Mau Chai White Thai Minority Village 2nd of July

Today Liz and I had quite an adventure, on the itinerary which I had planned meticulously back in Cairns, today was meant to be our free day in Hanoi. By free I justified to Liz tonight , that it meant we were free to do whatever we pleased. Liz's daughter had enjoyed the hospitality of the White Thai people a few weeks ago and raved about their friendliness and the beautiful landscape, Johnny our tour guide had gushed about the  possibility of us seeing an uninhibited naked White Thai girl with long ebony hair and glowing alabaster skin frolicking happily in a mountain stream. Liz and I were convinced this was an opportunity too rare to be missed! 

After a rushed breakfast we were heralded into a spacious van with only four other passengers , two of which were actually not meant to be on our bus at all! Our new guide Tuanz ( pronounced Choon) entertained us nearly the whole way to MC (a mere 3.5 hours) with his tonal clamouring of , God, gawd, gourd, good, ma, maw, maa . He was honestly a delight , he put me in such a good mood that I  gave him a huge tip which Liz repaid me for in fried chicken later at Lotteria,

The White Thai experience was actually quite sad as the people lived in such poverty. They apparently came from China three generations ago according to Johnny and two thousand years ago according to Tuanz. We were meant to ride around the village for several hours up hill and and down the proverbial dale, when I realised belatedly that I couldn't remember how to ride a bike and also that I am very lazy. I must have looked so horrified that our dear guide, grabbed the first motor bike with a key from the parking lot and beckoned for me to get on, Liz was however left looking trim taut and terrific astride an old bicycle . 

Before I knew it we were off at break neck speed, Tuanz telling me proudly " I have not ridden a motor bike for many years". I hastily offered to walk and he said " no worries" and sped up.  During our bike ride he kept practising his vowel sounds, it would have been a delight to my eldest daughter who is a speech pathologist. I dared not look behind in case II fell off, but I guiltily begged him to please wait for Liz who was pedalling away with great vigour. When we finally stopped I was shocked to see Liz pull up, red faced beside us, I was incredibly impressed she had hidden her secret talent from me, I had never been aware that she was such an impressive cyclist,