A Day to Remember in Sim Sam Village

photo by Zoom

We were on our way driving to Sim Sam village which is about 13km away from Y Ty. The road was in very bad condition with big rocks and chicken holes. It was obvious why we hardly saw people traveling on the way. On our way to the village, the roads continually twisted and turned languidly along the mountains. Clouds hung over our head coming and going constantly. Colors of the sky and the clouds, yellow ripened paddy fields, and young green trees – the stunning landscape painted with youthful abandon.

While driving and taking in the incredibly scenery, I saw two Red Dao women walking on the road. I passed by them, but I stopped and offered them a ride. Hannah and Seb my friends were driving behind. I could see the women were very happy and wanted to hop on my bike but they made sure to ask whether I really would charge them any money and said if I wanted the money, they didn’t have any. At the end, my friend, Sed took another woman and I took So. So and her friend are very short women. So’s Vietnamese wasn’t too good and her friend didn’t speak the language at all. Our conversation went slowly from the beginning of our ride. The road got harder and harder when we drove further. So told me that her friend and she walked to A Lù outside of Y Tý to visit her friend’s daughter’s family the day before.

Photo by Zoom

A Lù is about 20km away from Sim Sam. The daughter gave the mother a small bag of raw peanuts as a gift. I asked So many questions. I learned that So is a widow. She lives further up the top of the mountain in Sim Sam village. She has a daughter who is 16 years old and will get married early next year. She also adopted a boy who is 14 years old who lives in the same village.

We finally arrived at So’s house on the top of the mountain after one hour driving in an extremely hard condition road. So invited us to go inside her house. Did not wait any second, we felt honored to go inside. So’s house is about 20 square meters. The house is made out of mud and dried rice trunks. The mud is daubed directly onto the plaited bamboo to form the walls. At the entrance door, there was a mother pig nursing her 6 babies. When I stepped inside the house, it was so empty from my first impression. There was absolutely no electricity in the part of the village. We stepped out to the front yard and sat on the ground looking at the incredible terrace rice fields and massive mountains view in front of us. I met her adopted son there.

So and Her Son - Photo by Zoom

I asked him why he was not at school. He said there was no man in the house so he wanted to stay home to help his mother to harvest the rice. I also learned he has to walk 14km to school in Y Ty and another 14km back home in that kind of horrible road condition every Monday – Saturday.

So apologized she didn’t have anything to offer us. They just had their old huge yellow cucumber they save the seeds for the next crop to offer us. So cut the cucumber to few different slices and offered 3 of us. They ate as well. It was so simple but so special and meaningful moment. I had the slice of cucumber in my hand, got silence. Looking at the incredible view in front of me, many thoughts were running through my mind. My throat felt choked. The tears just came out naturally that I couldn’t help it. I thought of myself that how lucky I am to be in a better position than a lot of people to have opportunities to go to places, to live a life that I have. I thought how spoil I am. A lot of times I complain on small things without thinking how hard so many other people like So and her son have to live in this world. I did not know how I could help them. I mean I barely take care of myself. Normally, I do not give money to people when I travel because I don’t think it would be a good way of helping. But again, these people were suffering. it seems like this was meant to be, that I met So and I was at her house. In this case, money may help. Hannah had the same thought. We each put 300,000 dong in. It was hard to hand the money to them. I told them we were just travelers and we felt really special visiting their home and we do not have much to give but we hope this tiny amount of money would help them tiny bit to buy something necessary for the daily living.

Photo by Zoom

Time to say good bye. We left the house in a mixed feeling. The sky for some reason was so deeply blue that day. Driving my bike, I felt the cool blue sky breeze stirring my hair. I could smell the scent of the young rice filling the air. The image of the boy and the sadness in So’s eyes stayed in my mind , more than anything I just wish them the best harvest season this year.

Wednesday, August 28th, 2013