Katrina K. Photography

Flower H'mong fabric being woven in Sapa Vietnam has some beautiful textiles, and we were lucky enough to see some being made. One town we visited, Hoi An (in the center of the country, near the de-militarized zone) is especially famous for its clothing. Nearly all people who come here get clothing made. Although we left without custom clothes, we did get to see the pre-process in action.

A sweet family in Moung Koung As you know, we have many friends in Sapa that we made the first time we went there. All of our friends are doing very well, and Hang and Nam are no exception. We first met Hang when she worked at the Mountain View Hotel, where we stayed the first time. She was the front desk manager, and so we came to know her well. (It turned out that it was her husband Nam’s bike that Tadashi crashed, causing the muffler burn on my leg.) We became quick friends with Hang, and she invited us to her room for dinner one night. We had hot-pot for dinner and it was fantastic. She and her husband rented a little room that was about the size of a dorm room, but with an attached bathroom. Although it was small, they made it very cozy. The last time we we in Sapa, (3 years ago) Nam & Hang had opened their own CD/video shop. This shop was small, but it was theirs and it had a nice size sleeping room above it.  This time we went to Sapa, they are doing even...

Last week we helped Gom and her family plant their rice. Once again, Tadashi has a great story to tell about this as well. All of our H’mong friends – as well as most of the H’mong selling to tourists in Sapa – are from the village of Lao Chai. This is a huge village, and

About one hour into our stay in Sapa, we were invited to our friend's wedding reception -- which we had to leave nearly right away for. Tadashi's written a very good description about this on his blog, so I won't try to be redundant. You can read about it

After 24 hours of traveling, we're finally in Hanoi. The flight to Hong Kong was 14 hours, then 2 hours to Hanoi. I tried a pair of compression socks for the long flight, and man-oh-man, what a difference! It was so amazing that I'm going to get T a pair when we get back. We've been to Hanoi many times, but a lot has really changed since the last time 3 years. The biggest difference is

It's official: Tadashi has been approved for a sabbatical Spring 2009 semester to work on this project!!! And I've been ok'd to take a semester off (without pay) to work on it with him! (Not easy to be non-tenured and given a semester off!) Although we'll be beginning the project this summer as planned, we'll be in Southern Asia working on this project Jan - July 2009. Freaky, isn't it?? We will begin in Vietnam, in Sapa then Hoi An, before moving on to Siem Reap. Look for an update in the next week or so.