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 !

Personnages du Monde : Bao

32 ans, appartenant a la tribu des Hmongs du village de Xi Pan, près de Lao Chai.

Bao est une femme de courage, et pour ceux qui ont lu l'article précédent, vous la reconnaitrez sur les photos. Elle a du sauver Marta de glisser au moins 5 fois en 4h, et elle nous a gentiment invité chez elle après nous avoir montré le chemin de Lao Chai, village touristique par excellence à proximité de Sapa.

Son niveau en anglais n'était pas suffisamment élevé pour la soumettre au questionnaire, mais après une journée passée avec elle on s'en va émues de son acceuil.

Pour ceux qui ont prévu de passer un temps dans la région de Sapa et qui ont envie de visiter son village ou qu'elle vous emmène vous promener quelque part, n'hésitez pas à l'appeler de notre part, elle sera ravie de vous y accompagner. En effet, pour visiter les alentours de Sapa, il est inutile de prendre un tour guidé par une agence, le mieux est de demander à une des femmes appartenant à une des tribus minoritaires de vous y accompagner. Ca vous coûtera moins cher, vous leur filerez un coup de main et surtout....elles vous montreront leur village comme il est, pas comme les guides vietnamiens le connaissent. Elle vous emmènera en général chez sa famille et vous fera partager sa culture et ses habitudes.

On a retrouvé Bao sur le chemin de Lao Chai et elle a fait office de guide depuis, nous a montré les coins, les chemins non transités, expliqué les coûtumes des différentes tribus et invité chez elle dans son humble maison rencontrer ses enfants et partager un repas et des moments magiques dans son petit village.

Bao lutte jour après jour pour nourrir ses 4 enfants. Certains jours elle fait le chemin entre son village et Sapa à pied (~6km), d'autres en taxi-moto. A Sapa elle se fond dans la foule de femmes Hmongs qui envahissent les rues et essayent de vendre leurs sacs ou foulards faits à la main aux touristes.

Bao est une femme exceptionnelle, comme surement tellement d'autres Hmongs qu'on a croisé à Sapa qui supplient "buy from me! buy from me!" et qu'on n'a pas eu le temps de bien connaître.

On ne peut que vous recommander de la rencontrer, voici ses coordonnées.

Téléphone Bao : 01 67 95 14 509

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.

People of the World : Khu

24 years old, mother of two, Hmong tribe, close to Lau Chai village, Northwest Vietnam

Khu speaks a stunningly good english, and as most of the Hmong people in Sapa learned it from the tourists. Her good english allowed us to go a little bit further in the conversation than the usual "where are you from? what's your name? how old are you?". Many of the traditions of the Hmongs became clear after a conversation with her. Happily married and mother of two, she says to be done with kids and spends most of her days in Sapa trying to sell handcrafts to tourists when she doesn't stay in the village to take care of the rice fields and her kids.

* I did not have the questionnaire on me when asking the questions so I forgot some that remain without answer.

1 - What is the most important thing you learned at school?

I only learned to read and write vietnamese.

2 - What is the most important thing your parents taught you?

I didn't learn much from my parents.

3 - What has the world done for you?

--

4 - What would you like to do for the world?

--

5 - If you found 10€, what would you do with them ?

If I knew the person who lost them I would give them back. Otherwise I would share with the people that were with me at that moment.

6 - Where would you like to live ?

I like to live in my village but I wish I could travel to all the countries.

7 - Who is your idol ?

My family

8 - If you could make a wish, what would it be ?

That Hmong people were recognised equal to other Vietnamese

9 - What do you fear?

The small kind of worms that get into the smallest stones... don't know how you call these in english

10 - What would you ask your president?

I would like to ask him not to despise Hmong people and preserve our traditions and customs

11- What would you like to ask me ?

What do you think about your visit to Vietnam ?

Our answer : Huge contrast between the cities and the coutryside where people are extremely welcoming and we were moved by it but it is, from our point of view, sometimes oppressing due to their tourist-business-oriented minds.

12- What do you think about people who come to visit your country ?

I think that tourism has both good and bad impact in Sapa : they bring money but probably in 15years it will not be like that anymore. I have friends that do not wear our traditional dresses anymore when it is hot and dress like europeans. What will you do then?

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 !

Can Cau Market

It's hard to keep up with the blog, it takes up a whole lot of time, selecting pictures and explaining everything, but I take it more like an "auto-disciplinary" activity....being on holidays but not really, at least I have an obligation that brings me down to earth and helps me keep a critical look on what I see and experience day after day. And seeing other travellers around that just travel for looong periods of time doing nothing but drink all the time doesn't help me want to do the same ;-)

Having said that, here goes Can Cau market !

Every saturday morning is held in Can Cau, a small town north of Bac Ha, an incredibly colourful market. So after our first night in Bac Ha, we had an early start on saturday, grabbed a motorbike and rode all the way up to Can Cau, it's about 1h ride...but the landscapes, once again, are incredible ! And the fog helps to make them better!

Can Cau is specially attractive for visitors due to the "Flower Hmong" that run it. The Flower Hmong are called like this because of their fascinating colourful dresses. They also have their own language and most of them don't speak vietnamese. The market is the best excuse to socialize with other villagers, but not only this !

