Field Trip: Mai Châu
I have been very lucky to already travel to many places in Việt Nam in just my first five months of service as a volunteer teacher. This summer - with school closed for three months - I will share pictures and cultural stories about these places.
School Field Trip: A New Experience
I'm naming this series "Field Trip" because I want to highlight the cultural education aspects of my travels; they usually won't be trips that I took with my school. But this one was a school field trip!
I woke up before 6:00am, before dawn, to the chaos of everyone arriving at school with luggage packed, arranging themselves in groups by class in the courtyard. Over 20 full-sized tour buses arrived for the long drive up into the mountains, each complete with both a driver and a tour guide who was responsible for us for the overnight trip. And because this is Việt Nam, the buses are equipped for karaoke!
You may be wondering, as I was, if this is normal in Vietnamese high schools. In fact, it is (sort of) mandatory. Each school is given a budget for some kind of field trip; field trips should either expose the students to Vietnamese traditional culture and history, or possibly to potential career paths. Depending on what the school decides on, the budget usually does not cover the complete costs and the students' families need to provide a few million Đồng. In other schools, I have heard that only some of the students are allowed (only the senior class, perhaps) or can afford to go on the class field trip. At my school, it is mandatory for passing your grade (and I believe there is some method to help the students whose families can't afford it).
Việt Nam's Traditional Villages
Over the last 50 years, Việt Nam has seen a boom in industrialization taking more and more space in the economy away from agriculture. The downside to this is that young people tend to leave their agrarian villages for better paying jobs in the cities, and the traditional ways of life in Việt Nam are at risk of being forgotten.
To combat this, Việt Nam has developed certain villages where the traditional customs are encouraged to continue by becoming a tourist destination, creating a constant stream of visitors to buy local crafts and specialties. Mai Châu - an area encompassing several villages in a mountain valley - is home to several of Việt Nam's ethnic minority groups: including the Thái and the Hmông people. The Thái people are not from Thailand but are ethnically related to the people of that country; they both migrated to Southeast Asia from Yunnan in present-day China over a millennia ago.
There are boutique hotels and bed & breakfasts that cater to international tourists, but most visitors to Mai Châu stay in homestays that are built like the traditional stilt houses of the local people. They are made to endure frequent flooding and also provide good air circulation in the hot summers. Everyone sleeps in a common room on mats on the woven bamboo flooring, which has give to it and is surprisingly comfortable. Farm animals are often corralled under the house on the ground level at night.
Food
A traditional meal in Mai Châu is served family-style. It is not dissimilar to modern meals in Việt Nam, but it is served in rustic style on banana leaves in a woven bamboo tray.
Sticky rice - brightly colored and aromatic - is common throughout Việt Nam, but in this village they stuff the rice into a hollow bamboo tube which is then steamed over an open fire. It is both a delicious variant, and a handy shelf-stable snack to walk around with.
Exploring the Mountain Valley
Tourists generally stay in a town built for the purpose of housing them, but in the morning or afternoon you can hike, bike, or take an electric vehicle on a tour into the locals' villages dotting the valley.
Mostly known for weaving, Mai Châu is also known for many kinds of dried fruits and vegetables and medicinal herbs. You will likely be introduced to bamboo dancing, which is well-known throughout Việt Nam. I can't believe how spry the grannies of Mai Châu are to do this dance with visitors all morning. I was winded after a couple of minutes. After leaving a tip, my dance partner took a shot of rice wine with me. (Maybe that's the secret.)
Mai Châu has a welcoming and festive atmosphere, while also being a relaxing, rural getaway among the towering limestone mountains of northern Việt Nam.
