We had many reasons for visiting Lào Cai. One of these reasons involved visiting and delivering Tết (Lunar New Year) gifts to the members of an ethnic mountain tribe in Tả Phời, a small village just outside of Lào Cai city.
This was one of the most memorable experiences of our overall stay in Vietnam. Below is a photo diary of our trip.
Click each photo to enlarge for better viewing. There's a short video at the end with various video clips I took throughout the visit.
Our morning started with a meeting with Father Thanh. Father Thanh runs the local church in Lào Cai. He also serves as priest for many of the nearby villages, as his church is the only one that serves the general area. Despite the fact that Lào Cai city is the capital of Lào Cai province, it's still a small city, so naturally there isn't a lot of Catholic representation to go around.
Father Thanh welcomed us into his church and gave us a brief explanation of his work, what it's like living in Lào Cai, and what it's like serving the nearby mountain tribes. We were served artichoke tea to warm ourselves. January in north Vietnam is cold.
After meeting with Father Thanh, we walked to the nearby store to buy food, milk, traditional Lunar New Year celebration candy, and basic toiletries to hand-deliver to one of the nearby mountain tribes in Tả Phời. The store is a tiny hole-in-the-wall establishment lined with various basic needs (beer included). The woman in the brown coat is our local guide; she would accompany us throughout the day and help us better understand the lives of the mountain tribe.
Among other things, we bought a lot of mì gói (instant noodle, seen above being transported to our van) to give to the families. I'm willing to bet that we bought most of the mì gói stock the store had for the day.
Our total bill came out to just under 5.50 million Vietnamese Đồng, or roughly $275 USD.
We took our newly purchased goods back to the church parking lot to divide them into small gift packages. We set up a production line to make the breakdown, separation, and packaging more quick and efficient.
Every family within the tribe would each receive a gift package that includes a box of mì gói, milk, shampoo (small packages like what you see above are actually a common way shampoo and soap are sold in Vietnam), soy sauce, and Lunar New Year celebration candy. Based on what the store had for sale and what we thought the families could readily use, this all made for a suitable, easy-to-transport gift package.
Everyone contributed their share of the total cost.
On the way to the mountain tribe village, we stopped by a small bakery to pick up bread, pastries, cheese, and drinks for our own breakfast and lunch.
We started our one-hour ascent up the mountain. This was our view for the entire ride.
Note the narrow, slightly treacherous dirt road on the left. There isn't much of a barrier separating the road from the deep drop into the valley below. Nonetheless, this was a spectacular view.
We came across a young man whose bike broke down as he was hauling bamboo down the mountain. We stopped to help him out. Father Thanh was able to get his bike up and running again.
The higher we made our way up the mountain, the more it felt like we were walking back in time. This is a house at the bottom of the valley. I maxed out the optical and digital zoom on my point-and-shoot camera to get this photo; this is a geeky way of saying that this house was way down at the bottom of the valley, next to a small river.
Just before reaching the village, we came to a bridge that our van couldn't cross...
...so we hand-carried the gifts the rest of the way up the mountain.
The villagers were at the top to greet us.
This woman was amused by our presence. They don't receive many visitors...especially ones who look like us.
This young lad was excited to greet us!
This young lady, on the other hand, was nonplussed. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of us.
Gratuitous self-portrait!
Gratuitous self-portrait!
We were ready to start distributing the gifts.
Father Thanh visits this village often to see how they're doing and to hold mass, so he knows by heart all of the families who reside here. He quickly jotted down the last name of every family in the village, and then he called out for a representative of each family to receive their gift.
Each member of our group took turns delivering a gift to each family.
We also took turns taking pictures with the kids. Some kids were game, others were hesitant.
This is John. He's a dentist by trade, and he came all the way from the state of Georgia to participate in this trip. This meeting and gift-giving with the villagers took place in front of the village elementary school. John was sitting in front of the classroom for grades three and four.
Finally! One child who actually wants to smile for the camera! She's totes adorbs :)
Father Thanh asked this young woman if she would allow us to visit her home to get a better understanding of what life is like in this village. She kindly obliged his request.
Father Thanh asked this young woman if she would allow us to visit her home to get a better understanding of what life is like in this village. She kindly obliged his request.
Her house was higher up on the mountain, so we started up the path.
The view became even more spectacular the higher up we went.
This is the family's outhouse.
This is the inside of the family's house. As you can see, it's as simple as you might expect. The family allowed us to walk around the house. As far as we could tell, they were pretty amenable to us learning more about their way of life by exploring every nook and cranny of their modest residence.
Despite any and all indication that this village and those similar are absolutely disconnected from the modern world below, they have electricity. Some even have mobile phones, which I was told was primarily used to listen to music. There aren't many people to call during the day.
This is one of their beds.
This is their kitchen.
This elderly woman sits outside of the house and makes various articles of clothing on her foot powered sewing machine. One of the young kids who stands around her may invariably learn how to make clothing in a similar fashion.
Our visit to this village and its mountain tribe inhabitants was over, and it was time to make our way back to the van to begin our one-hour journey down the mountain. A few kids and elders came to share their gratitude and farewells.
Halfway down the mountain, we pulled over next to a small waterfall to have lunch.
We also took the opportunity to take a few photos.
As we continued down the mountain, we came across a grandmother and her granddaughter who were carrying vegetables back home. Granted they were probably used to making this trip, we figured that they wouldn't mind a lift home. They were happy to join us in the van.
The rest of the trip back to the city center consisted of rest and enjoying the beautiful view that laid before us. For many of us, this would be our first and last time to make this journey, to experience this nature, these people, their culture, their language, and their way of life.
It's hard to put into words exactly how I felt throughout this entire adventure. I'll try to explain it with this small anecdote.
It's hard to put into words exactly how I felt throughout this entire adventure. I'll try to explain it with this small anecdote.
When I was carrying a few boxes of mì gói up the steep hill to the place where the villagers would meet us, I had to stop and take a quick rest. The air was thin, and I hadn't eaten much that morning. My arms were starting to ache.
During this respite I looked up at the village ahead, and I thought to myself, "How in the hell did I get so lucky to be here, in this moment? I can't believe I'm doing any of this."
The thought, and all of the emotions that immediately followed, caught me off guard. It was overwhelming.
In this tiny, remote tribal village in northeast Vietnam, I was having a rare and unexpected moment of peace and happiness.
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