I finally met a Red Dao family who took me in to live with them for two days.
With the help of Shu Tan from Sapa O’Chau, I was guided into a small village in Ta Phin, high in the mountains of northern Vietnam.
It wasn’t something I had planned.
I had simply followed the road, the people I met, and my curiosity about how life was lived in these mountains. And somehow, I found myself sitting inside the home of a family I had only just met.
The Road Into Ta Phin
It took us almost two hours by bike and then on foot, climbing a narrow, muddy trail into the mountains of Ta Phin. The air was cold. There were farms along the way, small paths disappearing into the landscape, and mountains rising around us. The further we went, the quieter it became.
At the top of the mountain were around 200 homes belonging to Red Dao and Hmong families, living among the farms, animals and rivers. And somewhere up there was Mama.
It took another 30 minutes before we nearly reached the peak.
And then I met Mama.
She was the elder of this part of the village, and also Man Mei’s mother-in-law.
We couldn’t really speak to each other. She spoke very little English, and I spoke none of her language.
But somehow that didn’t seem to matter.
Mama took me for a walk through the valley.
She showed me around the village and told me stories about the place she had lived in for so many years.
Along the way she picked leaves from the forest.
I didn’t really know what they were for.
Later that evening, I found out.
She had gathered them to prepare a traditional herbal bath for me.
I only spent two days with Mama and her family. Two days isn’t a long time. But sometimes you don’t need very long to feel that you’ve shared something real with someone. I came into the mountains looking for photographs. I left with something much more difficult to photograph. A feeling of being welcomed into another person’s world.
I was grateful for the time I had with Mama and her family. Some journeys are not really about where you go. They are about who you meet along the way.
