Hmong Tribe Quizz Answer

So the question was : what is the mysterious mark some Hmong people have on their forehead ?

It is the result of the application of some traditional medicine. It is the traditionnal way they have to treat headaches. And from what we learned it is used in many different countries.

They heat the bottom of a cup with fire, put some rice wine in it (and a piece of a buffalo's horn) and stick it into their forehead. When it cools down it will suck the blood in the head and increase the blood circulation....the mark will stay 4 or 5 days.

And no more headaches ! Apparently it works and doesn't hurt....I still don't really want to give it a try !

Thank you to all the doctors that can correct what I haven't understood or not well explained above !

So the winner is..................

Hmong Tribe customs & Quizz !

I have so far talked about 3 different tribes that live in the Northwest of Vietnam. Basically Hmong's and D'zao speak different language even if they share villages sometimes : they all (thoso who go to school...) learn vietnamese in school now and use vietnamese to understand each other.

No matter howw good they look in the pictures and how welcoming these people are, the minor tribes who live in the mountains in the north are often despised by "vietnamese" (understand northern-vietnamese) who look down on them. It is extremely hard for them to start an actual business in Sapa, all the travel agencies run by vietnamese coming from the big cities are taking advantage of the local people and underpaying them to guide tourists around. Some Hmongs (and probably D'zao's too) have tried to start businesses but vietnamese authorities ask for ridiculous amounts of money to buy the licences and all the hopes are vanished.

The despise for these local people goes as far as treating them as "cat-people", a vietnamese mum told his son to finish his food or "cat-people" would eat it. In many cases, vietnamese won't even try their food, considering it as "dirty".

And honestly, we've met many Hmong's and D'zao people and they are the most lovable people we've met in Vietnam, welcoming and friendly....and those who could speak better english too ! Smart people....

Here goes a short reminder :

- D'zao : Women wear a red foulard on their head and have the forward part of their head shaved. We saw them in Ta Phin village.

- Flower Hmong (Hmong La in Hmong language, la standing for colorful) : You may remember them, from Can Cau market and the Bac Ha region. They wear extremely colorful dresses and live around the Bac Ha region.

- Hmong : (Hmong Ru) I refer to them as Hmongs, but it is the Hmongs that we find around the Sapa region (Khu and Bao belong to this tribe). It is with them that we have had the chance to exchange more given their higher level in english and the time spent with them. There are some interesting facts about them.

They wear blue indigo jacket and skirts, and have the head covered (optional) by either a hat or a scarf. Indigo is made rubbing a plant and mixing it into water. Bao was showing this to me on this picture, and I had the hand blue for a couple of days !

As for the other tribes, women are in charge of the knitting and some field work and men take care of the buffaloes and responsible for killing the animals when the occasion to eat meat arises.

They eat meat in rare occasions such as when they have family over for lunch; rice, corn and cucumber being the basis of their daily diet.

Religion : some are catholic (Bao) or christians, converted probably by the french during their stay in the region. Most of them remain "chaman" (phonetical transcription), believing in a life after this life and worshipping a spirit.

We have also met some women that told us about their own experience. In particular this woman who had 4 kids, only boys. Her husband wasn't happy with that and married another woman, bringing her into the same house.

We have been wondering since the begining of our stay what did some women have on their forehead : Bets are on !

Whoever gets closer to the real meaning will get a vietnamese souvenir !

You can answer by email or comment. Answer on July 10th !

Poble de Lao Chai i molt més !

Lao Chai és el poblet més famos que hi ha al voltant de Sapa, de fet es diu Lao Chai de manera genèrica a una desena de pobles que hi ha aprop. Si preguntes a les dones i nenes que corren per Sapa, la majoria venen d'allà, i és que dient aixo s'eviten més explicacions encara que moltes vinguin d'algun dels poblets veïns.

De tornada a Sapa doncs, vam decidir anar caminant cap a Lao Chai. Una de les millors maneres de fer-ho és demanar a alguna de les nenes que venen bolsos pels carrers de Sapa que et dugui al seu poble. Aquestes nenes se les saben totes ja, i quan els hi vam preguntar només deien "quant pagueu? quant pagueu?" Aixi que vam decidir que hi aniriem soles. Preguntant per aqui i per alla, teniem sempre noies que ens seguien "I follow you" i marxavem quan els hi deiem que no els hi comprariem res.... Vam seguir caminant una estona per la carretera i ja ens començavem a preguntar si no ens haviem equivocat, perquè nosaltres voliem caminar per la muntanya !

