Northern Vietnam, near Sapa: May 2014
Sitting in a Hmong living room in remote Northern Vietnam with ten other freshly showered tourists doing shots of rice wine while cellphones charged and Eminem blasted from iPod speakers on the shelf above a cooler containing multiple cans of Coca Cola, bottles of Aquafina and six packs of Tiger beer, I wasn’t sure I could call the scenario a “homestay.”
The idea of a homestay, of course, is to stay with locals to get an idea of their culture and lifestyle. In all fairness, the Hmong family who owned the home was with us. Sa and Hang sat with ramrod straight posture and their one-month-old baby in chairs a bit away from the dinner table, which had become the station for drinking games. Crouched in a fairly well lit corner of the large open room, their 10-year-old daughter did homework by using a plastic chair as a desk.
Her long ponytail flitted back and forth as she divided her attention between her workbook and her answer sheet. Meanwhile, two of the tourists, César, a twenty-something Frenchman who wore a jaunty fedora, and Londoner Richard, otherwise known as “Trini” since he was born in Trinidad, fashioned a plastic two-liter 7-up bottle into a makeshift bong. They resorted to smoking pot since our Li, our 4’ 8” no nonsense Hmong guide – or rather, her elderly mother — couldn’t hook them up with the opium they had requested earlier on the 15 kilometer trek we all took to get here.
First Impression: Homestay or Hostel?
I’m not going to lie. After emerging Deet and sweat soaked from the bamboo lined dirt path that wound around multiple coliseums of mountainous rice terraces and intersected with water buffalo hubs, I was surprised, yes, but ultimately, relieved when I first saw a tiled bathroom, complete with a flush toilet and shower near the entrance of the Hmong home we had finally reached.
The bathroom opened to a cement patio that extended in the front of the house with several plastic chairs and stools like the kind found on most sidewalks of Vietnam’s cities. The interior of the house offered a dorm-like setup with an open communal space and a ladder leading up to a loft full of wooden bunk beds. Several electrical outlets lined the walls and the fully stocked cooler featured a beer sticker, resembling Pabst Blue Ribbon, emblazoned on the side. Clearly the home had been modified to accommodate several guests who leaned toward Western tastes.
The welcoming Westernized abode, however, was not without Southeast Asian touches. A dirt floor with a small fire pit dominated the main cooking area. Two rows of dried corncobs, secured to poles attached to the house’s eaves, appeared to be festive adornments like Christmas lights. Laundry also hung from a line stretched from beams that marked a little alcove. Draped and flowing from the bunk beds, lightweight mosquito netting seemed somewhat charming at least as far as malarial prevention décor went.
Although we were in the mountains of Sapa, Vietnam, near the Chinese border, my fellow tourists assembled primarily represented a chunk of Europe and Israel. They included Silvia, Richard’s finance and a very expressive reformed chain smoker from Barcelona; Naomi and Odelia, stunning twins from Israel; Lior, a fun yet loud and always hungry traveler also from Israel; Julian, a quiet engineering student from Germany; Omar and Helene, a reserved good looking couple from Iceland; and of course, César and Richard. My friend Debbie and I completed the group as the only Americans and tourists over 35.
With the party atmosphere, we could have been staying in any hostel digs in Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, Mykonos or Bangkok. I even flashed back to the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house at my alma mater, Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Granted, the rice wine was distinct to Sapa, but it definitely could have given any vat of SAE Everclear infused party punch a run for the title in a homemade alternative jet fuel showdown.
Cultural Connections
The homestay situation, certainly, was festive, but by doing shots on the dining room table of the main living room on a school night, we weren’t exactly being respectful nor interacting with our hosts.
As a teacher, I was desperate for an “authentic” and meaningful cultural connection. Consequently, I went over to the little girl to see if I could perhaps help her with her homework. Glancing down at her workbook, I only saw Vietnamese words and questions. The girl turned her head a bit, and I said “hello,” to her. She did not make eye contact with me, and who can blame her? Fresh from doing shots, I, more than likely, smelled like a living, breathing bottle of hand sanitizer
Dejected, I returned to the party table, and looked over at Sa and Hang. They surveyed the scene with smiles, but I couldn’t imagine they were psyched about the scene. Maybe, we were entertainment at the very least.
I’d like to teach the world to roast marshmallows.
But truly, 30 minutes earlier, we had experienced a moment. Before my trip to Vietnam, I decided to bring marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate bars and graham crackers from the US, so I could share my culture with Hmong hosts in Sapa. And what’s more American than s’mores? Fortunately, the s’more making materials had survived in my overstuffed backpack on the mountainous trek.
