Today is February 25th and its cold and foggy outside. The hotel lobby is so cold that you can see your breath. We had hardly packed any warm clothing when we left home so the best way for us to prepare for the day ahead was to layer and layer and layer what we had. We've got a 6-8 hour trek ahead of us and would rather peel off soon-to-be unwanted layers of clothing than to chill to the bone right from the start.
We are up in the hills of Sapa in northern Vietnam with great aspirations to visit a few of the villages with one of the local, so-called 'minority people'. We are told that 'Chee' will be our guide. We later find out that she is from the Black H'mong hill-tribe, is 22, single, and lives in Lao Chai village - the first village we are set to visit.
We are ready to go before our trek is due to start so we leave the hotel to find 5 little girls (ages 10-13 years old) just outside the hotel doors. They are quick with their 'hellos' and even quicker to try and sell us something. They, too, are all from the Black H'mong hill-tribe. We are able to find out that children in the villages go to school to age 12 as that is as far as the local school commits too. Thereafter, they need to leave their villages and pay to go into the main stream of schools in town (Sapa). Many of them were not going on to further education as their parents could not afford to send them. Selling goods to the tourists is what now seems to be their destiny now. How unfortunate.
We walk further up the road and meet up with 2 young moms (both 19 and both Black H'mong) with babies on their backs - they are able to converse a little in English - just enough to sell their goods and share in some fairly basic conversation. We are told that it is not uncommon for the hill-tribe girls to marry rather young - sometimes as young as 13 or 14 years old. They were aware that the Vietnamese people (who are seen as different than they) usually get married around age 25 or so, but explained that this was not customary for them (hill-tribe people) to wait so long.
We walked towards the morning market and took a quick look around before we headed back to the hotel. Chee is now there to greet us and the other 4 tourists joining in on the trek. However, they are not the only people who joined us - the 2 moms with babies in tow and the 5 little girls also trotted along side of us as we headed back down the road.
It was a brisk morning walk that took us down into the valley and out of the foggy mountain tops. In spots, the trail was so muddy and slippery that you really had to have good balance and/or a steady hand from one of the H'mong people to help you along the way. I suppose, with them coming up and down and down and up day after day they just have a natural ability to not slip and slide around like we all seemed to manage to do. It was awesome to watch the quick footwork on all of them as they tip-toed, jumped, hopped, and shuffled along the route down. We were all so impressed - especially of the moms with the little bundles on their backs.
The rice paddies were amazing to an unskilled eye - I say this as they had told us that the best time to see them in their bright green colour is usually in September or October. Perhaps this may be so, but we were still impressed with the precision work that sculpted the landscape. It was so beautiful - full colour or not. The skies remained grey as the day went on. So we really didn't get to experience even a hint of spectacular colour.
About mid-point in the trek (3 hours in) we stopped along the river to have lunch. There was somewhat of a 'pit-stop' there for the tourists to sit and enjoy a cold drink and full up their tummies with pretty basic fare. What was disturbing to us was the segregation of us and the locals who stood outside of the fenced area waiting patiently for us to finish up so that we could come back out and buy a few of their goods. It was a pitiful sight as it really set us apart - where we would have much preferred enjoying a munch along side of the women and children who joined us down into the valley.
What was good was that our table along with most of the others gave any remaining portions of bread, cheese, ham, tomatoes, cucumbers, and apples to the hill-tribe people - who graciously accepted the plates full of food that were passed over the fence. Each person took their share and ensured that others had something to enjoy as well. In the end, everyone was smiling and very grateful for the rations of food provided. Heck, after 3 hours of heavy trekking we were all starving - one can only assume that they were hungry too.
Our group decided to make a purchase for each of the 7 people that joined us along the trek. From here they would go back up to Sapa and we would continue on to the next village (Giang Ta Chai). The hill-tribe people at this village are called the Red Dzao - as cheerfully displayed in the photos with the bright red headdress on.
The lifestyle of both tribes appeared to be similar, however we are aware that they have varying degrees of customs that aren't in sync - as well, they speak different dialects. When asked if the tribes marry one another we were told yes, however this didn't seem so obvious, nor practical due to the custom and language barriers that differed. But, as we all know, this doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things.
Overall, we had a great time, but the trek was extremely difficult - about 6 1/2 hours in all. We sure don't know how they do it day after day after day. Good health, happy people, and very accepting of us tourists. Not sure if that is good or bad, but we tried not to spoil the beauty that surrounded their daily lives. Time spent between Bac Ha and Sapa was very well worth our while as we were able to enjoy our interaction with 3 different hill-tribe people. It was absoulte thrill!
Enjoy the photos!
Sharon and Norm
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