Fins que va arribar la Bao i ens va dir que ella ens ensenyaria el cami : "the small path", tal com li demanavem nosaltres, i no per la carretera evitant camions i motos....

Aixi que la vam seguir, vam pagar el dret d'admissio al poble (15.000VND) i vam tenir el "small path que tant demanavem ! Entre arrossals i pedres relliscoses...

la Bao, amb les seves sandalies li va salvar la vida al menys 3 cops a la Marta, que no parava de relliscar. Pero el desastre havia d'arribar ! I amb la camara a la ma, va relliscar en una de les pedres i splash! directe al bassal.

La camara va sobreviure, per sort.... i el pantalo i la samarreta van quedar ben marrons ! Sort que la Bao era aqui per ajudar-la a netejar-se, quina monada de dona...

Jo crec que devia tenir la impressio de caminar amb invalides al darrera !

En vist del gran exit, sort que al poble de Lao Chai, ja ben adaptat pels turistes (amb restaurants a l'entrada i tot) els carrers eren més amples ;-) Allà se'ns van ajuntar dues nenes més que vivien al mateix poble que la Bao. Durant el cami ens intentava explicar les diferencies entre les diferents tribus que vivien allà, i el ritme de vida que duien.

La Bao ens va convidar a casa seva, i vam anar caminant bastanta estona per la muntanya per arribar-hi, seguides de les nenes que vam deixar a casa seva pel cami. Un cop arribades, ens vam quedar de pedra. No és la primera casa que veiem pero cada cop que en veiem una és una sensacio especial.... Eren 3 cabanes on vivia la familia propera i ells a la casa d'asobre. Vam entrar, acompanyats dels seus 4 fills, vestits només amb una samarreta bruta pero amb grans somriures. No van parar de jugar, de caure, de pegar-se i tibar-se dels cabells, pero no els vam sentir plorar ni un moment : aquests nanos tenen gens diferents.

Aixi que la Bao, després del 10km de caminata encara tenia forces per preparar el menjar per tota la familia. Primer tallar bambus per encendre el foc,

per després posar l'arros i la carn que havia comprat pel cami a coure.

La casa era molt humil: els nanos sempre disposats a ajudar, una escala que mouen de lloc a lloc en funcio d'on volen pujar a buscar reserves d'arros, bols o altres coses a l'altell.

Hi havia un clau a la paret que aguantava 3 papers amb dedicatories d'altra gent que havia anat a casa la Bao : una parella d'espanyols, una de francesos i uns altres de no sé on. No devia pas anar-hi molta gent allà.... la majoria es queden en espècies de "Homestay" de Ta Van o Lao Chai que semblen més hotels que cases de gent. La Bao ens va proposar de quedar-nos a dormir pero encara eren les 2 de la tarda i l'endemà voliem llogar motos a Sapa.

Segueixo emocionada per l'acollida que estem tenint en aquests poblets del nord de Vietnam. Tot i el turisme que es desenvolupa a velocitats d'espant, els Hmongs guarden aquesta hospitalitat i t'obren la porta de casa seva en tot moment, et presenten encantats a la seva familia i comparteixen aquests moments senzills que et fan realitzar que lluny de la ciutat, el temps avança a una altra velocitat : hi ha temps per compartir, per parlar, per acollir i coneixer a desconeguts....

El menjar estava delicios....

i per acabar, després d'haver-li comprat ununa foto de familia en la que només falta el fill gran a qui li estaven tallant el cabell en aquell moment.

Al tornar, vam pujar la Bao i jo en un mateix moto-taxi i la Marta en una altra per tornar cap a Sapa : a la vietnamita, sense casco, 3 en una moto i atravessant bassals impresionants.

L'endemà vam donar algunes d'aquestes fotos a la Bao, i va generar furor entre les seves companyes Hmong que hi havia davant de l'hotel ! S'arrencaven les fotos "very beautiful ! very pretty!"...

Gràcies Bao.

Si veniu a Sapa, no contracteu cap tour amb una agencia: busqueu noies que us duguin al seu poble..i obviament, nosaltres no podem més que recomenar a la Bao, una dona plena de valor i coratge que us acollirà increïblement bé ... digueu-li que veniu de part de la Monica i la Marta, s'enrecordarà !

Aqui va el seu telefon, Bao : 01 67 95 14 509.

Bac Ha Market

De vuelta a Bac Ha y en pie sobre las 6am preparadas para atacar el mercado de los domingos la ciudad. De nuevo, los Hmong Flor bajan de los pueblos e invaden los stands poniendo color al mercado con sus magnificos atiendos. Para refrescaros la memoria, una pequeña imagen.