You can get barely anything you want, from souvenirs (for tourists...yeah...), to a delicious (?) meal overlooking the rice fields

buy to vegetables to make your own,

....and animals ! Pigs, horses, buffalos, dogs, ducks, chicken...anything !

Who guesses what is going to happen to this poor little pig ? Whoever guesses right will get the picture of what goes next...

And around 9am, when the sun starts to hit a bit harder, the umbrellas come out to add even more color to the market.

Three hours later we decided to head back to Bac Ha. Even though the reliability of the helmets we were given was pretty limited, mine was hanging too much so I stopped on the side of the road, in front of a house to fix it.

In the house, a huge family was getting ready for lunch when one of the men invited us to join in ! We were moved by their hospitality, starting with a super alcoholic shot which ressembled more to ethanol than any kind of alcoholic drink I ever tasted before. And then we had the best meal we had had so far in Vietnam : Rice, omlet, cow, tofu....

They spoke as much English as we spoke Vietnamese, but with our guidebook's small dictionnary and body language we had a great time.

Around the "table", women and men ate the same food, but served in different plates; the children sharing the same plates with the women. Whenever a man wanted some extra food from the women's side they would serve it into the men's plate before he would have any. We were told that these are traditional customs in Vietnam, not practiced anymore in the ever-developing big cities, but I guess it's still happening in the countryside !

We joined the women's side, also closer to the door...but were invited to tea with the men after lunch.

Maybe Minh can help us on that one ?

After lunch we intended to pay for what we had but they refused over and over again...

We had a great time and found the "welcoming" vietnam that we had heard about that contrasts with the "bussiness-minded / rip-off" Vietnam we had seen so far.

PS : If you want to rent motorbikes in Bac Ha, be aware that it is more expensive than in Sapa as there is only one family that rents bikes there ! But you should get away for 5-6USD/day.

Leaving the big city

La misma noche en que volvimos de la Bahia de Halong tomamos el tren de noche con direccion a Sapa, la ciudad turistica por excelencia del noroeste de Vietnam. No es el adjetivo "turistico" que nos atraia en particular, pero resulta que es una base ideal para explorar el montañoso norte del pais, en teoria mucho menos transitado que las ciudades entre Saigon y Hanoi.

Durante el trayecto recuperamos parte del sueño atrasado acumulado en los 3 dias de la bahia de Halong. Con la reciente incorporacion de cabinas con camas, el tren es ahora sin duda el mejor modo de transporte que une Hanoi y el sur de China. Ahora bien, para comprar el billete de tren, hay que pasar obligatoriamente por agencias de viaje que abundan en Hanoi ya que estas compran TODOS los billetes y es imposible conseguir uno en la estacion : creedme, un amigo vietnamita lo intento en vano durante 1h.

Llegadas a Lao Cai sobre las 5h30 de la mañana, tomamos un minibus hacia Sapa donde multitud de mujeres vestidas de "montagnard" (tribus de las montañas) nos acogian vendiendonos sus productos, para variar ! Instaladas en el hotel, alquilamos un par de motos y nos aventuramos con los 60km en direccion de Lai Chau, en una carretera que es conocida por tener uno de los paisajes mas impresionantes del pais. Lamentablemente no lo pudimos comprobar, condujimos 1h30 bajo la lluvia y en la espesa niebla, lo que no ayudaba a mantenernos confiadas, especialmente al cruzarnos con camiones que no saben lo que es frenar, ellos tocan la bozina y tan anchos, a seguir adelante !

Asi que adoptamos el modo de conduccion vietnamita : claxon al adelantar a alguien, antes de cualquier curva y para saludar a los pasantes.... asi queda claro !

Al cabo de 1h30 nos dimos cuenta que habiamos hecho como mucho 30km...de los 100, y luego habia que volver! Como no podiamos ver nada dimos media vuelta y despues de una pequeña comida en Sapa, nos dirigimos hacia un pequeño pueblo cercano a Sapa (~10km): Ta Phim.

Ahi el cielo se estaba despejando y nos ofrecio imagenes de arrozales brillantes bajo el sol.

No es dificil saber que uno ha llegado al pueblo, al estar tan cerca de Sapa, las mujeres esperan impacientes en la entrada del pueblo a que lleguen algunos turistas. En el camino conocimos a un israeli y 3 americanos muy simpaticos con los que llegamos al pueblo, y con ellos conocimos a algunas de las señoras de la tribu de los D'zao, que se caracterizan por llevar este pañuelo rojo en la cabeza y tener la frente y la mitad posterior de la cabeza rapada.

Muy acogedoras, nos invitaron a seguirlas hacia sus casas. Como Marta y yo ya habiamos comido seguimos a los otros que comieron en su casa : menudo manjar !

Con Marta lo mirabamos con ganas de comer...pero llenas, que acababamos de comer (por una vez...) !

Mientras unas preparaban la comida, otras aprobechaban para seguir cosiendo las diversas prendas que luego proponen a los turistas, todo a mano : bolsos, chaquetas, pantalones.... de todo ! Obviamente despues de la comida, nos agasajaron con todas sus cosas con su ya tradicional "buy from me ! why don't you buy from me? why from her? why no fro me?". Y por ahora resistimos !

Despues de una agradable tarde en el pueblo de Ta Phim, nos dirigimos de nuevo a Sapa con nuestras fantasticas motos, rodeadas de arrozales y disfrutando de los ultimos rayos de sol.