Travel to Vietnam, Mai Chau Trekking Diary

“Wake up, we’re here” – My friend exclaimed happily. As I woke up, I looked out the car window, cleaned the steam off the glass caused by the chilly outside and saw nothing but darkness. I grumble abruptly, “Ok, ok, 5 more minutes” and try to go back to sleep. I had fallen asleep during the 4 hour drive from Hanoi to Mai Chau on our North Vietnam luxury travel. Getting out of the car, my first step to the ground of the Thai village in the middle of a valley surrounded by terrace fields, I enjoy the fresh cold air blowing through my hair.

In front of me is a stilt house (a typical house for minorities in Vietnam). It was made out of bamboo and timber. As minority’s custom, they build the first floor higher then the ground; about 10 to 12 feet. In the olden days, cattle would be kept under the home, but as modern society slowly creeps in, they’ve now turned this area into a recreation space. As I walk upstairs, my host, who is White Thai, brings me to their family kitchen. The fire in the kitchen warms me up as I awaken from my sleep.

We were sitting together; enjoying grilled cassava and chicken porridge. The amazing aroma of cassava and the stream of hot chicken porridge mixed together provided for a cozy atmosphere. When we were talking with our host about our journey, his grandson ran into the kitchen, yelling at his mother to get some cassava. He suddenly recognized our appearance and quickly hide behind his mother, but quickly sneaked a look at us with his sheepish smile. He quickly became more comfortable with us and started singing.

He is 3 years old and his voice isn’t that clear but his cuteness had us smiling from the start. He took a scarf and danced while he sang. Later that evening, his mother called him off to bed, he reluctantly obeyed, but whispered to me; “I will sing for you tomorrow”. We couldn’t help but smile as he scurried off to get ready for bed. Our guide explained that we would have a long journey tomorrow and suggested that we go to sleep early. I couldn’t wait until the tomorrow’s trekking around Mai Chau, the area looked so beautiful from pictures I had seen before the trip.

Waking up early, we had a quick breakfast consisting of noodle, duck and baby bamboo. The weather was pleasant, the sky was blue, there was a breeze of fresh air and the sun was slowly poking out from behind the clouds. When our guide told me we would be hiking nearly 15km today, I was a little worried. I had never hiked that far before, luckily, shortly after starting our trip, I completely changed my mind. The scenery was so beautiful, I couldn’t keep my eyes off it. The clouds in the sky were fluffy white; yellow and green rice fields with small stilt houses scattered across the terrain; deep shades of green covered the mountains in the distance. 

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