Jake and I went on a 2 day, 1 night motorcycle tour through the Muong Hoa Valley, the area that surrounds Sa Pa. We booked our tour through Sapa O’Chau, a local Sa Pa organization. Sapa O’Chau is a socially conscious trekking/homestay/cafe/handicraft organization, founded and run by Shu Tan, a H’mong woman. The organization primarily employs people from various ethnic minorities and funnels money back into disadvantaged minority villages. Our excellent tour guide for the trip, Sử, is part of the Black H’mong ethnic group. During our tour, Sử led us past spectacular views and through many remote villages, and taught us so much about the culture and livelihood of the people who live near Sa Pa.

We spent a full day riding from Sa Pa northeast to Sa Seng and Hàng Đá, then heading south to Lao Chải and Tả Van. In Tả Van, we visited a H’mong house and learned about the process used to create traditional indigo-dyed hemp garments. Our final stop for the day involved a very fun and acrobatic (I have very short legs) clamber over boulders to see the picturesque La Ve Waterfall in Bản Hồ, and then we headed to our homestay for the evening.

We stayed the night with a Táy family in Bản Hồ. After relaxing for an hour and freshening up, the family invited us to observe dinner preparation. The kitchen area had a concrete floor and was open and airy. A large hearth was situated against the far wall, and inside the chimney, a hunk of pork was being smoked (we got to try some of the deliciously flavorful meat during dinner). To the left of the hearth was a 4’x6’ area enclosed by a 3” concrete barrier; this was the sink area, and there were several taps situated against the far wall. Among other things, this area was used for washing dishes. A similar outdoor area was used for washing up, as well as for gutting and cleaning the the eels we ate for dinner. We watched our hosts cook several consecutive dishes in a large wok held on a grate over the open flame. Three large bamboo rods (topped with banana leaves and flowers and containing even more food) were nestled near the fire and the heat cooked the contents.

When the food was ready, we all gathered around the low table in the center of the kitchen, sitting on even lower wooden stools. Dinner with the family was a veritable feast:

• smoked pork cooked with banana flowers
• rau cai (a local spicy vegetable that was eaten with hot peppers)
• eel soup (the small eels were caught in nearby flooded rice fields)
• chicken with onions
• sautéed vegetables with beef
• raw weedy vegetables (after tearing off a small bit from the connected root stock, I was told to roll it into a small bundle and dip it in sauce)
• steamed rice
• lots of home-brewed rice alcohol — Rượu!

After dinner, we relaxed with Sử on the porch and sipped steaming cups of hot water. We had an enlightening discussion about a wide range of topics, ranging from weddings to home construction materials to some H’mong words and phrases. After Sử went to bed, we went inside and chatted with two of our hosts. The talkative guy translated for his taciturn (and non-English-speaking) older brother. We were very impressed by the talkative man’s near-fluent English, which he had picked up over the past 5 years by talking with tourists. After the usual questions (What are your names? How old are you? Where are you traveling?), we got some new ones: What is your opinion on China? What do you think of President Trump? Our exaggerated shudders at Trump’s name were met with smiles of agreement, as they were also concerned with the effect of Trump on global politics.

After a good night’s sleep in the upstairs area of the house (the family slept in their rooms on the ground floor), we ate a breakfast of crepe-like pancakes. We also observed the family’s two very young children attempting to use knives to help peel cassava and then trying to grate the roots using a rotary grater mounted to a stool. Both of us cringed and prepared for someone to cut their finger, but the only problem arose because both wanted to use the grater — there was only room for one person at a time to sit on the stool.

During our second day, we rode further into the valley, stopping to admire the villages of Thanh Phú, Nậm Sài, and Nậm Cang. The Red Dao village of Nậm Cang was recognized by the government for having hardworking people and being very beautiful; we stopped at an herbal spa here and Sử showed us some of the very fine embroidery created by Red Dao women. Because we were making good time, on our way back to Sa Pa, Sử offered to take us to see Suổi Thầu. We grabbed a very late lunch of phở lợn in Bản Dền and admired the speed with which workers across the street were dismantling the wooden frame of a house. After eating our fill, we hopped back on our bikes and returning to Sa Pa.