Vietnam's many faces

Vietnam’s cultural diversity is a major selling point with tourists of all places. Specifically, visitors like to ride up to Sa Pa to brush up with the Hill tribes.

Although there are some major social issues resulting with the rise of mass tourism in this area, the experience can definitely a major highlight of your trip and is more then worthwhile. So should you decide to brush up with the montagnards, we recommend looking for smaller agencies that have the well being of the community at heart. We traveled with Freewheelin and can only recommend them (see previous post).

In the article below, you’ll find a little more information on the country’s different tribes.
Enjoy it!

H.

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There are many sides to any culture. Vietnam alone is rich with 53 minority ethnic groups. Counting approximately 11 millions inhabitants, the hill tribes – also called Montagnards - count for 14% of the country’s total population. Each with there own culture and way of life, they are divided in eight different ethno linguistic groups of five major linguistic families.

First there is the Austro-Asia family, which includes the Viet-Muong and Khmer-Muong groups. Regrouping 24 different tribes, this linguistic family is the most important of the country. Then we find the austronesian language family, with five different ethnic groups, and the thai-kadai family in which we found 12 ethnic groups. The sino-tibetan family counts for nine different ethnic groups. Last but not least, the Hmong-Dao family counts “only” three different ethnic groups but is none the less the largest group of Vietnam population wise.

The hill tribes have an ambivalent status in the country. On the one hand, their rights are officially recognised by the Vietnamese Socialist Party: “The State of the socialist Republic of Vietnam represents the unified State made up of all nationalities cohabiting on the Vietnamese territory. The State applies the policy of equality, unit and mutual assistance between nationalities and formally prohibits any act of discrimination and national division. Nationalities have the right to speak and write in their language, to preserve their identity like promoting their noble habits, their rites, their traditions and their culture"

The hill tribes are also well represented in the media with frequent articles on their culture and the different challenges they face. But these good words don’t seem to help with the daily poverty issue many of them face. In fact, more then 75% of all hill tribes people live in poverty whereas only 30% of the viets face the same difficulties. (Viets are members of the kinhs ethnic groups whereas Vietnamese in use to name all the country’s inhabitants. NDLR)

But in spite of the many obstacles resulting from their precarious economical situation, it is the threat of acculturation that remains their biggest challenge. Several factors are to be taken into account when trying to understand this “vietnamisation” of their way of life.

The use of Vietnamese language in school is a major issue. Another important factor is the immaterial aspect of a major part of the cultural heritage of these tribes. Moreover, only about thirty tribes have their own writing, which therefore complicates even more the safeguarding intangible heritage’s question.
Finally, the financial amounts allocated for the protection of each ethnic group’s inheritance is defined according to the size (population count) of each group. In short, the smaller the group is, the smaller the amount is.

That being said, several initiatives were recently put in place to ensure the cultural perennity of these people. Among those, the publication of books in original ethnic language, and the possibility, for certain tribes, to receive part of their educations in their mother tongue are expected to have great impacts.
In addition, the Socialist Party approached the UNESCO in order to officially recognise some hill tribes practice as official intangible world heritage. Already, the gongs culture of the central highlands Tan Nguyen tribe received the precious title. Whether this new title will actually lead to real and concrete actions for the moment still remains to be seen.

Visit
We highly recommend a visit to Hanoi

Ethnographic museum to learn more about the hill tribes. Rich with many documents and interesting display – an exterior garden allows us to visit different tribes traditional houses – the permanent collection is a must!
Hanoi Ethnographic museum
Corner of Nguyen Du & Le Duan st
Phone: 0084 (4) 850 42 66
Entry fee

Ecotourism in Vietnam : a long, beautiful road lies ahead...

Here is the first article written for another website. Hope you'll like it!!

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Ecotourism in Vietnam

Helping to build a country. Taking part to a global movement and– if only for a single trip – bring water to the big millwheel of social and economical development of a region. That is, in short, what ecotourism is all about. And that is exactly what you’ll be doing when travelling with Freewheelin tours. Not to shabby for this little independent travel agency founded a little over ten years ago. But beyond these –very- noble concerns for sustainable development, Fredo Binh and his team is first and foremost inviting you to a incursion in the heart of Vietnamese daily life and in the world of the hill tribes people.

Freewheelin tours is a small independent agency located in the heart of Hanoi city’s old town. Its founder, Fredo Binh, a Metis born in France that came back to the country about 14 years ago, is a free spirit that loves nothing more then riding his bike throughout the country.

During these trips, he discovered the beauty of the backcountry and the unlimited hospitality of the hill tribes’ people. And developed over the years solid friendships rooted in the respect of each other and in the pleasure of sharing. It’s thus quite naturally that M. Binh accepted the proposal of foreign tourists who asked him, in 1994, to guide them in the mountain.

