North Vietnam Tribal Culture Tour

Trip Overview

Once upon a time ... this trip description could easily start this way because when you’re on this tour, you'll feel like you are stepping back in time hundreds of years. And the scenery is nothing short of a fairy tale. Amid the stunningly scenic plush mountain territory of North Vietnam along the Chinese borders, we will be visiting 7 of Vietnam’s 54 ethnic tribes. The majority of these tribal groups (referred to as “minorities” by the Vietnamese) still live in traditional rural villages in wood or mud huts and houses on stilts, some still with thatched roofs. Many still wear traditional, brightly colored handmade clothing, unique to each tribe, that are simply exquisite examples of textile art showcasing masterful skills such as embroidery, appliqué and batik among others.
The tapestry of culture is exceedingly rich among these groups. You’ll be mesmerized by their beautiful clothing and hypnotized by the bucolic life of farming and fishing while chickens, ducks, pigs and goats wander free range around every home and even on main roads. You’ll be captivated by their shamanistic spiritual practices and astounded at many of the strange-to-us customs like “wife pulling” where a boy claims a wife by kidnapping a girl to his home where she lives for 3 days and then decides if she’ll stay.
Their lives are likely 180 degrees different from anything you’ve experienced. And, as with all my tours, I’ve developed strong relationships with people in many of these groups so that when you travel with me, you’ll be welcomed with open arms and ushered right into the kitchens where you’ll sit around the fire and learn about these fascinating cultures. And as a bonus, the mountain landscapes in which these groups live is some of the most stunning and unbelievably beautiful in the world. Between the two, I promise you will return with astounding photographs and even better stories.
But the time to come visit these groups is now. Younger generations are eschewing the cultural dress and other tribal traditions as they trade village life for modern life in the bigger cities. In many villages, even the older people are abandoning traditional clothes in favor of western attire which is cheap to buy and easy to wear. Thatched roofs are being replaced by fiberglass and metal ones. Concrete is being favored to traditional wood and mud for walls of homes. The iconic conical hats of Vietnam are giving way to helmets as motorbikes become more plentiful. In short, life is changing quickly there and while no one can begrudge a roof that lasts forever, education instead of toiling in the fields and more rapid transportation, all of this progress means your other-world photo opps are rapidly disappearing. Chose the tour date that works best for you and sign up today so you don’t miss out.

This Red Dao woman, Mon May, is one of my best friends in Vietnam. We discovered this gorgeous location together on one of our days of exploration and we’ll take you there. A few days later, she’ll guide you through her own village and even take you to see the pageantry of a Red Dao wedding!

Flower Hmong women named for their bright colored clothing are regulars at the Bac Ha market. Snag photos of them with all the odd-looking fruits and vegetables they sell like the bumpy bitter melon, cone-shaped bamboo shoots and delicious custard apples.

Sa Pa’s rice terraces are iconic for a reason and mesmerizing in all their stages: mirror-like surfaces when newly planted in May, lush and tall all summer long with a green you’ve never seen before in nature and gold when harvest time comes in September.

Most of the livestock in Vietnam are free range but are “babysat” by children and the elderly. After grazing all day, these Hmong children are escorting their cattle home to their village high in the mountaintops.

If you join us on the optional tour extension, you’ll get lots of great photos of beautiful scenes like Heaven’s Gate Valley.

Fall is the season for harvesting corn in North Vietnam. It’s not uncommon to find tribal people of all ages on foot hauling handmade baskets heavy with corn over mountain roads.

You’ll come home with photos like this during one of the best cable car rides of your life up to the top of Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s tallest peak. En route, views of the valley below with it’s lush terraced rice fields abound just before you lift up over the steep, jungle covered mountainside.

In the ethnic tribal homes we’ll be visiting, meals are served family style often along with rice wine. Dive in to bites of organic duck, pork and chicken with vegetables fresh from the garden.