After Sa and Hang served us a basic, no frills dinner of rice and vegetables, Deb and I showed the family, along with an older Hmong grandmother, and our new international tourist friends how to roast marshmallows with chopsticks and then assemble the gooey goodness with graham crackers and the already melted chocolate. The Hmong contingency was hesitant to try the sticky sensation. But after a few bites, even the grandmother gave a thumbs up.
Maybe because I had been planning it for so long and due to the fact that chopsticks made excellent marshmallow roasting utensils, the session went off without a hitch. But for some reason, that bothered me. Why couldn’t I be satisfied with success? It’s not every day you can win hearts and minds with marshmallows. Somehow the s’more connection just seemed too perfect. It felt contrived, scripted and by me, no less.
Ultimately, however, hearts and minds were back to their normal roles as soon as the manufactured s’more moment ended: host family sitting quietly on the sidelines, putting up with obnoxious tourists and obnoxious tourists congratulating each other on our adventurous spirit while the daughter of the family practiced spelling drills to Rihanna exclaiming, “I’m friends with the monster that’s under my bed — get along with the voices inside of my head…”
“Hey guys, maybe we should let everyone go to bed now.” I assumed the mom buzzkill roll. Deb, Silvia, Naomi, Odelia, Julian and the Icelandic couple showed growing discomfort as well.
“Yes, look at the daughter. She is trying to do her homework,” Silvia put her shot glass down and her hands in the air. She stomped over to Richard and Céasar. “Richard!” she hissed. “Stop this smoking and let the girl and the parents have their room back.”
Lior was not ready to stop. “Look they are enjoying it,” he insisted, flashing a toothy smile and giving a little wave to Sa.
“Smoking eez a normal part of ze life ere,” claimed César, who always exuded a superior know-it-all vibe. Look dude, just because your country occupied Vietnam for 67 years, doesn’t mean that you know how life is here. And they kicked you out, by the way.
Finally, the party broke up and we all headed to the bunk beds. When things settled down, Lior interrupted the silence slurring, “I need someone to spoon with!”
As I tried to maneuver in the mosquito netting, and make sure it actually covered me, I considered the day’s events and why the homestay was not so much a homestay.
Earlier in the day.
But what did I expect? It was clearly set up to be a commercial enterprise, and there were more than enough travelers, including me, who wanted a “real” cultural experience so we could mingle with local ethnic Vietnamese. It was because of us that Sapa, once a military outpost and colonial getaway for the French and now known for its beautiful landscape of descending rice terraces and “colorful” hill tribes, had become a marketable entity. It seemed all about hawking “authentic” homestays, mountain treks and performance fleece. In fact, the stores in town now displayed more North Face jackets than the embroidered traditional goods. And since Sapa is so close to China, the knockoff copy capital of the world, you really couldn’t even be sure if the jackets were really North Face anyway.
Of course, we actually saw some of Sapa’s minority ethnic groups walking around town. I was especially excited to see a Red Dao woman. The absence of her eyebrows, along with the red turban that resembled a sack of grains atop her bald head, stood out even from afar as she chatted on her cellphone and walked along the street leading into town.
For the pre-arranged trek, Deb and I waited for our guide at a Sapa hotel that, ironically, made arrangements for the homestays. In the lobby, plastered with posters of smiling old Hmong and Dao women and children in traditional attire, I Skyped my kids with Wi-Fi far more efficient than that in the mountain town where I lived in Colorado.
Li, our Hmong guide, arrived and the Europeans, Israelis, Deb and I set out on the trek. A few friendly women and children with brightly colored pink and red parasols accompanied us, walking in what amounted to shower slip-ons. Naïvely, I thought perhaps they followed us because we had some kind of novelty celebrity status. However, eventually, when we sat down for a lunch break, they bombarded us with handicrafts for sale. Ultimately, because the parasol vendors would not stop with a sales pitch heavy on guilt, I ended up with four embroidered bracelets, a scarf, purse and belt.
During one of the few breaks on our trek, I struck up a conversation with Li, who wore ornate silver combs in her hair (an indication that she was married) and donned the traditional Hmong indigo and embroidered jacket and skirt, along with fancy leg warmers. She, too, whipped out her cell phone from time to time.
“Where are you from?” she asked me after I introduced myself.
“The United States.”
“I have friends in America. A friend in California and one in St. Paul.”
“Yes, in Minnesota!” I was excited she mentioned the capital of my homestate. “The largest Hmong population outside of Asia is there. I just visited Hmongtown last year.” I sensed an authentic cultural connection. I prepared for Li to be impressed.
