Vietnam motobike tour - Day 4

We spent all day today in Kuntom, which is a nice little town. There is a lot to do here. And fortunately, it was a short driving day - especially after yesterday. We rolled into town at about 11 am, checked into the hotel, had lunch, and headed for a museum with a bunch of local hilltribe art, tools, baskets, and stuff. It's in an old church, which is kind of nice - even though the French Catholics have moved in and turned much of the countryside Catholic, they have at least preserved some of the history and culture. And not in an "isn't this quaint how they used to live" sort of way either, because a lot of these ethnic minorities still live as they always have.

Next, we went to the market to collect things to take to an orphanage. The children are so precious!!! We arrived, and they all gathered to sing for us, which was a bit of a strange and staged performance, but I know they were just showing appreciation for the visit. Then they all broke out playing with the balls and kites that we'd brought for them. I had a line of 3 year-olds standing on a low wall so that I could pick them up and make them fly. It's fantastic how a language barrier never matters with children. Somewhere along the way, we as adults seem to forget how to communicate nonverbally. Anyway, they took us on a tour of their place, which is sparse. They seem fairly well cared for, though, if a little dirty, shabbily clothed, and slightly sick and snotty. But they're such happy kids when they've got visitors. They range in age from 10 months (a boy who was a triplet - his parents kept the two girls) to several teens. About 200 in all in dormitory style housing separated by age and gender. Someone has come and painted their walls with cartoon animals, which they were all very excited to show us. At one point, I had one on each hand, and two more that wanted in on their own fingers to grab on to. One 3-year old in particular kept trying to climb my legs and just grinned at me the whole time that I was there. It was really hard to drive away without them, and I think all three of us gals had tears in our eyes.