This is my friend San Gio Ba, a Ha Nhi woman who lives in a very tiny traditional village in a “mushroom house,” a special mud hut with thatched roof. She’s wearing the traditional Ha Nhi costume which she made by hand (detail to the right) and her headdress unwinds to 5 feet long!

Most of Vietnam’s ethnic tribes can be visually identified by the traditional costume worn by all the females in that tribe. The styles vary from tribe to tribe but not much within each group. The color distinction given to each tribe (for example White Hmong vs Black, Green, Blue and Flower) is derived from a color that, at least at one time, was predominant in the women’s clothing. These girls are White Hmong, so named for the white skirt they wear.

Visiting the Vietnamese countryside is like stepping back in time 100 years in that so much is still done by hand ... or in this case, by buffalo. Water buffalo are ALL OVER Vietnam! You'll definitely see them in the rice paddies and walking along roads like this one and you'll also see small boys riding them. They're free range when they're not working but because they are such prized possessions , the boys "babysit" them so they don't get lost.

Each year, Hmong women make a new set of clothes entirely by hand from flax. This woman is spinning her flax to prepare for weaving while hot water boils in the kettle behind her for a cup of tea.

The Quintessence of Tonkin, a spectacular new must-see show in Hanoi, takes place right on a real lake with stages that raise and lower hydraulically so the performers seem to glide on water. Part light show, part ballet, part spectacle, this musical amazement celebrates the ancient culture of North Vietnam ... much of which we’ll see enacted in real life on our tour!

These Dao Dong Van ladies will give us a demonstration of how they make the headgear the woman is wearing as well as the shaman’s hat (in front) which is hand sewn from horsehair.

Shamans specialize in soul retrieval. They believe a soul fragment can be lost from fear, depression, trauma, kidnapping by evil spirits, etc. Calling the soul back ranges from different ceremonies in complexity to simple soul callers. This is a shaman’s altar.

Shamans also heal animals and homes by banishing evil spirits. The green branch indicates that this home has been recently cleansed. Visitors will not be allowed to enter for 3 days at which time the branch will be removed. The bamboo lattice indicates a shaman has healed an animal in that house, most likely livestock.

Sunsets on newly planted rice paddies are yet another invitation to slow down your busy life and become one with this little slice of heaven in peaceful Mai Chau.

In the 1940s during the French War, milk was a scarce commodity in Vietnam. One improvising man used eggs to create a sweet custard-like concoction to mix with his java to create the feel of rich cream … and egg coffee was born. Although the original was created in Hanoi, I’ll take you for the best I’ve ever had which is in Sa Pa.

Markets take place on a weekly basis in towns all over north Vietnam. Ethnic tribes travel from their remote mountain villages bringing handmade basketry, medicinal herbs, vegetables and even livestock to sell and trade. The livestock is often walked to market over high mountain passes beginning at midnight in order to arrive by the early 6am start time.

It is the job of the ethnic tribal grandmother to make hats for their grandchildren. These hats keep the children warm in winter, but they also have spiritual significance. Adults believe that the silver on the hats, along with other shaman-blessed talismans, protect the children from evil spirits called “bad wind.” The Ha Nhi tribe makes my favorite hats with George Jetson-esque pompoms on top. You’ll receive one as a gift!

Watching a solitary man fish from a kayak-sized boat in a quiet stream with only the sounds of water babbling and frogs croaking around you is peace on earth. Allow the therapeutically slow pace of life in Mai Chau’s verdant valley to envelope you and gently wash away your stress.

Weekly markets are the tribal equivalent of Saturday night at a club. The new rage among Hmong girls is to put on the bling in the form of sequins and bright shiny colors to catch the attention of prospective husbands.

You’ll want to stop every 5 minutes for photos of “ribbon candy roads,” unique mountain peaks and river vistas as we drive over the Ma Pi Leng Pass which has a reputation for being one of the most spectacular drives in the world. It’s hands down the most beautiful in Vietnam. Sign up for the optional tour extension for the views of your life!

