Mai and Xhou

Mai is my guide for the trekk, and a moment later after we departed, there is another girl follow us along. Her name is Xhou. Both Mai and Xhou belong to the Black Hmong ethnic, which is commonly live in Sa Pa. Mai is 34 years old with 3 kids, and Xhou is 20 years old with 2 kids! Along the trekk, we talked about a lot of things. How the pandemic hit them so hard because they can not have guiding job, also can not sell the handcraft things that Hmong women usually makes and sells to the visitors. With thick vietnamese accent English, they try to explain how the life of the Hmong ethnic, and answer my questions about the love and hate of the big development in Sa Pa, which push back the Hmong village far in the valley. For young people, including Mai and Xhou, the opening of the border means they can works and earn money from tourists coming to Sa Pa. But Mai explain that it wasn’t the same feeling for elderly. The big buildings and noises of the heavy equipment builds big hotels, or resorts sometimes bothering them. Because they are afraid it can destroy the nature, cutting the hills, and Hmong known to be very respectful to the land they live. They use natural source such as wild fruits, wild plants for food nd for medicine. A dilemma of life. But it doesn’t stop Xhou of giving me the nicest smile she has.