“Those Hmong — they are from Laos,” Li maintained. “Come now. We must continue on our walk.”
House of Cards
The next morning, after one of Sa and Hang’s roosters woke me up, I grappled my way out of the mosquito netting and ambled out to the cement deck. A ribbon of mist hovered low over the horizon. It looked like a huge mass of cotton stuffing, similar to the kind revealed after you open an ibuprofen bottle, had been pulled apart lengthwise and stretched out over the valley. Just below the homestay compound, a wall of green sloped down, sprouting with the occasional palm tree and crop of houses with partially rusted corrugated roofs. A dog and two cats stretched out by one end of Sa and Hang’s cement patio. Puddles, clear enough to reflect the mist, had pooled in the dirt along the edge of the patio. Sa, Hang and their children went about their morning.
Everyone else was still asleep. Hang asked if I would like coffee. For a moment, it felt like I had stumbled into a first encounter. Soon the three kids walked by sporting school uniforms and backpacks and headed off to class. I waved.
After Hang brought me coffee, I continued to take in the morning. A movement soon caught my eye over by the motorscooters propped up against a warped metal lean-to near the entrance of the house. A small black head bobbed along the path. Soon a little girl, grubby and barefoot with a baby strapped to her back, appeared.
She looked to be about six years old, the same age as my daughter, Kasey. Like so many of the other children we saw along the trek —especially the bracelet peddlers — she was disheveled and skinny. She wore a red Mickey Mouse T-shirt and ill-fitting mangy yellow velvet pants that stopped at her knees. Someone had sewn a pajama like fabric at the ends of the pant legs to perhaps extend the life of the clothing. Her hair, pulled back in an unkempt ponytail, revealed one golden earring dangling out of her left ear. The baby, his unsupported head lolling around occasionally, slept in a Hmong embroidered wrap tied around the girl’s shoulder and under her other arm.
The quiet little urchin sat down on the edge of the cement patio as Deb, Odelia and Sylvia, emerged from the house and came over. We all said “hello” to the girl, but she only stared back at us in response. Deb, mother of three daughters, hurried over to re-adjust the shoulder wrap to secure the baby more tightly upon the girl. Holding the baby’s head up, Deb tied the wrap. Meanwhile the girl patiently waited.
It wasn’t clear who this urchin was since she hadn’t been at the homestay the night before. Sylvia tried engaging with her, but the girl was shy and despondent. We wondered where her parents were and why she wasn’t at school.
Then I remembered the cards — playing cards, a combo pack that doubled as the game “Go Fish” and the remember-where-you-last-placed-the-upside-down-card game, “Concentration.” I had initially packed the cards in my travel gear, because I thought the homestay would be just a family, Deb and I. A game of cards, I surmised, would help fill potentially awkward silences. In reality, however, I brought the cards because I had read a touching article by a woman who, while staying with a family in Thailand, broke the ice by instigating a game of “Go Fish.” In the story, the woman also had broken down a language barrier and experienced a true connection.
Retrieving the cards, I showed the urchin the cartoon sea creatures depicted on the front of them. After I motioned for her to come and play, she slowly scooted over closer to me. I laid the cards face down in four rows of five. Then I lifted a card and tried to find the match. Of course, I didn’t find the right card, so after setting it back face down, I feigned frustration. It was the urchin’s turn and she did not uncover a match either. Aside from her wanting to move the unmatched cards from their original spots, which defeats the purpose of Concentration, since players are supposed to remember the exact spot of each card they overturn, it didn’t take long for her to get a match. As we cheered for her, she looked up with a slight smile.
“Let her win,” Sylvia told me. I gave the urchin victories the first two times. However, the girl caught on so quickly — soon she legitimately won on her own. At one point, Deb called my name for a photo. I turned, and while I wasn’t watching, the urchin turned a card up, peeked at it and then turned it back over. I caught the last moment of the action. “She cheated!” Sylvia looked at me and we grinned.
However, we shook our heads and gently told the urchin “no, no,” and she looked at us sheepishly. After a few more games, she turned into a bona fide card shark.
Soon the girl got up and turned to leave. I gave her the cards and she smiled, revealing her teeth. She had the awkward, endearing grin of a child whose permanent two front teeth had arrived although they still looked overly large next to the remaining baby teeth. Surprised how much her smile touched me, I didn’t know if I missed my own daughter or if I had just experienced the connection I so badly wanted and attempted to manufacture with Sa and Hang’s family.
My conclusion: it’s okay to try and foster a connection. You can set the stage, but what transpires is up to the universe, and it can be perfect and you can call it a “homestay.”