On the extended tour, we visit the Lo Lo tribe renowned throughout Vietnam for having the most beautiful and complex costumes. One set takes 3 years to make so the women only wear them on very special occasions … such as your visit to their village.

The Lo Lo women aren't the only ones dressed to impress. The men don surreal forest genie costumes once a year when they perform the “Praying for Rain” ceremonial dance. This dance will be specially performed solely for our group! Sign up for the extended tour for this trip highlight.

The views on the Ma Pi Leng Pass inspired me to become one with nature in a yogic tree pose. What will it inspire you to do?

Another hidden gem up my sleeve on the extended tour is a 300 year old Giay house with a 15 foot long mortar and pestle! It’s operated by someone stepping on and off the other end to activate the mortar. I helped these ladies make bread with this medieval device!

August and September are harvest seasons for corn and rice. The women also weave new fabric for clothes. Here both the corn and new fabrics are laid/hung out to dry.

Some turns in the Ma Pi Leng Pass are such hairpins you can capture the road behind and ahead in one panoramic shot giving you a full sense of the beauty on this drive. But it’s perfectly safe - wide enough for 2 vehicles abreast and guardrails all along. So the only breath-holding you’ll be doing will be due entirely to these spectacular views.

UPCOMING DEPARTURES

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12 days From $4575
6 day optional tour extension From $2415
*single supplements for solo travelers:
12 day base tour $385 6 day extension $100

Itinerary (tap each tab for expanded itinerary)

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ARRIVE IN HANOI

Arrive in Hanoi. I will personally greet each of you at the airport and either accompany you to our hotel or, if flight times require that I stay to greet other guests, I will escort you to a private vehicle which will drive you to our hotel.

Day 1 HANOI / Ethnic Culture Introduction

Get a taste of what’s to come! Start your ethnic education with a guided tour of the Museum of Ethnology. In the evening, you’ll attend the jaw dropping Quintessence of Tonkin show. Set on a stage of water, it is part ballet /part light show and highlights the culture of Vietnam’s northern ethnic minorities from ancient times.

Day 2-3 MAI CHAU / Revel in Bucolic Country Life

Enjoy a leisurely guided bike tour on flat terrain through several bucolic hamlets dotting Mai Chau’s peaceful valley. Immerse yourself in the slow and peaceful pace of village life here as you observe farmers tending their rice fields, children playing and water buffalo wallowing in swimming holes, watch hens raising their chicks, enjoy the soothing sounds of frogs croaking and ducks quacking. Watch a local White Thai man demonstrate how to weave a variety of fishing baskets used in everyday life here. They’re so beautiful, most tourists view (and buy!) them as souvenirs. You will receive one as gift to take home. Enjoy a delicious dinner cooked by one of my close friends who happens to be an amazing chef. She’ll treat you to mouthwatering White Thai traditional dishes at her lovely house surrounded by verdant rice fields. Wind down the day relaxing and watching an entertaining performance of traditional ethnic dances.

Day 4 PA CO / Black Hmong Village Life

We travel 1 hour to a remote mountain village - a hidden gem undiscovered by others - to immerse ourselves in the culture of a Black Hmong tribe. Take a batik lesson and have the opportunity to batik your own brocade cloth! You’ll particularly appreciate the material you’re working on after you see a demonstration of traditional brocade weaving done by hand on a loom. You’ll also see how the women dye the cloth with indigo and how the dye is made. We will leave your batiked cloth to be dyed. It will meet us back in Hanoi at the end of our trip for you to take home. You’ll go on a fascinating guided tour of this very traditional village where you’ll see hillside tea plantations, walk inside a traditional Black Hmong house and learn about its layout, observe a blacksmith forging traditional tools and visit the maker of musical instruments. Enjoy local Hmong delicacies in the home of two more of my dear friends. You’ll be laughing and smiling as you’re treated to a quite different performance of traditional Black Hmong dances - this time in a private home and with a group who will beg you to join in the fun.

