Hanoi - Lao Cai Village

Date of Exploration : 20 May 2011

The key highlight of the Hanoi photography trip with SGTrekker was to shed our city armour, get soil on our shoes and feel the rain on our faces as we trekked through scenic farm hills and primitive villages.

A sense of vulnerability hung around me as I walked along the edge of winding paths downhill, the soles of my shoes forgetting the traction of asphalt, and coming face-to-face with beasts (other than cats and dogs) on the way. The unpaved roads can be slippery when it rains (which is almost like always) and for me who never grew up with buffalos, seeing them at close range both awed yet rattled me. Despite their brute built, they are such gentle giants but the fear of being gored or trampled upon was a real fear of mine.

I was like a fish out of water. I liked it. I found the experience immensely refreshing. Here's my account of Lao Cai Village, the first of 2 villages we had in our photographic itinerary.

It was raining and foggy during our trek so landscape photos tended to be in soft focus.

Looking down at the valley fields atop the hill, it's amazing how man managed to tattoo such grand designs onto the skin of Mother Earth. The stepped padi plains formed a geologic resemblance of 3-dimensional fish scales.

This step formation of cultivating crops such as wheat is found mostly in Southeast Asia. The ingenious invention increased the farmable surface area of a valley and took advantage of the natural flow of water (from mountaintop to the valley below) to trap and irrigate the crops. The agricultural 'innovation' was necessary because Asia grew mostly wheat-based crops and they luuurvve jacuzzis.

The moment we alighted from our van, we were surrounded by local villagers to buy stuff. Man, they're pesky! With the stamina of houseflies. They can follow you all the way from the beginning to the end of the trail repeatedly saying, "You buy this from me?", "You take my picture, you buy something from me."

And if you bought something from one of them, another will come to you and say, "You buy from her you never buy from me?" In the collage above, one of our mates got the human touch tactic... a small kid held on to his hand and walked the whole way while the parent made small talk with him and when it's time, the demand question of purchasing something comes up.

Along the way, I also saw this humongous, perfectly shaped piece of buffalo turd. It was serious bullsh*t on steroids!

What do you think of this farmer boy? When I posted this photo on my Facebook, he helped show me who are the lechers in my friends' list. Haha. But seriously, this dude is idol material! When I saw him climbing up the slope, I thought to myself, "Is he some Korean star filming here or a villager?" He's a true-blue villager.

I think the people are pretty good looking here. After the young farmer who got so many Likes on my Facebook album, I saw this beautiful lass. Can you see the hickies on her neck? Now we know what the farmers do for fun... stenciling each other with temporary body 'art'. *wink wink nudge nudge*

And the result of tattooing each others' neck instead of gaia? See how young this father is? He could be my grandson! LOL

Houses at Lao Cai Village are very simple sheds made of wood with thatched roofs. No frills, no decorations, purely built for functional purposes. This is different from the farming communities I saw in Bali where they built elaborately decorated spirit houses and rather ornate homes even if they are farmers living by stepped rice terraces.

Saw quite a few dogs in the village and they are usually young and possess gorgeous coats. Maybe the canines were reared not for companionship. Possibly to be guard dogs and when age catches up, instead of cosying up in front of houses, they curl up in a pot on the family table.

Apart from the apparent absence of old hounds, the sight of old men is also rare. I saw a lot of young and old women, children and a number of young lads but I don't quite recall seeing older males. Life expectancy of the Lao Cai farmers range from 68 - 72 (UNDP Human Development Index). Compare that to Singapore's average of 82 years (Ministry of Health, Singapore), seems like living it au naturel kills us pronto! 

Many factors contribute to life expectancy such as childhood immunizations, availability and quality of healthcare, as well as living conditions. While the fresh air and laborious way of life in the countryside trumps the urban fumes and couch potato state we live in, accessibility to medical facilities prolongs life. I didn't see any clinic or hospital in the village during the trek. Or perhaps they are only known to the villagers.

A lot of the the kids I came across here had 2 trails of greenish-yellow slime creeping out of their nostrils, which are signs of bacteria and/or viral infection. And they don't bother cleaning themselves up even if you point a camera at them. Yucky! If you intend to do close-ups portraits of them, don't do it with a full stomach.

Our trek took us to a gallery of sorts on the mid-hill where we can study the ethnic emblems on their fabrics. I think the people in Lao Cai belonged to the H'mong tribe, the biggest tribe in Sapa Valley, and since the Lao Cai region borders China, their artistic influences were undoubtedly Chinese. The people don't speak Mandarin though but I guess they understood the auspicious message on the 铜钱 (old Chinese coin).

