On the road in the homeland of the H'mong

Before setting off on our first hike on Saturday, we said goodbye to our guest hosts.

Then we started directly from the homestay, through the village and towards the mountains, passing through the cornfields. It didn't take long for Vang to use the scythe he had brought along. The path, which was initially wide and paved, became narrower and turned into a trail through the fields. After a good hour, we reached the road again with our bags full of seeds.

Toang then drove us to a nearby village, where we visited a local weaving workshop. Here, the H'mong women showed us the individual steps of the manufacturing process.

After lunch, we took a car ride to the next accommodation. For the approximately 60 km, we spent almost 2 hours on the countless switchbacks. It was fascinating to see how the landscape changed from valley to valley.

To get to know the landscape and the people who live here even better, we hiked the last kilometers to Dong Van through the mountains and into the valley. Our path led us through a mountain village where we could get an impression of the life of the H'mong in the mountains and even saw a H'mong woman weaving.

In our homestay for tonight, we were warmly greeted by our host Mua. To our delight, we had hot pot for dinner and soon enough, the corn wine flowed again. We quickly learned the local customs and it didn't take long for everyone to toast to each other. It was an extremely fun and lively evening that ended with dancing and karaoke.