Find us on:
Ethos - Spirit of the Community
  • About Us
    • Spirit of the Community
    • ETHOS Constitution
    • FAQ's
    • Inbound Tour Operators Licence
    • Guide Team
    • Sapa Map
  • Create your Experience
    • The Spirit Tree
    • Simply Hmong
    • Photography Experience
    • Sapa Mountain Riders
    • Red Dao Sewing Workshop
    • Tam Duong
    • Muong Hum Market
    • Black Hmong Hemp & Embroidery Workshop
    • Motorbike Adventures
    • Sapa Speciality Food Tour
    • Muong Hoa Valley
    • Hmong Batik
    • Sin Ho
    • Ta Giang Phin
    • Ha Giang / Tuyen Quang Special
    • Anthropological Tours
    • Textiles Tours
    • Taste of Muong Hoa (Half day)
    • Ta Phin Experience
    • Lu Weaving and Dyeing
  • Photos & Videos
    • Explore and Discover
  • Contact Us
    • Online Booking Form
  • Train Transfers
  • Sapa Bus Service
  • They Came
  • Blog
  • Sapa Trekking Map
  • Sapa Tips
  • Social Responsibility
  • Threads of Life
  • The History of Sapa
  • Papers and Publications
  • Accommodation in Sapa
  • thankyou
  • Current Job Vacancies
  • A guide to Northern Markets
  • Six Tips for Travelling Vietnam Sustainably
  • Five Day Motorbike Loop
  • Ethnic Groups
  • Dirt Bikes

How do you Chu?

21/8/2013

0 Comments

 
I can't quite recall the exact moment when I met Chu in the small and remote mountain town of Sapa.  I remember a cacophony of Hmong voices, random clothes placed on my body to the chorus of "jolie!"  (I later learned this was "beautiful" in French, perhaps a bit of market savvy to flatter the high numbers of French tourists that come through this mountainous area?).  These memories were from five years ago, and I have since returned to Sapa on many occasions, the town being the focus for ETHOS and our project activity in Vietnam. 

I once asked Chu if she would like to visit me in Hanoi.  She laughed, "I could never make it down there. You see, Phil, it is too hot.  They would laugh at me, to see this young Hmong girl.  I have no clothes other than these.  So, you, you come see me at the market."  So that is exactly what I do.  On each return visit, I head straight for the market.  It never takes long to track her down.  Chu is now 17, and one of the highest of her generation.  She has ambitions to become a primary school teacher, the first girl from her tribal group to do so in northern Vietnam.  Chu is also keen to assist us with developing ETHOS as a sustainable tour operator.

The dirt floor in Chu’s house was cool, the dim light of smouldering embers lit up many tiny faces in the shadowy bamboo shelter.  Local children crowded round to teach me some Hmong phrases: Where are you going?  I am going to the market, to home, to the field.  There was no formal greeting of "How are you?" but rather, inquiries about where one was going, where one was from.  I suppose that is the essence of language, to explain the comings and goings and the in-betweens. 

We ate a simple meal of cabbage and lard, while discussing which families could most benefit from ETHOS adventures and tourism.  Chu was keen to point us towards the poorest families, usually those with only one parent.  She led me from house to house, introducing me to so many tiny faces. It is this open attitude to life that led me to fall in love with Sapa in the first place all those years ago.

Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Phil Hoolihan - Founding member of ETHOS and self confessed Sapa enthusiast.

    Archives

    November 2014
    March 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.