At the small gallery hut, we also saw the traditional way threads were spun and the tools for weaving cloth in the village. There's also a toilet in here. My advice is to use it before carrying on with the trek for sanitary conveniences are hard to come by, unless you don't mind fertilising nature.

Life, is very simple here. The adults either work the fields or try to engage tourists in trade while the children derived pleasures from frolicking in the sand and mud. Or try to engage tourists in trade.

I believe time came to a standstill for the lot of us city folks. But of course, the bliss is shortlived for the moment a photo opportunity or subject presents itself, we jumped into action, surrounding the village dweller be it a man, women, child or livestock with our intimidating lens and start firing a torrent of clicks.

I like this shot quite a lot. It doesn't reflect much photographic merits in its composition or technique but I like it for the connection mother and child. It's something so simple, so natural, it's beautiful. She was just sitting outside the shed where all the tourists went to for lunch. Equivalent to openly breastfeeding outside a busy restaurant in City Hall. That's a sight we don't get to see in Singapore!

The baby was well-fed, what about the grown-ups? I'm not sure if what we were being served for lunch present themselves in the menu of the villagers too but one thing's for sure, the flavour is as unsaturated as the natural environment we dined in.

Nothing really wow and rather blank in taste, but I enjoyed the uncomplicated dishes. The simple flavour washed my tongue of the sodium-laden hawker food in my daily diet. A kind of food 'plain water' to cleanse the palate.

In Singapore, parents complain about the weight of their children's school bags while the kids whine about homework. They all are legitimate concerns. But when I saw how the young kids carry a younger sibling on their backs the whole day while they trail tourists or when their parents worked, I can't help but feel that if they can take hardships, so can we. In many ways, we have it a lot better.

Other than crops, a small collection of livestock can be found throughout the village. Many of the fowls roam the grounds freely. I especially adore this pig. It's very, very pink! It didn't smell, looked healthy and clean and get this, it responds to Hokkien! No kidding.

I was trying to get it to look into my camera with a smattering of English and pig grunts. Then someone spoke in Hokkien and it immediately looked over! So I called to it in the dialect and it actually started to come closer! Confirm Ah Beng pig! Ha.

Amidst all the wet pockets, misty mountain ranges, and farm animals, the pressence of a masonry workshop broke up the visual orchestra. I was surprised to come across this hut-shop by the roadside with amazing stone works!

Because Lao Cai village is low on man-made decor, I am taken aback by the fine craftmanship and artistic interpretation of rocks. There were many half-carved statues of the H'mong people still merged with the stone block they come from... as if to signify their rock solid will to survive poverty.

But what was even more 'out of place' was the school in Lao Cai village. It's a good kind of unusual. Compared to the wooden sheds and huts we've seen so far, the concrete and modern-looking school stuck out like a sore thumb everybody would want to have. The development of a school here is probably due to the humanitarian efforts of Oxfam, an international non-profit organisation to solve poverty and injustice.

The photos were taken on a Friday at 2:00 pm and no students were in sight. Either it was off-school hours or that education isn't valued by the farmer parents. Child labour is very valuable to reduce poverty so parents would rather have their children work in the fields or be souvenir peddlers.

Moreover, looking at the unsanitary living conditions, infant mortality rate should be high even if the H'mongs may have evolved the biological adaptations to their environment, so the contribution of each child to the family's income takes preference over learning.

This is my parting shot for this post. It has been a unforgetable learning journey to see how the farmers of Lao Cai live and meeting the residents. Apart from the sights, smells and (lack of) sounds, the one thing that was most memorable for me was the persistence of the child souvenir sellers.

Despite the load they carry, they will pester any incoming tourist to buy something from them. A few even followed us all the way, which was an almost 5 hours trek (we started at 11 am and ended around 4 pm)! Along the way, they will keep asking, "You buy this from me?", becoming almost like a chant. And when a few of them speak at different times, they created a melody that reminded me of the call of mating frogs in the rain.

Instead of traumatising you with a recording of the children's persistent imploration for trade, let me leave you with a cheery rendition of the evergreen Chinese folk favourite 乡间小路 (The Small Village Road) by 蔡琴. Have fun exploring the countryside! :o)

Hanoi - Cat Cat Village

Date of Exploration : 21 May 2011

Life has a very funny way of creating coincidences. Last year on 21 May, I was trekking through the dense, untouched forestry of Bako National Park in Kuching, Sarawak (see post here). This year, on the same date, I'm trekking through Cat Cat Village, which is located at the bottom of Muong Hoa Valley in Sapa, Hanoi.

