Journey to Hoáng Su Phì (To the Rice Terraces of Vietnam) 11 — Being Carried on Someone's Back…

Enjoying trekking, a grown-up's little detour

Though it's covered in ghostly, jungle-like plants, negative ions are flowing out and it feels wonderful. I make my way along a mountain path densely overgrown with graceful, lush greenery.

How crystal-clear the water flowing through the channel is! It makes you want to drink it, but this is Vietnam... They tell you it's not allowed. Yes, that's right. Along the way, a work call comes in... but the signal is good and we have a clear conversation. The other party surely can't imagine that I'm talking from a terraced rice field like this... Seeing how I was working late into the night even inside the bungalow, as long as there's a wifi connection, work just keeps chasing after me.

Mr. Hun, who is guiding us, seems to find our amazement at the food amusing, and keeps eagerly recommending things to us. He strayed off the path and went deep into the back — I thought, "Oh, he headed that way, huh~" and when I tried to follow down that road, he stopped me. "Wait here," he said... and what he'd gone off to gather was... what he handed me was some kind of leaf.

What is this...? When I smelled it... a refreshing scent, like mint. As I was giddily gushing "What a lovely fragrance~," someone told me, "Eat it, eat it!" Eat it? Well, eating leaves is a Vietnamese thing, but thinking to myself that this one was pretty big, I took a bite... and "Ssss-haaa, ssss-haaa~~~" a menthol-like flavor spread through my mouth~~~ Oh my, delicious! This leaf is apparently cinnamon. I'd heard the fragrance comes from the bark of the cinnamon tree, and at home I even have firewood-like pieces of cinnamon bark displayed as an air freshener, but the young leaves have such a fresh, invigorating scent that it was truly moving. My husband was deeply impressed and, wanting to take these home as a souvenir, went off to gather sheet after sheet of them. He ventured deep inside... And so the trekking, along the way, showed us all sorts of different faces — such a fascinating route. Just when the terraced rice fields seemed to go on and on, we'd enter a mountain path, plucking and eating the fruits from banana trees and guava trees. Rocky crags like these towered over us, and we came face to face with magnificent nature.

Suddenly we were told, "We're heading over that way~," and a wide, shallow stream spread out before us. Our feet got all soggy and wet... Everyone was rattled by the rumor that there were leeches lurking about, but... The trekking leader just went splish-splashing right through—in sandals, no less! And crossed that shallow stream just like that. He looked back at us frail Japanese folks, laughed, and came back. And so, I ended up being carried across on my husband's back.

I'm sorry I haven't been able to lose weight. You went barefoot for me while saying "It's fine, it's fine," but there we were—a husband and wife making our way across the river in an awkward, wobbly crouch.

Mount Ubasute, huh lol The ground is all covered in rocks and it's hard to walk... "Ow, ow," I kept saying... Whimpering and wincing, I somehow managed to make it across. So does that mean the soles of my feet are hitting pressure points? Some internal organ of mine must be in bad shape. From drinking too much every day... After experiencing a slightly thrilling river crossing, we soon headed to the house where we'd have lunch. Relocation Life Ranking