Endnotes: While I want to address that there were awkward moments during the homestay and definitely times during which I thought we should have respected the fact that Sa and Hang’s family might want some peace, I don’t want to portray my fellow travelers as unfeeling or insensitive. Silvia, Richard, Naomi, Odelia, Lior, Julian, Omar, Helene, Deb and César are all wonderful people, and I enjoyed trekking with them and getting to know them. Generally, everyone was considerate, helpful and kind. I think when you get several travelers and rice wine together, a party will ensue, and I was definitely a part of that.
Plus, there was a rabid dog on the loose in the village (apparently, four people in the village had already died), and Li sternly warned us not to leave Sa and Hang’s house. Consequently, we stayed in for the evening and the festivities began.
Reblogged this on cronkstyle and commented:
Great piece!
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Bravo
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Great job
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I know allot of hmong people Here in america, And it’s sad to read how weak and passive they are in sapa. Well at lease those whom you’ve stayed with. In America the hmong people I know, are proud people and would almost never let strangers into their home. They are fierce hunters, fishers and farmers. And the parents rule their family with an iron fist. Maybe America have put some pride back into their race. America where the country belongs to no race and every race at the same time. As to Asia where hmong people are treated as exiles everywhere they go. Either there or Thailand hmong people are treated with a mild neglect. When you think about it, if their clan would’ve won the war in China when it happened then there would have been a hmong dynasty . Lol I’m sorry for talking nonsense . It was a great read. Thank you.
Great post! I really enjoyed it. It reminds me of a homestay experience in Russia. We were really looking forward to interact with the family but they ended up going to their summer house leaving us with the grandmother who couldn’t understand English. While it made for some really funny lost in translation moments, we couldn’t go home and claim that we got any real insight into the Russian culture – apart from what we inferred. Will share some of the more awkward moments soon on http://www.awkwardandamazing.com
Hi Leanie! Thanks so much for the comment. How funny that your family took off and left you with the grandmother! Sounds like a definite experience. I just read the story about your Mongolian horse ride! Wow and LOVED it. Great idea for a blog. Cheers 🙂
Thanks Steph!
My Russian homestay experience finally made it onto my blog. Here’s the link.
http://www.awkwardandamazing.com/on-a-homestay-in-st-petersburg-and-the-quintessential-russian-breakfast/
Happy blogging!
Leanie, your post is hilarious! Loved it and I am definitely fond of the phrase “hoarder’s kitsch.” Looking forward to reading more of your awkward/amazing adventures!
Reblogged this on lynnedalian.
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This is one of the reason why I love to travel in the future! Thanks Steph for bringing us to some place around Northern Vietnam!
Hi, Rhanz. Thank you so much for reading and your comment. Cheers!
Awesome article and beautiful people.
Yes, the people are beautiful and welcoming. Thank you so much for reading and commenting. Cheers!
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Lovely writing and I travelled with you 😊
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Great story, thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Looks the team is enormously enjoying with memorable stay at homestay. All the best……
Yes, we had a very memorable stay. Thank you so much for reading and for your comment. Cheers! 🙂
Have a nice trip…..!
Very nice experience and writing, I don’t have such experience even I am Vietnamese.
Thank you so much for reading and your lovely comment! I imagine, even if you live in Vietnam, it’s hard to do everything in your beautiful, wonderful country!
Thanks Stephglaser, Im going to write some posts in English as well, at that time I’ll need your proofreading or comments, hope you can help.
Like it! Have you visited Indonesia?
Thanks for your comment, Abie! Yes, in fact, I have been to Indonesia (Bali) and absolutely loved it. I would like to go back and explore the rest of Indonesia. It’s a stunning country with such friendly and welcoming people.
Well, i suggest you to visit Yogyakarta. Me and my friend will be glad to have you here and take you wherever you want in Yogyakarta 🙂
Great blog!
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You’re welcome! 🙂
This’s my country.
Thanks for reading and for the comment. I LOVE your country! I very much want to return to see more of the beauty and experience the kindness and warmth of the Vietnamese. Oh, and the food, of course!
Thanks for your kind words. Welcome to Viet Nam again 🙂
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Reblogged this on taxi driver wrocław and commented:
Turyści wszędzie …
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Wow, lovely lovely blog!
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Of course! It was a great read. I couldn’t stop scrolling!!