Bac Ha esta accesible desde Sapa en un mismo dia asi que sobre las 9am empiezan a llegar los minibuses con turistas..y obviamente, no faltan los stands dedicados a las artesanias para turistas.

Pero centremonos en la parte mas interesante. Detras de las artesanias se encuentra el mercado de la carne. Pero a primera hora se puede ver llegar la mercancia por diferentes modos. Algunos lo transportan en la moto, que aqui estan preparadas para transportar lo que sea ! En este caso, un cerdo despellejado ya...

Pero en algunos casos el cerdito llega aun vivo, y otras lo llevan como mochila !

Llegamos pues a los puestos de carne, donde algunos se aventuran con los trozos mas grandes que yo haya visto en mi vida, y que si tuviera que cortar algo de ahi no sabria ni por donde empezar !

Luego llega la hora de pesar, pero la balanza electronica aun no es de rigor en Bac Ha, asi que a la antigua, que al menos seguro que funciona.

Como os conté de Can Cau, existe una parte donde se venden animales vivos todavia....en Bac Ha aun era mas grande e impresionante. Creo que lo mejor sera esta pequeña visita virtual : desde pollitos escapandose, cerditos gritando desesperados, encerrados en bolsas con un micro agujero para respirar, patos, gallinas siendo examinadas previo a la compra. Como digo, mas vale un video que una parrafada.

Y sobre las 11- 12h del mediodia, despues de muchos quilos de carne vendidos y sobretodo litros de alcool puro en la sangre, los vendedores se divertian a cortar violentamente los trozos restantes bajo la atenta mirada de los curiosos.... o apostantes ! De hecho no entendimos muy bien como iba pero supusimos que apostaban a ver si conseguiria cortarlo por el lugar indicado de una sola tacada.

Ni que decir que no nos pusimos justo delante, tomaban mucha carrerilla...

y trozos de carne volaban tras el golpe.

Después del mercado, y de vuelta hacia Sapa, volvimos a experimentar un trayecto en autobus local....bastante.....humano ! Los vietnamitas no tienen nada que envidiar a los buses africanos, y siempre queda sitio para un saco de patatas o otro viajero !

Ban Pho Village....taxi for one day

Back from Can Cau market we rode in random roads around Bac Ha and ended up in Ban Pho Village....and probably some other village whose name I've forgotten.

The day hadn't started very well, and it is never very reassuring to see this as soon as you get on the motorbike !

But in the Northwest of Vietnam, riding a motorbike is a lifetime experience, and it is not only trucks or holes on the road that you have to be aware of !

No matter what, its freedom enables you to stop anytime you want and enjoy the scenery...

get closer to the people....

so close that I have to tell you a story !

On that same day, after returning to the hotel, for a nap, I got on the motorbike on my own and Marta stayed in Bac Ha. And for once, I was not carrying any cameras. I went back to the same village, Ban Pha, and it was around 6pm....everyone was walking home after a long day of work on the field, carrying their production on their backs.

So after a while, I saw a woman walking alone up the hill, and offered her a lift on the bike. She accepted and I took her all the way up to the beggining of a steep path in which I could not take my motorbike. We rode by many of her friends that would shout "oooooooohhh" when they saw her at the back of a "white-man"'s motorbike. When I stopped the bike to let her down, she wanted to pay for the lift, which I obviously refused. She then begged be to come to her house so we walked about 10 min up. She would tell the story to all the women we walked by, who would continously smile at me and wave. For once, I did not feel like a complete stranger, it felt like they were all welcoming me to her place, although I felt extremely guilty and knew I didn't deserve such welcome.

When we got to her place, she introduced me to her family and hardly had I stepped into the house that about a dozen kids rushed to the door and say the only words they know in English "hello, bye bye", over and over again. She offered me two cucumbers to thank me. I could not refuse this time.

Then, she grabbed my arm, stared at it for about 30seconds before realizing that it was true, I had hair on my arms ! She pointed at them, surprised, showing me her hairless arm. She didn't speak a word of English, and neither did I speak a word of the Hmong language, but it sometimes doesn't matter. I would try to mix some chinese, spanish, english and the rare words I speak of vietnamese...but let me tell you, if I had said everything in catalan it would have been the same!

She offered me to stay over at night, but Marta was waiting for me in Bac Ha and it was getting dark, it was time to head back.

No pictures this time, but I have them in my memory.

Moved by how welcoming can these people be, who open their home to complete strangers and offer them to stay over, I took another woman who was carrying her baby on her back down to her house before heading back to Bac Ha with a good story to tell !