Day 5-6 TAM DUONG / Iconic Rice Terraces and Unique Tribal Headgear

Pass through beautiful scenery on our travel day to Tam Duong. Once we arrive, you’ll want your camera out for our visit to some iconic rice terraces. After our photoshoot, we’ll visit the Dao Dong Van ethnic group and admire the incredibly unique headwear of the women made from coils of braided horsehair and topped with a silver box. Enjoy a demonstration of a very talented local woman making not only those headpieces, but also the gorgeous hand sewn male shaman’s hats (also made out of horsehair) and utterly exquisite shaman’s robes. You’ll have an opportunity to take any of these items home with you. Again, we’ll dine with locals - our hat-making hosts will treat us to lunch in their home. Get some exercise on an optional afternoon hike to a truly beautiful waterfall (and that’s saying a lot because I’m not a “waterfall person.”)

Day 7 TRAM TON PASS & MUONG HUM / Stunning Scenery

Attend the small but colorful weekly Tam Duong Market and admire the traditional clothing of tribes down from their mountain villages to buy, sell and trade. Visit an energetic and fun-loving Lao Lu family in their traditional village. Watch a woman blacken her teeth in the traditional manner. Get a quick handicraft lesson and see some of their dances. We will join them for lunch. Drive to Muong Hum and see the amazing “mushroom houses” of the Ha Nhi tribe. We’ll visit with a family in their traditional house while they tell us about their culture and model the exquisite woman’s headdress … a braid the height of a person is wound around the woman’s head and finished with giant hand-sewn pompoms! They’ll also tell you about the spiritual significance of the hats made by the grandmothers and worn by the children. You will receive one of these eye-catching hats to take home. I bet this will be one of your favorites from the trip! Drive over the stunning Tram Ton Pass to Sapa. This pass is Viet Nam's highest mountain pass and considered the second most beautiful stretch of road in the country. (The most beautiful, the Ma Pi Leng Pass, will be traversed on the optional extension to this tour. And trust me, you don’t want to miss it!)

Day 8 SAPA / Red Dao Herbal Bath and Wedding

The Red Dao people are some of my very favorite in all of Vietnam and Mon May, pictured on the Home page, is one of my very best friends. Today, she’ll take us to her village and give you the skinny about every aspect of local life. The Red Dao women know the medicinal properties of herbs, bark and roots. Their embroidery skills are talked of throughout Vietnam and their weddings are the most beautiful to behold. Today, you’ll get to experience all of these! Let all your cares drift away as you enjoy a hot soak in a famous Red Dao herbal bath while looking out over green rice terraces and listening to a creek babble below. Taking an introductory embroidery class will help you appreciate what goes into the textiles you see throughout our tour. It will also sharpen your bargaining skills as you learn to distinguish authentic pieces from ones cranked out for tourists. We’ll also enjoy a meal with Mon May and her delightful family where you’ll learn how to say “cheers” in Red Dao language while playing their fun “chicken mouth drinking game.” To cap off your day, you’ll get to see one of those stunning Red Dao weddings in person!

Day 9 SAPA / More Iconic Rice Terraces and Black Hmong Shamanism

Today is the day when you get to see the most stunning rice terraces you’ll ever see (June is planting season and September is harvest time so people will be out working in them and they’ll be very pretty). We’ll tour 2 Black Hmong villages, one of which is still very traditional. In the other village, we’ll visit a Black Hmong shaman. You will get to see a shaman altar and learn all about the fascinating practice of shamanism which is very active in the Hmong ethnic community. Once again, you’ll be treated to traditional local foods as we dine with a local Hmong family. In the late afternoon, we’ll take the scenic drive to Bac Ha for their market the next day.