With no previous experience, M. Binh takes on the challenge and act as an independent guide taking this curious couple well off the regular travel agencies road. Aside from a few bumps on the road, he first trip is a success and both guide and tourists are greatly satisfied with their experience. This crazy idea makes its way and an even crazier project is slowly takes form.

Far goes a little project…

The rest is a classic tale of success: with the opening of its frontiers, Vietnam is welcoming an on growing number of curious travellers looking for change of scenery and exotic adventures. Travel agencies and guides are in demand and business opportunities are numerous. Like many other, Fredo Binh sees the possibilities and tries his luck. But unlike many other, he refuses to follow the mass and creates a very unique agency.

To an effective but victim of its own need of constant efficiency mass tourism, in which tourists are moved from one site to the other in huge buses, barely having time to actually see and much less feel the places, M. Binh opposes a tourism of slow visits and encounters. Instead of trying to jam many sites in little time, he focuses and chooses carefully where he’ll take you. Instead of nights spent in government run hotels, he offers nights spent in family houses.

Although clever and at the time completely innovative, this project however must tackle a very real cultural shock issue. No matter how welcoming they may be, the hill tribes’ traditional way of life is miles away of the most basic touristic standards. An adjustment is thus necessary and the idea of a partnership between the young travel agency and the different hosting villages comes to life. In exchange of a roof and meal for his curious tourists, M. Binh invests in the improvement of the villages’ infrastructure and donates a part of his income the hosting families.

By doing so, he takes them out of economic poverty too often heavy of consequence. Indeed, approximately 75% of the ethnic population live in great poverty compared to only 30% with the Kinhs (Vietnamese).

To this day, Fredo Binh is the man behind the improvement of hygienic condition of several families, thanks to the installation of septic pits and water treatment systems. In addition, his families learned how to protect themselves of viral and bacterial infection by educated on the matter and by making small adjustment to their way of life.

…on a long, never-ending road

Freewheelin tour is also working on bigger scale project. Among thus, the creation of a nature retreat and of a museum dedicated to the Nung An tribes in the Quan Uyen commnity. Or the establishment of a fishing pond in the Be Be village to help feed the families without destroying the natural environment. Or the building of a cable bridge in Lao Cai region allowing hill tribes children to get to school in flood period.

Other major projects include the foundation of a touristic school in Vu Linh province. The school will allow children to get an education in hotel trade techniques leading to an international diploma. An un-dreamed of opportunity as this kind of education is for now rarely completed by the hill tribes youngsters.

For M. Binh: “Such a project will allow them to be actors of the development of their province and thus have a better control on it.” Up to now, Freewheelin reinvests up to 60% of its profits in the visited communities and acts as a true vector of development. Without jeopardising the cultural identity of the said communities.

“The fast economic growth Vietnam and the modern world influence do have repercussions on the hill tribes way of life.” Continues M. Binh. “However, loosing cultural identity doesn’t have to be their faith. That being said, we did notice that some under-represented tribes or others that are more fragile already suffered upheavals, which resulted either in their assimilation or, in the worst case, their disappearance. But others, with better anchoring, or that show more flexibility, seems to resist the wave of progress without loosing their identity. Flexibility and cultural strength is a major asset. Access to education and the comprehension of the modern world will bring them just that and thus give them a chance to play their future without necessarily having to sacrifice their identity.”

So far, several villages and communities benefit of this collaboration with Freewheelin tours. But the amount of work that remains to be done is big and the challenges, numerous. Meanwhile, it is reassuring to be able to count on the private initiative of small business owners to ensure that travel and sustainable development do go hand in hand.

Freewheelin Tours

04, Luong Ngoc Quyen St, Hanoi Phone: 0084 (4) 926 27 43

Time travel

So I've decided that I'll go somewhere late March, early April but still don't know where exactly. There are so many possibilities and so many things that can go wrong when am planning to leave without official vacation time that planning seem completely useless. If all goes like plan, I'll end up going to Panama to take my scuba certification.

If all goes wrong, I'll end up going in Las Vegas for a few days - squatting the desert rather then the Strip. Sea or desert.... Although I LOVED my Egyptian desert adventure (which you'll read about soon enough!), I really hope the diving plan falls through. We'll just have to see.

In the mean time, I've decided to start posting things pertaining to my previous travel. Now the fun thing with this is that I get to relive these trips all over again. For now I'll start with my trip to Vietnam last year. Three amazing weeks, cruising from Hanoi to HCMC, meeting amazing people and finally coming to face with the real Asian thing. Which was not always easy...

Here is a little something I wrote about the experience that was posted on another website for some time. There will be more post on Vietnam soon so visit me often!

H.