Guide Book - Primary Research Facts

In terms of primary research into the Black Hmong Tribe, I was able to spend 3 days surrounded by a number of different tribal members during my time up in Sapa - North Vietnam. Each day I made notes on the different things I learnt and observed whilst being with the tribe and the Vietnamese family I was being looked after by. 

Travelling with a Vietnamese family from Hanoi was extremely lucky as it opened up opportunities that I would have never had the knowledge of if I was travelling solo or with a tour company. I was lucky to have such a raw Vietnamese experience as they knew a lot of the locals that live permanently up in Sapa. 

What I learnt:
- In sapa, the men go out on a Friday and Saturday to look for a girl. There is two ways that they get a wife. They either take her to a hotel and treat them for a couple of days to see if they are good for marriage. A friend goes to her village to meet her family and tell them where she is. Or he grabs her and kidnaps her to his home and then she either tries to escape or she accepts a meal which shows she is happy to marry him. If I had not known about this and saw this I think I would have been very scared

- The Black Hmong tribal people started joining us for a walk across all of the rice fields to the waterfall. It was nice because they had no judgement, only with the intention of guiding us along a safe path and to learn more about our culture 

- I learnt that the black tribe focus on the moment and just want lots of children and do not plan for the future, whereas the other tribe that I was staying with spend money on the buildings and the future more than having a big family. 

- I learnt that you must not bang your chopsticks or make noise at the beginning of the meal because it encourages the bad spirits to come. Something that you need to avoid if you are to have a good after life.

- If there is a green plant or something similar then this means you cannot enter the room

- The Vietnamese family I was staying with taught me that their culture focuses very much on family and how they are reliant on each other and will often all live together. They said that the westerners prefer to eat rice that is not sticky; symbolising their independence, freewill and confidence. The Vietnamese prefer sticky rice; symbolising the family traditions and how all generations live close and do a lot of things together. It is uncommon for people to travel alone and normally a boy would have to would escort the girls or they would travel around as a family. 

- It is important for the women to be good at embroidery as well as working on the land. It was evident that from a young age, the children were taught the traditional methods of making material out of hemp and also learning how to navigate around the area and walking on the vast terrain.