Sapa: Sisters

After the cruise in Bai Tu Long Bay, we headed back to Hanoi to catch the overnight train to Sapa, a bumpy, screechy, clattering 8-hour ride, 7 and three-quarters of which I spent alternately thinking, "Are we about to DERAIL?!” and “Is someone trying to OPEN THE DOOR?!”  Needless to say, it was a sleepless night.  But it didn’t matter since I made substantial progress on a couple screenplays during that time.  #productivityitsagoodthing

Another reason why I was feeling jittery was because of a run-in with a miscreant at the Hanoi train station right before we were about to board our train.  The creep, pictured below in a sketch artist drawing by Christine, tried to help us with our bags.  He asked for a tip, so we gave him one.  Apparently, it wasn’t to his liking and, in a fit of peevishness and melodrama, TORE UP THE MONEY.  Then he kicked one of our bags.  #cray #whodoesthat #moneydoesn’tgrowontrees I’m allergic to lunatics so I EpiPenned him and got on the train.

Now, Sapa!  Some (benevolent dictator of fun) facts about Sapa:  Sapa is located in the mountainous northwestern part of Vietnam, very close to China.  Sapa’s population of approximately 36,000 people is made up of Vietnamese and also several ethnic minority groups such as Hmong, Dao (Yao), Giáy, Pho Lu, and Tay.  Sapa is known for its beautiful rice terraces.  In 2014, Sapa ranked #9 in the Top 10 Rice Terrace Destinations of the World by SpotCoolStuff.  Consider:   

The photo above is one that I grabbed from a Google image search.  On the day that we went, this is what we saw:

A note about the ethnic minorities in Sapa:  The different ethnic minorities in Sapa are identified by the colorful clothing worn by the women in each group.  Most of the ethnic minorities in the town of Sapa appeared to be Hmong (pronounced “mong”), specifically Black Hmong.  There are also Red Hmong, Blue Hmong, Green Hmong, White Hmong, and Flower Hmong, among others.  Hmong sound familiar?  You may or may not remember that Thao from Gran Torino (directed by and starring Academy Award Winner™ Clint Eastwood) is Hmong.  Thao is Lao Hmong, as opposed to Vietnamese Hmong.

We were in Sapa for only two days but we left feeling humbled and with a great admiration for the Hmong women that live there (more below).   

One of the most popular activities to do in Sapa is trekking through the sloping rice terraces and visiting the villages scattered throughout the hills.  It’s best to do this with a guide, of course.  We decided to use SapaSisters, the only female and Hmong-owned trekking operator in Sapa.  Sapa Sisters guides are all Hmong women who grew up in the mountains and know the trails like they are their own backyard because they are their backyard.  We later learned that Sapa Sisters pays their guides fair salaries and also offers benefits (of sorts).  #healthcare #butnofreesoda #andnobagelfridays

Our guide was Chai.  Chai was extremely friendly and did not seem to mind answering the endless questions I had about being Hmong and living in Sapa.  Her English is excellent, all a result of her interactions with tourists in her job as a guide. 

Chai with her niece, La.

We signed up for a 6-hour trek through edges of rice fields, over the Muong Hoa River, through bamboo forests and villages.  Fifteen minutes into our trek, the skies opened up and it POURED for the next 5 hours.  #sothisiswhatrainfeelslike  We went on with our trek despite the rain.  #totallyworthit

Below are some pictures taken during our trek:      

Part of the trek included a home-cooked lunch at a local house, so we ended up at Chai’s, where she lives with 13 of her family members, most of whom we also met that day.  Like Chai, they were all extremely friendly and gracious.  Chai and her family live in a 5-room house built by her husband’s grandfather.  The house has a dirt floor and walls made of corrugated steel.  There are no windows, the only natural light that came in was through the open front door.  Food is cooked over a fire in the fireplace.  The entire second floor, a loft, is devoted to the storage of rice and dried corn.  Chai and her family have electricity, as was evidenced by the small television in one of the rooms that was playing Korean soap operas for an audience consisting of Chai’s son and young nieces and nephews.  #nevertooyoungforKdramas     

Chai got married when she was 21, well past the average marrying age of most Hmong girls, which is about 13 or 14 years old.  Chai’s husband stays home and watches their two children, 19 months and 4 months, while Chai works as a guide during the day, a job she’s been doing for the last 6 years.  Chai guides treks daily, even on the days that she gave birth to her children!  I got the sense that Chai and her mother-in-law are the only family members in the household that have jobs outside of farming.  Chai’s mother-in-law sells handicrafts made by her and her family to tourists in Sapa, a job that Chai also did before she became a guide.    

Chai is definitely the breadwinner in her household.  Chai told us that since she spends a lot of time out of the house, her son, 19 months, doesn’t recognize Chai as his mother, instead calling his aunt (Chai’s husband’s sister), “Mommy.”  I got the sense that this hurt Chai but that she accepted it because it was more important that Chai be able to do her job as a guide for Sapa Sisters and earn a good wage to help support her family.  You and I may think of this as an enormous sacrifice on Chai’s part, but I am not sure if she sees it that way.  For her, having an opportunity to support her family by working for Sapa Sisters and not doing so would be a foolish and selfish act.      

When we arrived at Chai’s house, Chai’s husband was in the midst of preparing lunch for the house—Chai’s young nieces and nephews, as well as a couple of her husband’s brothers and sisters.    When Christine and I arrived with Chai, he began preparing a brand new meal, which we enjoyed with Chai, her husband, her mother-in-law, one of Chai’s sisters-in law, and another woman who may have been an aunt.  The food was delicious and not very different from things you are probably already familiar with:  potatoes with pork, green bell peppers with pork, tofu with tomatoes, morning glory (a green leafy vegetable), bamboo shoots, and, of course, Sapa rice from their own rice terraces, grown and harvested by Chai and her family. 

We learned from Chai that the rice grown in Sapa by the Hmong and other ethnic minorities is never sold at the market.  The rice is grown purely for the families’ own consumption.  The same is true for corn, which is grown to feed their livestock.      

From what we saw, most of the Hmong people living in the villages surrounding Sapa live lives very similar to Chai’s and her family’s.  Their lives are very different from mine and yours, to say the least.  I could not imagine myself living the way that Chai and her family live, and I am sure that they could not imagine living my life either.  Sometimes I forget that wealth and comfort are relative.  To me, an outsider from the West, Chai and her family seem not to have much, but to them, they have all they need and want.  Above all, they have happiness, family, purpose and Korean soap operas, all indicators of true wealth and comfort.  #lucky

Below are some more pictures from that day:

The next day, Christine and I wandered around Sapa proper, which is filled with mostly hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops.  One store that stood out was Hemp & Embroidery, owned by Lan and her husband.  Hemp & Embroidery is one of the handful of businesses in Sapa that are Hmong-owned.  They sell original, handmade Hmong textiles, including bags and backpacks of all shapes and sizes, blankets, wall hangings, and clothes.  From what I saw, business is thriving.  Everything is made by Lan, a seamstress, and designed by her husband.  Everything in the shop is stunning.  #totallyanthroguys  Lan, 21, had been a guide like Chai before she and her husband opened their store.  Lan is also a mother to a 3-month old, whom she toted around on her back while helping customers.  Lan’s English is almost immaculate and she, like Chai, learned the language strictly from her interactions with tourists.  Lan and Chai both have a primary school education, but they have achieved so much at such a young age, it makes me look at my life through a different lens.  Both seem wise beyond their years, definitely wiser than I was at their ages and probably even wiser than I am now.  #impressed #humbled #myheros

Next post--observations and revelations!