Is tourism affecting this Vietnam hill tribe ?
A game of pool in Sapa's warm and woody Tau Bar, 1750m above sea-level, left me sleepless for nights.
It was not because I had lost the game. Rather, it was because my opponent was an outspoken girl from a hill tribe who looked not a day over 14.
She had long black hair, a petite frame and was dressed in an ethnic outfit.
I learnt that she was a Black Hmong - an indigenous people in Sapa which is a hilly region that lies nine hours by train and bus from Hanoi, Vietnam.
Winning the game deftly, the Hmong girl sauntered off with the cue in one hand and a Tiger Beer in another.
This was the same girl whom I had seen selling ethnic sling bags for US$5 ($7) when I arrived at the tourist-filled Sapa town earlier that day.
Her mother, also in a Hmong costume, was carrying a baby on her back and stitching intricate cloth bracelets by the road.
Guiltily, I wondered about how the tourist dollar had lured women like her from minding their paddy fields to hawking cheap trinkets in the streets of the town.
Tourists are drawn to Sapa mainly because of the hill people and their colourful costumes.
Some visitors find the sight of Hmong girls sporting baseball caps instead of their traditional head dress amusing.
Taken aback
But what shocked me was the group of young Hmong girls drinking and playing cards at Tau Bar.
Ask their age, and you would get a well-rehearsed '16-years-old' reply.
But probe further and some girls may just shout abuses at you.
This would not have been an issue if it happened in a place like Clarke Quay. I was taken aback by the reactions of these teens who, in all probability, have never travelled outside the region nor watched cable TV.
I found myself in a confusing situation, unable to define even my own boundaries of right and wrong.
At 7pm the next day, the same elderly Hmong women were sewing under street lamps. I walked past them, careful not to stare.
The town, once a French resort, is filled with western bars and restaurants. Up a stairway was a quirky restaurant and bar blasting Top 40 hits from the '90s. I was looking forward to my spicy hotpot dinner.
Instead, I came face to face with two young giggly Hmong girls drinking in the company of five male tourists.
The local waitress refused to serve the girls, who, incidentally, spoke excellent English. So the men bought bottles of chilled beer and served it to them.
'Let me teach you how to play cards,' said one man, moving closer, twiddling with a Hmong girl's silver earrings to her delight.
While such behaviour maybe accepted in a big city, I cringed in that small town. I moved further away from the group, in an attempt to escape that awful exchange.
I realised that while tourists go to experience the rich culture and history of the people of North-west Vietnam, they also dilute it.
The girls can sing Madonna songs. And hold their liquor better than you can imagine. They were also quick to learn new games, including mind-games that had everyone running around in circles.
Referring to their mothers carrying babies on their backs, they say they did not want to get married.
Said one girl to a tourist: 'Local men are no good. They drink and spend all the money.'
Corrupting influence
The corrupting influence of tourism is unmistakable in the lives of these girls of the hill tribes, all looking for escape.
Returning on a tourist class train to Hanoi, I had a companion.
A Flower Hmong girl, in her bright ethnic outfit, was sharing my VVIP carriage. Three (male) tourists had bought her a ticket to Hanoi.
Was she ever going home?
Had she secured a return ticket?
'I have an Australian boyfriend. My mother knows,' she told me.
By Mindy Tan - The electric new paper (.sg) - December 29, 2007.
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