The village in which I will stay in Vietnam.


Ta Phin village, Sapa Vietnam

Written by a villager, Ly May Chan.

"My name is Ly May Chan and I want to welcome you to our village. Our people are working together independently to create a place of cultural tourism where the visitor can learn about our cultures and people, the way we live without being troubled by money making travel agents."

 "We want visitors to stay with us in our homes. We have set up comfortable but simple beds in separate rooms. Please come and eat with us and join us in our everyday life."

"Also we can lead you on tours around our village, explaining everything about how we live. If you want to stay a little longer with us you can work alongside us, teaching English, maybe work in the fields or help decorate our cultural house so we can give more information to visitors about our culture."

Ta Phin is a picturesque thirty minute drive North of Sapa. Set within a valley with a towering mountain peak at one end, this village is alive with the daily life of the Kinh, Red Dao and Black Hmong people.

The valley floor is layered with rice paddies and dotted with 20 small home communes. Above them are some smaller communes and a patchwork of corn and vegetable fields.

Ly May Chan contines:   "We women are so active - not only do we grow vegetables and pigs and get wood for the fire, we also try to learn English so we can talk to tourists. Before there were tourists we were very poor. But now we can make more handicrafts and make some money and meet people."

Ly May Chan is a true leader of her community. She is working to develop a cooperative so that villagers do not rush tourists as they arrive in Ta Phin but rather let them browse in the 'Cultural House'. She also encourages villagers to send their kids to school, sometimes asking tourists to join her in this work. She encourages family planning "some people have 10 children, too many to feed!"

"Please be welcome to visit us.  Our village is quiet and friendly with many trees and mountains."


Ly May Chan

Location: Bãi đá cổ - Sapa, Sa Pa District, Lao Cai province, Vietnam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shoe insults

Last year I consulted with a local podiatrist: Dr. Robert F Herbold Jr. D.P.M. 4717 Swift Rd., Sarasota , FL – 34231  because I was being bothered with a couple of bunions  (yes I am at that age). I was very impressed with this Doctor.  He agreed that I had bunions, but he ventured that it was much too soon for surgery. (Now there’s a first). Instead he recommended some “arch supports” to relieve the tension for my feet, a tension which was exacerbating the bunions. What’s more -  he told me that he sells these arch supports at the miserly sum of $2.50 each (about 1/5 of the price in the local pharmacies). He is an honest man, and I recommend him to anyone with foot problems. So, a couple of weeks ago, having purchased some new walking shoes, I knew that I needed to buy a couple of new arch supports I took myself to his office. Once there, my mind went blank. I wanted to ask his front desk Clerk if I could buy some “shoe inserts” , as I could not rem...
Read more

It began in Bristol U.K. "A man dies" and "Jesus Christ Superstar"

Image
I well remember the swirling controversy in Bristol, U.K. when a (Presbyterian) Minister the Revd, Earnest Marviin created a ":Rock Opera", called "A Man Dies"  in and for his congregation in the Lockleaze area of Bristol, U.K. Earnest Mrvin I was a sixteen years old member of the Plymouth Brethren Church back in those days, so I most likely disapproved of "A Man Dies" .  We, (the Plymouth Brethren),  disapproved of everything! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I had forgotten all about "A Man Dies" until earlier today when saw these pictures on the "Bristol, Then and Now"  Facebook page.   St. James Presbyterian Church, Lockleaze, Bristol  The Bristol Then and Now page includes the following commentary: Lockleaze, Bristol  -  'Jesus Christ Superstar' began at St.James (Presbyterian) Chur...
Read more

The background, the couple, my friends, the wedding ceremony, the Shaykh, the Priest,

Image
The background   I have known the Keller/Bonsey family since 2000 when I became the Rector at St. James's, Cambridge, MA. They (Elisabeth Keller and the Revd. Steven Bonsey with their four children Noah, Sam, Josiah and Annie) had come back to Cambridge from Hawaii where Steve had been the Rector of an Episcopal parish. Steve had just been appointed as a Chaplain at Tufts University (no Sunday morning duties) so the entire family was able to enrich our common life at St. James's - which they did with great love and joy. I count them as friends and have stayed in touch with them since my retirement.  Noah, the oldest son is eloquent in Arabic (he spent a year in Damascus when Syria was a safe place).  He has developed a super career as an analyst of social media in the near East.    Noah worked in Tampa for a while a few years ago, so he and I were a...
Read more