Tribasia Blog

Traditionally, Tay people live in wooden houses built on stilts. However, many Tay houses in the region have been influenced by Hmong and Kinh (also called Viet) structures. Nowadays, the use of bricks and cement is on the increase as it makes the house more resistant to natural elements.
Tay people's traditional dress is black (black top and trousers) or more rarely indigo. The younger generations are increasingly opting for the western style of clothing over the traditional one.

The Tay are not to be confused with Nung people although they are closely related both in social and geographical terms. The traditional Nung dress is quite similar to the Tay's, except for the colour of their tops and if they wear any, headdress and accessories. Although the Nung are few in numbers in Bac Ha surroundings, they constitute the sixth largest minority in Vietnam overall.

After a yummy lunch, we thanked our hosts and Huong took us around the village and its surroundings. Although Na Anga is exclusively Tay, she explained to us that many villages around had a mixed population, Hmong/Tay and Nung, and intermarriage between groups, although not common, was not frowned upon.

On the way back to Bac Ha, we met one of the Flower Hmong lady who sells local fire brew on Bac Ha market and she also invited us back to our house. We escaped a monster dog thanks to her and were then treated to some lovely local tea and a snack of cucumber, also eaten dipped in salt. We met her husband and grandchildren and although their command of English is null and our Vietnamese nonexistant, we managed to make ourselves understood -thanks god for sign language :))

We finally arrived back at our hotel, Ngan Nga, where the kind landlords invited us for dinner! The people of Bac Ha region are very hospitable indeed and more than make up for the inconvenience of nasty dogs on the roads. We go to bed tonight with a full belly, great memories of the local people and can't wait for tomorrow!

We started walking in the lovely surroundings of Bac Ha following a mud path at random. By-passing hills, we came across traditional Flower Hmongs hamlets along the way and.... their cuddly dogs -not really! People say that humans know instinctively what to do in dangerous situations and this is sooo true. When approached by one, two, three or even a gang of barking dogs showing their big crown of fangs, you quickly learn that pretending to throw a stone at them and having a stick at hand is a life saver!

The Flower Hmong, contrarily to their dogs, are a peaceful community and although they have no or very little command of English, many greet us with a cheery "Hello!" and wave at us when we walked passed their houses.

Traditional Hmong houses' walls were made of compacted loose straw coated with a clay slip and wooden posts. Nowadays, the clay is coated with cement and paint or for the richest, even replaced by bricks. Varnished wood is sometimes used for wall surfaces, maybe to give them that final mountain touch. Corrugated iron has long replaced thatched grass for roofing as it is more solid and requires less upkeeping at such altitudes.

In terms of livelihood, the beautiful landscape of golden green and brown ochre terraced fields spreading across the hills is testimony to the work of these local minorities. Flower Hmong are farmers and rely heavily on cash crops such as corn and more infamously, opium. Following a crackdown from the central authorities and also incentives, Flower Hmong have tried to vary their sources of income but it has not always been a smooth transition and they remain wary of outside incursions. Rice terraces are also a common sight, although not as much as one might think as less income can be derived from it and more and more Hmong turn to higher-yielding crops.

After walking for 5 kms, we came across a village and its school. We got invited by the teacher to come in the classroom and witness what seemed to be a singing lesson. It was great to see how much energy thhe children were putting in it: singing a chorus with their hearts out! Poverty means that schooling does not go much beyond 'primary' years here and a lot of the educational material is financed by NGOs or international organisations. For instance, the Unicef logo is highly visible on the rare schoolbags that we saw.

With the help of villagers, we escaped a couple of rabid dogs unscathed and took a rugged path back to Bac Ha town where we could enjoy the view in peace -without a bark or a growl, what a relief!