Day 10 BAC HA / Brilliantly Colorful Market

This morning we’ll be up-and-at-em early to attend the famous and colorful Bac Ha Market. A great number of ethnic tribes travel here from their remote mountain villages to attend this market and you’ll get to see quite a variety of handicrafts, textiles, foods, fruits and vegetables that will likely be new to you. It’s a morning of “Wow! Look at that!” everywhere you turn your head. In addition to all these new things are the people in their traditional ethnic clothes. The costumes worn by the Flower Hmong women are especially gorgeous. After the market and lunch, we’ll return to Sapa and you’ll have the rest of the afternoon free.

Day 11 SAPA / Enter the Heavens Via Fansipan Mountain

Prepare for a breathtaking ride on one of the most beautiful cable car trips you’ll ever experience as you head up to the summit of Fansipan Mountain, Vietnam’s tallest peak. During the ride you’ll cross over a valley of rice fields that make for very memorable photos. Enjoy some free time shopping and exploring Sapa on your own for the rest of the day.

For those who do not choose to take the optional 6 day extension trip, you’ll travel to Lao Cai where you’ll take the overnight train back to Hanoi.

Day 12 HANOI / Return Home

Those ending their tour today will have a free day in Hanoi until its time for your flight. A pre-arranged transport will take you to the airport for your flight home.

Itinerary for Optional Tour Extension

Day 12-13 HA GIANG PROVINCE / Stunning Scenery on the Way to Vietnam’s Most Remote Province

You won’t believe these views are real! On day 2 of our travel to Ha Giang, enjoy a morning at leisure at our riverside resort hotel. Soak in your private outdoor tub, take a dip in the hotel pool or just stroll through their gorgeous meandering gardens. We’ll enjoy exquisite mountain scenery as we drive from Ha Giang City to Dong Van, stopping at the former palace of a Hmong King on the way. Relax and enjoy some free time for the rest of your afternoon and evening.

Day 14 LUNG CU / A Day of Magic From Morning to Night

Today is a BIG day full of fabulousness! Keep your camera out throughout! After breakfast, we take a short drive through more stunning mountain scenery to arrive in the village of Ma Le. We’ll visit a house that is 300 years old, tour a quaint traditional village and and watch a bread making demonstration using a giant 12 foot long mortar and pestle!

Then we travel to Lung Cu to meet the LoLo tribe, renowned throughout Vietnam as having the hands-down-most-stunning traditional clothing around. We’ll visit with the village chief and his wife, good friends of mine. They’re amazing cooks and we have the privilege of enjoying lunch with them. Once again, you’ll learn how to say “cheers” in a new language as they toast us with corn wine. They’ll tell us about LoLo culture and then you’re in for one of the biggest treats of the trip … the private performance of two traditional dances that will knock your socks off!

After leaving our LoLo friends, we’ll visit one more village … a very traditional White Hmong village where you’ll be immersed in village life. Despite having visited other villages, you’ll still find a lot here that’s new to you … including the highlight of our afternoon with them … a Hu Plig demonstration! This is a soul-calling ceremony performed by a shaman. It’s utterly fascinating! On our way back to the hotel you can walk up to the Chinese border and get your photo standing on Vietnamese soil with China in the background.

Day 15 / MA PI LENG PASS / Vietnam’s Most Beautiful Drive

Another huge trip highlight today … today we drive over the Ma Pi Leng Pass, the MOST beautiful stretch of road in the country; arguably one of the most beautiful drives in all the world. It’s so beautiful, you truly won’t believe your eyes. I drove it 3 times back to back in one day on my motorbike struggling to take in its scope.

Day 16-17 BA BE LAKE / Lake Tranquility

Enjoy yet more stunning scenery as we drive to Ba Be Lake. Relax and enjoy a leisurely day on Ba Be Lake including a slow moving boat trip. Lots of free time to relax and enjoy nature here.

Day 18 HANOI / Wrapping Up the Trip of a Lifetime

Return to Hanoi. Roam the quaint Old Quarter, enjoy some shopping or just kick back and relax. We’ll have a farewell group dinner. Transports are included to take you from the hotel to the airport to catch your flight home.