Second Day in Mu Cang Chai – a Wow Day

Feb.26th: It is a sunny day with temperatures 18-20C which is perfect for exploring. We were up early and once again travelling on motorbikes with the 3 staff from the lodge.

We rode for more than 4 hours – much of the time along narrow, winding mountain paths (just wide enough for 2 motorbikes) that connect the H’Mong villages. We also travelled along the mountain roads that lead to the towns. We made many stops along the way to take in the scenery – breathtaking. Normally I would be nervous (well actually scared) to drive along paths that snake through the mountains, of course with no railings, and at times steep drops to the rice paddies below, but our drivers were so good and the scenery so stunning that nervous was the last thing on my mind. I was thinking how incredibly lucky we were to experience this.

The H’Mong minority people were so friendly and curious. There were two weddings along the way – one was just setting up and the other was in full celebration mode. You will see from the pictures that we had some very special interactions with the wedding guests, family and with the bride and groom.

Josie told us that the minority H’Mong in these villages are very frightened that the Chinese and majority H’Mong would take away their minority culture – make them comply with the majority way. This is why they live in the mountains and stay to themselves with their only interaction outside of their community being with the Thai minority. We learned many things about the H’Mong culture during our 2 days.

The Mu Cang Chai area is known for its terraced rice paddies and we found it much more scenic than Sapa, and much less touristy.

We passed by a second wedding – the reception was underway. When we stopped they insisted that we join in. They invited us to eat with them – Josie was able to say no but told us that we had to take the wine they offered….but warned us that it was super strong so beware. Then they wanted us to meet the bride and groom and offer a toast which we did with Josie’s help (hard to pretend we were drinking the wine). As you will see from the pictures, it was such a whirlwind that we didn’t even have time to take our helmets off. Hu, Cua and De stayed up the road as they knew they would not be able to say no to the wine (it would be an insult) and the wedding party would expect them to have many glasses..not so good for driving us around.