Kuching in Malay means "cat". So last year I was taking a long trek in cat city, this year I'm exploring Cat Cat Valley and village. Is this an uncanny coincidence or what?! Does it mean I'll have 9 lives?

21 May is kind of special for me. It's my birthday. Both trips weren't planned as celebration holidays. More of the case where a friend had an idea to go some place (in both cases suggested by my regular photo kaki Siow Har) and we planned. My birthday wasn't a consideration. I've stopped making a big deal out of my birthday for many years now. It's just another day. Maybe subconsciously, I wanted to do the long treks so that age cannot catch up with me! I'm 3 years to being 21 by the way. That's what I say every year after I passed 30. Ha!

Enough of self-absorption. Let's pussy-foot down the other big attraction of Sa Pa Valley.

Like our previous day visit to Lao Cai, Cat Cat Village was smothered by fog as well. The weather wasn't consistent. One second it could be dull and grey due to the mist, the next it could rain, and yet a minute later, the sun shines through.

You can see the varying effects of the lighting conditions in the photos here, where most of the shots look muted in colours while some have strong shadows and contrast when kissed by sunlight. The colours look rich in the pics because I've enhanced them using Photoshop.

For a great panoramic view of Cat Cat Valley, head up to the viewing pavilion shown in the top left photo. It's a very prominent building so it's hard to miss.

Navigating your way to Cat Cat Village from Sa Pa : It is pretty easy to get to Cat Cat Village as a road from the Sa Pa Market leads directly to it. An entrance fee of 20,000 dong (S$1.20) is payable at the entrance to Cat Cat (Muong Hoa) Valley. It is possible to go there yourself without a guide as it's basically just one main road that runs from the market, down a winding hillside path, and leading to the entrance to the village.

From the village entrance, just follow the relatively well-paved main path that leads further downhill until you come to the steps that descend to Cat Cat waterfall. To get back out to the entrance of Cat Cat Village, either back track (not recommended) or take the path to the right of the bridge (on the left is the waterfall) and follow it. The trek is a looped path so as long as you walk where the road is well-trodden, you won't get lost.


A gorgeous aerial view of Cat Cat Village as we were coming down from the higher plain where Sa Pa Valley is. Sa Pa Valley is the nerve centre of the surrounding valleys and villages with hotels, restaurants, a wet market, town square and other urban amenities.



Enroute to Cat Cat Village, we passed by a local cafe called Gem Vallery Art Gallery, a short distance from the entrance steps down to the village. There's a couple of living quarters opposite it that's available for homestay.

The gallery has 2 levels of exhibition space filled with colourful abstract paintings of village life and culture. A balcony patio allows you to sip a cuppa while enjoying the magnificent geographics of the valley, both man-tamed and natural. A cup of tea costs US$1.00.

Another toilet advice, use it here before going on your way as you won't find another decent lavatory during the long descent to the valley. We spent a lot of time here because the hut offered a level of comfort in observing nature that was rare in our journey so far.

We were also delightfully enthralled by the very pretty daughter of the owner. She has such expressive, big doeful eyes that spoke to many of our apertures.

Amongst the paintings (I think they are ink on canvas because oil pigments would be too expensive and watercolour would smudge if left too long in such a wet atmosphere), what struck me was the portrait of what looked like a hippie E.T. attaining nirvana! He looks stoned.

When we finally managed to pluck ourselves from Gem Vallery Art Gallery, we arrived at the bustling mouth of the stairway to Cat Cat Village (where the coloured flags are in the photo above). The ticket we bought at the main entrance to the valley was asked for here.

As I was coming down the steps, I met these 2 boys whom I assume to be brothers. I tailed them for quite a while and it's interesting to observe how the elder really cared for the younger. The smaller boy was eating some tidbits and grudgingly shared with his bro when asked. But when he dropped one of the small biscuits on the ground, he picked it up and offered to his big bro without being asked. Crafty little bugger!

Another unforgettable kid I met was this girl. When I first saw her, she was digging and picking dirt off her toes and toenails. I think her habit is so disgusting, even her dog didn't want to look. Then without warning, she pulled to toes into her mouth and started chewing! Dirt, smelly grime and all! Even when offered tidbits, she ignored and continued savouring her filthy digits, mixed with the yellow-green mucus from her nose. I almost showed her my dinner from the previous night.

Kids roam free in the village neighbourhood. A parent or adult kin was seldom close by possibly because everybody knows everyone and it's one big family where they all looked out for each other.

No money, no posing for photos! This ah ma repeatedly asked for money when we took her photos and when we continued to tak bodoh (act blur) and shoot, she covered her face. But I think this photo is even more interesting because it showed her fingernails. Most villagers have nails like those.

