra and an old friend Pam. I made plan and booking for the trip since I have been there couple of times.
Before departure, I contacted Chay, my regular black Hmong guide who speaks reasonably well in english to be our guide during our time there. I missed my little Hmong friends Mae and Sung very much; wondering how there did with their study. I carried with me instant nyonya curry chicken paste, packed coconut milk and lemon grass to cook for a my little friends and family our local dish. When we arrived Sapa after a 10 hour journey on train from Hanoi and 45 minutes ride on van from the Lao Cai train station, Chay, Mae and Sung awaited us at our hotel. Chay was cool with her newly straighten hairstyle and the 2 young girls were so shy. We went for breakfast in the popular French cafe Baguette and Chocolate.
The next day, we went marketing in Sapa market. I really appreciated Chay's effort in bargaining when buying cooking ingredients. We carried with us a 2 chickens, potatoes, vegetables, pineapple ,few loafs of French bread and the ingredients I brought from home and trekked 7 km to Lao Chai, a black Hmong village- home to Mae and Sung.
Everyone was busy helping with the cooking preparation. I cooked the curry chicken while Pam in charged for stir fry vegetable. When I saw the big packet of MSG "Ajinomoto" in their dark kitchen, I was so shocked. For someone who hardly uses MSG at home, that supply would last 5 years in my kitchen. However, it is understandable for they couldn't afford meat, prawn and etc to add flavors to their plain cooking. Meat is consumed on special occasions only.
Many of their neighbors came to check out what was going on. When the meal was cooked and being served on the on the knee high table, Mae's mother went to close the main door?? Maybe she just wanted us to enjoy a meal without being disturbed. The Hmong are not use to spicy food but they enjoyed the meal very much and Mae's mother had 2 serving for chicken and curry. |
| Join us? :) |
Thereafter, we visited Sung's home where I gave a little sewing tutorial to Mae, Sung and few other girls in their village while Subra and Pam explored the village. I will share the sewing session in my next post.
We have another cooking session in Banho where we had our home stay in a Tay's home. It was a 6 hours trek from Taven village as we took it leisurely. Three of us either had back problem or osteoarthritis. At the last part of the journey, I was descending the hills like a crab; Whereas Pam had to be transported to Tay's home by motorcycle few km before reaching. Subra was slow but steady. Along the journey, Chay showed us herbs that grown naturally in the wild. We started picking them and kept it for Subra's pasta sauce where he planned to share with the Tay's family.
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| Master Chef in action |
The next morning was Subra's show time. We informed the kitchen, we will cook for everyone including an Australian couple putting up in the home stay too. With other ingredients and some pork and carrot provided by the kitchen, Subra started cooking. The herbs we picked along the trek adds great aroma to the sauce. It was really a tasty meal and the home stay owner's wife had serving after serving. This was her first taste Spaghetti Bolognese which was prepared by a wonderful cook - Subra!
It was such a wonderful trip. A great cultural exchange experience!
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