The past few days have been an absolute blur, but some of the best I have had since being in Vietnam, and probably in my life. On Wednesday afternoon, we took a miserably bumpy and windy 5 and a half hour bus ride to a city 20 miles south of China called Sa Pa, which is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. I will break the two days up into two different posts because the time we were there deserves that and I need to explain in full everything we experienced.
Sa Pa is a city that many people go to go backpacking or to learn about ethnic minorities. Coming to Sa Pa, I was weary because the study of ethnic minorities was never something that interested me, and that is because I took it in a setting that did not foster my specific interests. That being said, learning about the three main ethnic minorities of the country was absolutely breathtaking. When we arrived in Sa Pa, it was late, so our day started the next day where we traveled through a winding and steep dirt road to a primary school located deep in the mountains, where we were greeted by at least 30 women and babies who were hounding us to both meet us but also to sell things to us.
Co Thanh warned us about the problem ethnic minorities face today that we were immediately exposed to, and that problem being their ability and need to sell things to us. The way these women hound tourists to buy their goods is sad to many people, because it is almost as if they are begging us to buy their products. It takes away from their culture and our experience, and it is really difficult having to say no to them, because in my mind I think that if they are that desperate they need to beg, then I really should give them money, but Co Than explained that we need to say no to their begging because the culture of it needs to end.
After being walked by these women pushing us to buy their goods (who were so nice though), we arrived at a primary school. Upon entering the school, a man rang a bell and hundreds of little kids came sprinting from every different way and all fell into various lines. A song over the loudspeaker came on and they started doing different exercises. Now if you know me at all, you would know how much I absolutely adore kids (and still think I am one), and therefore I was in absolute heaven. Immediately I jumped in line, as did my friends, and we began to join in on their dance. These kids were so young but so well behaved, something I am absolutely not used to as someone who works with kids a lot. They were so happy and it was amazing seeing them dancing, singing, pulling us into their dances and teaching us, without knowing how to really communicate with each other with words.
Once the best part of the day was over, we went into a room where we got to speak with the directors of the school and learn more about an ethnic minority primary school. We also gave them a donation to have clean sinks and water which was really awesome, because the school does not have as many resources as it should.
Yes, the discussion we had was amazing, but I was in between to women who were teachers at the school, so having them on both sides made it hard to focus. On the tables in front of us there were various fruits and sunflower seeds for us to eat. These two women kept peeling oranges for me and making me eat them (classic Vietnamese moms). I was more interested in the sunflower seeds. The tom boy baseball player in me was stuffing them in my mouth and spitting the seeds onto the plate. Now these two women had absolutely NO idea what I was doing. They though I didn't know what to do and was just sucking them and spitting them out. They then started laughing at me, and tried to teach me how to shell the seeds with my hands. With that being said, it was just not as easy as it looked. These women have such dainty hands, as many Vietnamese women do, and my bull-in-a-china-shop body is not dainty at all. So I would either drop them on the floor or crush them under my hands. The two women got an absolute kick out of how I just couldn’t figure it out. The entire time we were just trying to get me to shell these seeds, and they ultimately just started doing it for me. It was such a simple thing we were doing together, but it was honestly so fun and so funny and these women showed more care and concern for me in such a short time of knowing me than I have ever seen. They were so concerned that I ate the seeds that they literally did it for me.
The second half of the day was not as great as the first (mostly because there weren't as many babies), but it was still great. We were supposed to trek all afternoon, but the rain once again had other plans for us. It forced us to take another scary, winding, steep bus ride deeper into the mountains to a big house where we were to stay for the night. Once we got there, we walked through the mountains despite the rain and met other men and women from various ethnic minorities. Hearing them talk about their lives and the experiences the people had was absolutely amazing. It is difficult to picture their lives so secluded from the rest of the world. I could not imagine living that far away from civilization. It also made me realize how difficult their lives were to get basic necessities like water, gasoline, food, etc. Yet hearing them talk and seeing them live their lives, they really did not know any better, and did not seem like they found their lives difficult, or worse off than anyone else's. One woman explained how they did not have a lot of money, but they had a lot of happiness, which, once again, left me speechless, and made me realize I have never been so happy as I have been when I am in Vietnam, and that is including the times where things aren’t as easy as they could be if I were back home.
The day ended with a dinner back at the homestay house where we cooked our own food that they helped us prepare on a small grill. We sat outside in the mountains for hours and hours, talking, playing cards, and eating. It was an unbelievable end to the day. Co Thanh even said to us, “Could it get any better? Listen to the waterfall, and look at the stars.” She is never that sentimental, so hearing her speak so gratefully of a place she has visited hundreds of times was really cool. It made me realize that I will really never get sick of this place.