While many of the adults will ask for money when you take their photos, a small portion won't. It was a moral hassle for me to have to deal with ignoring their requests while taking their photos so I didn't shoot many adults. But the children, they've yet to learn to ask for payment.

We were advised by the trip coordinator not to give money so as not to help them become beggars. The villagers' demand for a fee evolved because of photographers who took their pictures, sold the prints, made a lot of moolah but they got nothing. So why should they pose for you?

I don't give money, but I brought along some Kit Kats and gummies to give them as a treat to show my appreciation and share a different taste.

Compared to Lao Cai Village, I think Cat Cat is better developed with more stone houses and paved walkways. But unlike Lao Cai, the farming note in Cat Cat is more of an echo rather than a full-volumed aria. But it still has its many charms nonetheless.

Ah, finally saw carpets of sapplings coating the terraces green. Had been seeing nothing but grey fields the previous day in Lao Cai Village. I thought it was interesting that soil in Cat Cat is tinted red by iron oxide while Lao Cai's soil is mud the colour of exhaust. The two rice plantations don't seem so far from each other but their ground colour looked so different.

Rice is the main agricultural crop in Vietnam as it is the world's second largest exporter with up to 80% of the country's population involved in its labour-intensive cultivation. Rice is known as 'white gold' in Vietnam with around 42 varieties farmed in the country. That's a lot of strains! I wonder how many varieties I've eaten as I'm a 100% rice-loving bucket!

Passing the neon green paddies, we descended a steep flight of steps to Tien Sa Waterfall. There are no railings and the stone surfaces are coated with the fall's mist so be very careful to not let your butt bounce the ground.

In my opinion, the Cat Cat Valley trek is not suitable for people with leg ailments as there are a lot of stairs to climb and the slippery conditions. For the adventurous, this trek offers quite a variety of changing sceneries.

To get a shot like this of the waterfall with a silky aquaeous curtain, you'll need a tripod for long exposure. I didn't bring mine and borrowed a friend's. But be prepared to wipe your lens often due to the fall mist. During this shoot, I learnt about polarising filters that help to make the colours richer by cutting out reflected glare from the wet surfaces.

Tien Sa Waterfall is rather smallish and uninteresting for me because I can't go in for a dip! The falls area is cordoned off because the pool is too rocky for water play. But upstream, the calmer riverine looks enticing to splash around in. However, I don't see any locals doing it. So better do not as the locals do not. I think the water would be too cold anyway.

With the waterfall behind us, we took a long and winding road back up the valley. Along the way, I had some time alone with my thoughts. I thought about the significance of such a tough journey on my birthday (I've really walked through some very deep valleys), about getting older (how much further can I go?) and where I'm heading to (what's next Darren?). And you know what? That little self-reflection exercise turned up nothing. It's either I'm right where I need to be, or I still don't have a clue about my life. Do we ever really know?

We spent a long time at Tien Sa Waterfall giving everyone ample time to experiment with settings and filters to best capture the falls. My photography volcabulary was widened but I can't help feeling if I'm still weak in my technical knowledge and practical know-how, I'm not optimising the potential of this photography trip.

Most of the time I was wondering why my photos were always dark until someone pointed out that my screen setting was negative brightness. I don't recall altering my settings! Then while on location, I was so intimidated by the 2 or 3 camera bodies and tons of lens the others brought that I lost my fire to shoot. Most knew what they were doing. I only wish I knew too. I can't make heads or tails of my photos.

Get your Kenmera ready! Our entourage's resident hunk-cum-model showed us his version of Mary Poppins. He's such a fun doll to have at any photoshoot. No wonder his name is Ken!

We didn't complete the intended itinerary for our trek as we spent too much time at the gallery and waterfall. That's the good thing about a purely photography trip. Everyone is of the same mind and ample time is given to explore our shots. But that's a compromise with possibly seeing other sights.

If this post read like a banal spiral into melancholy fraught with inconsequential introspection, please pardon me. I guess getting much older scares us at some point. Or maybe I'm just mental. Just like this song that kept ringing in my head throughout my exploration of the countryside over the 2 days. It's called 不会说话的爱情 by 周云蓬.

There's a certain stoic resonance about it, an everyday mundane feel of simplicity yet the imageries conjured by the lyrics rang deep. For me. So I've put together some photos and videos I took during the trip of Sa Pa, Lao Cai Village and Cat Cat Valley to create a clip. I won't call it a "MTV" so as not to insult the song, but I tried as much as possible to match the visuals to my interpretation of what's being sung-spoken. Hope you'll enjoy it.

Explore the melancholic side! :o)