By Kaye Madsen
Special to the Eagle

I love to travel, and particularly to places off the beaten path. I’m always looking for a unique adventure.

Joining a small group of likeminded travellers in Indochina provided just that opportunity. Because hotels don’t exist in the Hill Tribe Villages in Vietnam, those wishing to experience village life must arrange a home stay. After a bumpy ride along a dusty gravel road, our minibus entered the village of Dalak.

A mom paddles her young child in the remote Hill Tribe village of Dalak, Vietnam. Photo by Kaye Madsen

A weathered and worn welcome sign, from the local tourist board, introduced the activities we could enjoy in their area: elephant rides, dugout canoeing, evening entertainment, delicious food and trekking. Very appealing!  What we discovered is that tourism in the district is in its infancy and that’s a good thing.

More photos from Vietnam: Photo Gallery

Our beds for the night were in a long house built several meters off the ground on wooden poles. Our roof was corrugated tin. We wouldn’t get wet if it rained, but we couldn’t sleep either. The family lived in a small back room and the communal sleeping area for our group of fifteen travellers was the large room in front. Sleeping pads, each covered with a clean sheet, had a bright multicoloured satin blanket at the foot and a blue mosquito net at the head to be carefully tucked around at night as protection from the dreaded bite of a malaria infected mosquito.

There was no kitchen or bathroom. The cooking was done in a pot over a fire on the back porch and restrooms were about one hundred meters away. The path to them was dirt, mud if it rained, and travelled by any number of creatures: ducks, roosters, water buffalo, dogs, pigs, which all created quite an obstacle course.

Workers transport harvested rice from the fields — which are flooded and hand-harvested when the rice is ripe — to a waiting market. Photo by Kaye Madsen

Beside the path was the village well, contaminated by animal waste, washed by the rain into the groundwater. Needless to say, no fragrant scents in rural Vietnam. The toilets flushed when the electricity was on, but that was intermittent. Showers were a trickle of water from a spray opposite the sink, also dependent on the electricity. Note to self: “Don’t drink so much that you have to pee in the night.” Once in bed sleeping was but a wish. The cacophony of grunting sows and boars, squealing piglets, barking dogs and crowing roosters could wake the dead.

We ate our meals at a restaurant down the road. Dinner included fried dumpling appetizers, tasty stir fried vegetables with cashews and small bits of meat, and white rice. For dessert we were served mouth watering pineapple wedges and finger size bananas. Breakfast was a flat vegetable omelette with a fresh crusty baguette and strong, strong coffee. The food was indeed delicious.

Everything in the village was fascinating because it seemed we’d stepped back in time. Transportation was by bicycle, motorbike or homemade trucks – for lack of a better description. The rice crops had just been harvested and the grains were drying on tarps in the sun. A gas station consisted of a very small pump in front of a shop but of course it wasn’t to fill cars. Mahouts rode their elephants through town to drink from the lake at the end of the street. The villagers were as intrigued by us as we were by them. Children laughed and played and adults calmly carried out their daily tasks.

A man smokes a cigarette as he carries his young son around the village. Photo by Kaye Madsen

After dinner musicians and dancers entertained us at their nearby tribal long house. Following a long standing tradition they welcomed us by offering sips of their local brew, drunk from a communal bowl through a communal straw. I couldn’t be rude and refuse but I did wonder what bug I might suffer from on the morrow.

Following breakfast on our second day we paddled in dugout canoes with local men and women as our boatmen to a nearby resort. The canoes, carved from hollowed logs, were launched from a muddy swamp area on the lake shore. Stepping in without upsetting the vessel was a challenge, but I managed.

An afternoon elephant ride through the water on the lake’s edge was the highlight of our village visit. The mahout or elephant driver sat atop his beast’s neck and two passengers rode on the saddle on each elephant’s back. We formed quite a procession strolling in the water along the lake edge. Fragrant blue water hyacinths and green vines were tasty morsels for the hungry elephants. It was fascinating to watch them pick the greens with their trunks and carefully bring them to their mouths. I thought I would be having a shower when my elephant filled his trunk with water and lifted it above his head. A sharp word from his mahout stopped that and the pachyderm poured it into his mouth without spilling a drop.

The lake was calm and quiet prevailed. Even cell phones had no signal. How important are all the trappings of the modern world?  These were things to ponder as we returned to the bustle of civilization.

Related Stories

No related posts.

• Filed under Community | You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.