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An interesting read with much I can relate to. We recently travelled to Sapa and I vaguely considered doing a homestay. I have to say reading this confirms we made the right decision in not doing so. Not that I think it’s a bad thing and I’m sure it offers insights not otherwise available, and an income for those who want to be involved, but the authenticity of the experience is surely tempered by the commercial nature of your relationship – as you noted. And I did feel some sympathy for the hosts having to suffer the extremities of a party. I did love your experience in playing concentration with the little girl – a universal language, even with a little sly cheating.
Thank you so much for the comment! Yes, you did not miss an amazingly authentic opportunity in Sapa. The homestay was an interesting experience, but I would do it differently if I ever went to Sapa again. The moment with the little girl and the cards was precious, however. That made the trip.
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This is awesomeeeee!!!!
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This is such a lovely post! I have always wanted to go to Vietnam to see lush landscape and scenery! I have heard a lot about “homestays” vs. hostels ! It seems as if you found many “authentic” experiences that you were searching for! I love your relaxed writing style! It made me feel as if I knew you! I also loved your pictures! I can’t wait to read more!
Thank you so much for the lovely comment! Vietnam is stunningly vibrant and lush. I hope you get to go there some day. Thanks again for reading and commenting. Cheers!
What an adventure. Love the pictures and the perspective.
Thank you so much for reading and for the comment. Indeed, it was an adventure! Cheers.
Well, I have never had any chance to travel to Sapa, even though I am Vietnamese 😂👊
Sapa is beautiful — just as the rest of Vietnam is beautiful, too. I hope you get a chance to visit some day. I so enjoyed visiting your country. I felt very welcomed. Thanks so much for reading and for the comment.
Wow amazing post! Anytime you are in LA come stay with us. I run a hostel/crashpad for flight attendants and travelers. Crashpadlax@gmail.com
I love how that little girl was such a hustler :). I look foward to reading more of your post.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting! And thanks for the offer to stay at your hostel. And yes, the little girl was definitely a hustler! 🙂
Very informative, interesting, and intriguing blog post…Glad you didn’t run into the rabid dog, by the way.
Thank so much for stopping by, reading and commenting. Yes — I’m so glad we missed the rabid dog, too. It became kind of like a mythical creature almost. Like “bigfoot.”
I love to travel as well and enjoyed reading your article! I have only every stayed in hostels but hope to venture out into new places as the opportunity arises!
Thanks for reading and commenting. Happy travels! 🙂
I love it such a great story
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No problem it was interesting
No problem I loved it
You are amazing! These are wonderful pictures of your adventures to a completely different place.
I like the idea of bringing along the ingredients to make s’mores, and then roasting them with chopsticks. A friendly clash of the cultures. The picture of the rice terraces in Sapa is AMAZING. What an experience this all was. This reminds me how much there is to see out there — how so many worlds exist within one. I also enjoyed reading about the other tourists — definitely a bunch of characters. And of course the fact that you played Go Fish as an icebreaker. This reads like a chapter that’s part of a much bigger story.
Hi, Nicole. Thank you so much for reading and for the lovely comment!
Making the s’mores was an experience, definitely. It was fun to see the reactions of my Hmong “family.” One of the sons did not want to try the s’more and his mother said something to him, and while it was in a Hmong dialect, I could definitely recognize the “mom” tone “encouraging” him to try the treat. The son took a reluctant bite and then smiled after a few minutes.
You are so right. There is so much to see out there. The other tourists were quite fun, and I loved my new card shark friend.
Thanks again for the detailed comment! 🙂 Cheers
This sounds like a really cool experience. You kind of set the travel bug in me into motion.
Hi, Christopher. Thank you so much for reading and the comment! It was a cool experience and love the travel bug!
Delightful ! Absolutely delightful.
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Wonderful to read. I really enjoyed the section about playing cards. She has a great smile!
Thank you so much for reading and commenting! The little girl was, indeed, special.
The rice terraces really are beautiful!
I love that you took a part of your culture and tried to teach everyone about s’mores!
Hi Shreya! Thank you so much for reading and for the lovely comment. It was fun to show my hosts something they had never seen before and to see them enjoy the s’mores.
Excellent piece!
Thank you so much for reading and for the comment!
What a fantastic time you had. My stay in Sapa was by contrast, very brief but we did manage a walk with the Hmong, very enlightening. My 2012 visit is on my earlier blog. Do the locals like the idea of the cable car being erected? I am not sure they have the infrastructure to cope with the extra tourists.
Richard and Sally, thank you so much for reading and for your comment. So cool that you went to Sapa also. I didn’t realize a cable car was going up. Wow…yes, I wonder how that might work for the locals with an influx of tourists. Something tells me they will be resourceful and it will turn out okay. Thanks again for your comment! Cheers