Bac Ha Market

On Saturday, I left Sapa to continue my journey up North. There is a famous Sunday market in Bac Ha which I wanted to visit, where local ethnic communities gather to sell their produce. I first had to take a mini-bus back to Lao Cai, then transfer onto a local bus for the 70 km ride to Bac Ha village. I ended up on a bus packed with as many random objects as there were people. There was even a motorbike in the middle of the bus! My legs were propped up onto bags of tiles for the entire 3 hour ride, and the roof was full of boxes too. When people got off, they took their merchandise with them! Once in Bac Ha, I quickly found a guest house recommended by the Lonely Planet. I then settled for an early night as I wanted to have an early start the following day.

I woke up at 6:30 am and went walking around the market. Starting early meant that I would be there before any other tour groups and get to experience the market fully. The main attraction here are the Flower Hmong tribe, who are known for their distinctive outfits. Loads of colourfully dressed women were gathered, selling all sorts of handicrafts, vegetables, textiles, souvenirs and other knick-knacks. There wasn't another tourist until about 8:30 which was amazing and allowed me to take many pictures.

Sanitary much?

Who wants some chicken?

Flower Hmong wearing their colourful woven dress

This is only one small part of the market - very busy!

 Apart from the usual fresh produce market items on sale, a fascinating aspect of the day was the fresh market, where cattle, horses, pigs and even dogs are bought and sold. I will never forget the horrified squeals of the pigs being pulled by a single rope on their leg and the dogs in cages sold there.

Poor piggies... they were still alive.

Yes, they do sell dogs for consumption. Quite disturbing.

After over three hours wandering around the new and intriguing world of Bac Ha market, I set off to find some breakfast. Having been in Vietnam for a month, there were a few key words which I was able to recognise in Vietnamese menus. This was lucky because I was in a very non-touristy town and the busiest restaurant (alwyas a good sign!) had no English menu. I ordered Bhun Cho. I knew Bhun was vermicelli noodles, so that was a good start. Indeed, I received a vermicelli noodles soup. However, the dark-brown meat and strong smell were far from appealing. Being the only tourist in the restaurant, I didn't want to make a big fuss. I tried to swallow a few noodles, but the taste was repugnant. I quietly walked to the waiter and asked how much my meal was, trying to run out without making them feel bad that I didn't eat their food.

While walking back to my hotel, I kept repeating the name of the dish in my head: ''Bhun Cho, Bhun Cho, I'm sure I've read this before...'' Just as I entered the hotel lobby, it dawned on me: CHO means DOG! ''No, it can't be!''. I ran up the stairs to my room and jumped on my guide book and read the awful truth... Cho means dog, I had just eaten DOG SOUP!

Needless to say this was enough to cut my appetite for the rest of the day.