Mai Chau, Day One

Ted. One reason Judy and I chose to spend three weeks in Hanoi was that it served as a good base for exploring a bit of northern Vietnam. Ha Long Bay had been our first adventure outside the city and for our next trip, we chose to make a two day exploration of the Mai Chau Valley. 

Though it’s just 100 miles from Hanoi over Thung Khe Pass and down winding roads into the Mai Chau Valley, it feels like you have entered another world. In addition to beautiful mountainous landscapes, this region is host to some of the mountain tribes.

The view from the pass

Mai Chau Valley

I hesitate to use the term indigenous peoples because few of these groups have been in Vietnam for more than 1,000 years. Mostly they were pushed out of China by other groups. The result is an amazing rainbow of diversity. The Vietnamese government recognizes 54 different ethnic groups and sorts them according to 11 language groups. About 15% of the population of Vietnam learn Vietnamese at school as a second language. In addition, each group has its own distinct culture, easily recognizable by clothing, food, music and other traditions.

We came to Mai Chau to learn about two of these; the Thai and Hmong people. Both of these groups are scattered throughout Southeast Asia and each one represents less than 2% of the population of Vietnam. Obviously the Thais make up a majority in modern day Thailand and we had already encountered Hmong in the northern part of that country. 

Our guide, Binh decided to take us on a walking tour of two small Thai villages, Mai Hich and Hang Khoai. We were in the base of the valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was rice planting time and the farmers were hard at it. 

Binh and Judy

The process begins by sowing a large number of seeds into small beds to sprout. 

Densely packed seedlings

Then these seedlings are gathered into bundles and planted very precisely in the paddies. 

Bunches of seedlings have just been tossed out into the paddy

Men traditionally supply the more physical labor but the skilled work of placing each seedling falls to the women.

A classic 1980 Honda

The average Vietnamese family consumes around 500 pounds of rice a year and, by my calculations that approximates the annual yield from a paddy of about one half acre. 

We soon came across a Thai farm house, built on stilts. They are usually very near their rice fields but also close to two sources of cash income; a vegetable plot and a fish pond. 

When it's hot, even the fish seek out shade

Outside the village, we passed a Thai cemetery. These folks build a bamboo altar to honor the corpse and after decomposition is complete, the remains are entombed below while the frame is left to gradually deteriorate. 

We paused at a homestay (like a country lodge) for lunch and then resumed our wanderings. 

After a while it began to rain and suddenly started to pour. Just as it started to rain buckets, we came to a farm house and asked the farmer if we could seek shelter. He cheerily agreed and we spent a delightful half hour chatting (through our guide) about our host's crops and the weather and watching his grandsons frolic in the downpour. 

A refuge from the deluge

We didn’t see any tourists on our stroll and got a lot of big smiles from the women working in the fields. One asked us if we would like to come help with the planting. The workers seemed to find some pleasure in the company of others as they chatted away to pass the time during what must be back breaking work. 

We also stopped to explore Hang Khoai Cave which was designated by the government as an important archaeological site as evidence of human occupancy dates back 4,000 years.

Ultimately we rendezvoused with our driver who delivered us to our residence for the evening. Sol Bungalows provided a snug accommodation and a good dinner. The evening concluded with a group of staff members performing traditional Thai and Hmong dances.