Our Treking Guides

Philip and I arrived in Ha Noi to very cold weather. It felt much colder than it really was because it had been so warm just hours earlier in Hoi An. After checking the weather online we decided to travel to Sapa, one of the most northern points of Vietnam and an area full of ethnic tribes.

Arriving in Sapa freezing cold and hungry we decided to eat with some friends we made on the train before setting out to get a room. Big, big mistake! We didn't find a room till about 10pm at which time we had to settle for less than we wanted because everything was closing and it was so foggy we couldn't see!

Next morning we got a room also not great, you could see your breath in the room and it was really damp from the fog. We met these women on the street and took a walk with them to a nearby village and arranged to have a trek with them the next day along with our new friends. After agreeing on a price we picked a meeting place the next day.

When morning came it was much too cold for a shower so we piled more layers of clothes over the clothes we had slept in and met 'the ladies' as we came to calling them. In the pictures I'm wearing a brand new handmade hat, pretty sharp I thought! I have on a pair of polar fleece tights, an under shirt, a long sleeve tshirt, a short sleeve tshirt, two polar fleeces and a rain jacket! On the trek I only got warm enough to unzip the two top layers.....

These charming women are Black Hmong. There are a number of types of Hmong in the north of Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. This was the area that we have seen the most people in their ethnic dress, especially the children and men. It seems that the men are the first to adopt western dress anywhere we go.

Over the course of the day the ladies told us lots about their culture. The lady with the baby, who was seven months old, carried him up and down mountains all day with no sign of getting tired and not a peep out of him except when he got hungry. She calmly took him off of her back to nurse him, held him straight out for a pee and then settled a scrap of cloth around his clean bottom and hoisted him onto her back again. He is the youngest of three sons and his name is Su.

When Hmong women marry they go to live in their husbands family home unless there are no boys in her family. This would mean that there is no younger man to help her parents as they age so her inlaws might consent to their son going to her family home.

They grow hemp to make material for their clothing. They also grow lots of indigo to dye the fabric with. As a result of this every man, woman and child had blue dye on any exposed area of skin unless their clothes were really, really old. Some parts of their clothing are really shiny. Its like a fashion statement and probably also repels water nicely. They make it like this by rubbing the fabric with smooth stones.

The women wear huge hoop earrings, the more the better. They also wear a silver neckpiece that wraps from the left collar bone around to the right collar bone and is connected by varying numbers of chains. The first time one of the ladies let me lift one I was shocked at the weight! Seemed like it would be quite uncomfortable. I also noticed some of the men wearing the same neck gear. The men's clothes reminded me a little of old fashioned sailor suits. They turned the beautiful embroidered collars up at the back with flair. It turns out because it was the end of Tet and still like a holiday, a lot of courting was going on....lots of young women and men out walking together in their best gear!

Unless a woman is carrying a baby she also wears a basket pack. They told me their rubber boots last 3-4 months unless they are working hard then it's only 2-3.