The first thing that hits you here is all of the Hmuong, Dzao and other minority peoples women trying to convince you to buy THEIR hand-stiched articles.
Intricate and colourful materials sold by persistent but delightful women.
Working in small village houses all around the area, women make the material, dye it, stitch and sew it.
And what they create are blankets, scarves, hats, bags, belts, jackets, skirts, bracelets, cushion covers - just about whatever you can think of. And actually, the produce is really quite spectacular.
And the stitchers themselves are absolutely gorgeous women. This is Mai Linh, a 30-ish Dzao (pronounced sort of like "Zow") girl who lives in a 100-year old house who stiches and cooks - but more about her on a later post. The basket full of material she showed us was amazing, and several bits and pieces were purchased for princely sums.
....... including this hat, which became No. 2 of Hillary's growing Vietnamese hat collection.
But I just could not resist having a bit of fun with these ladies who were leaning over the street railing of our restaurant, cajoling us through the window to buy their stitches.
Ahh Sapa.........
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