Our very last activity in Vietnam, en route to China, was to visit Bac Ha’s famous Sunday market. We’d heard rave reviews about it from one Malaysian traveler we’d met on our Ha Long bay cruise. It took us about three hours by van to get to Bac Ha from Sa Pa. We arrived just after 10 am, by which time the market was in full swing. Stalls were busy selling to the hundreds of people who had descended on the small town. The appeal of this market was that it is a local thing- villagers from all over the region rendezvous at Bac Ha every Sunday to buy, sell, and barter goods, food, and livestock. It was interesting to see all the animals for sale, the tools available, and other daily-use items for sale, but much of the market had turned tourist-oriented. Joylani mentioned to me that the handicrafts available were low quality, although most of it looked used to me. Despite the tourism, the market was incredibly dusty and dirty. Usually we skip the touristy restaurants in favor of local stalls, but not at Bac Ha. Animal feces, mud, and blood and guts from the butcher area discouraged our desire for authentic Bac Ha food. After three hours at the market (perhaps three hours too long), we boarded our van for the ride back to Lao Cai. The tour guide did have the vanload of us stop for a pointless 20 minute “trek” to a local village. Pointless because there was nobody in the village because they were all at the market, plus it was hot and unscenic too. Then we made a stop near the river separating Vietnam and China, so we could see China and the “Friendship Border.” Both stops were made against the protests of us van passengers and any attempts to get a reasonable answer or explanation fell of deaf ears. I’m beginning to get the feeling that Vietnam has a policy of employing its most dim-witted citizens as tour guides. Every guide we’ve had has been horrible- not just inept at guiding and providing information, but often acting in a manner that goes against the wishes of all the clients. Bac Ha, Ha Long Bay, the Cu Chi tunnels, every guide has been extremely obtuse; or perhaps they just act aloof to conceal their shadiness. Reading back over this, I don’t think I’ve detailed or supported my grievances very well, but I’m not going to dwell on or write about shady Vietnamese people. I’ll end by saying that today was pretty representative of our time in Vietnam as a whole: interesting, although short of expectations, but made unpleasant by the people.