Mai Chau is a tiny group of homes snuggled in the mountains in North Western Vietnam. The beauty and downfall of the place is that it is easily accessible from Hanoi, making it an easy get away for those otherwise locked in the capital, like ourselves. This means a lot of tourists, of course, and because it is more or less on the road to Dien Bien Phu (the seat of France’s disastrous military defeat at the hands of Uncle Ho in 1954) it is overrun with French tourists.

The question is, ‘what is there to do in Mai Chau?’, and the answer, ringing clear as a bell is: nothing!

Sitting on a mountain plateau, it is home to the White Thai tribe and from there it is easy to explore the countryside looking for other tribes, such as the H’Mong. These folk all carry the name Montagnards (Vive la France!), and half the fun is drinking a Bia Hoi (cool beer) and watching the world go by. The other half the fun is buying scarves of silk, cotton and hemp.

The whole village is festooned with these giving it a slightly commercial air, although the people are not very aggressive salesmen. The bright blues, reds and vibrant golds can liven up any rainy day.

When you sleep in one of the villages in the area you are in fact sleeping in a tribal long-house, a huge teak and bamboo structure on stilts. The living/sleeping/eating/dancing area is large and a mosquito net is set out for you. Our first night in the village the folks next door were having a dance and so we went and crashed the party. The second we stepped in the door we were greeted with cries of Welcome! Sit Down! and Thank You For Coming!

In the end we were invited to dance and of course abuse the local alcohol, ruou can, which is a kind of rice wine mixed with herbs. The concentration is so high that water is added to it. Once it’s had a chance to macerate, everybody sits around the pot and takes sips out of the communal bamboo straws which stick out of the pot like flower stems.

Getting there is half the fun, but getting back is a nightmare. Not only do you have to make peace with the fact that you’re going back to noisy Hanoi, you also have to contend with the horrible traffic and unpredictable behaviour of millions of motorcyclists. Do they really want to stay alive, you wonder?

Now we’re back in Hanoi in our beautiful flat and back to work. Just a little personal information: Mair has found employment in a great school called New Star (217 Pho Doi Can, Hanoi. For enrolment call 762-6696 or check out their web site at http://www.newstarelt.org) and is also giving private lessons, and Marie-Do continues her lacquer studies. Life in Hanoi is stimulating and now we are looking forward to the cool of the long winter months. As soon as we can, we’re going to start updating the site with street by street entries from the Old City.


Sinh Chau.


Marie Do