Turns out that Vietnamese Women’s Day is today and not yesterday. So, after a rather hot walk uphill to see a prison (horrible) built by the French at the beginning of the twentieth century and used for political prisoners, we were delighted to find a group of women all dressed up to celebrate. Of course, since we were women – and Nikhil was an honorary woman for the occasion – everyone wanted their photos taken with us and with the enormous bouquet they had.
Even where we went for coffee, we were surrounded by women dressed up and having a great time:
We then set off on a long drive through the mountains, stopping from time to time in some of the villages which were either Thai (the women you saw yesterday) or Hmong.
We were delighted to come across a wedding and Anh, our guide, asked if we could come in. The women were lovely and the men were very welcoming but very drunk – so we didn’t sit down with them to drink rice wine or we would never have left.
We stopped several times along the way, later coming across two very young and very shy Hmong women dressed up to the nines and preparing themselves for a TikTok recording;
Further along the way, we stopped to walk through a Hmong village where, to our surprise, a paragliding club has been built and we were fortunate to see a couple land:
We stumbled across a group of little boys who were fishing in the local stream, later to find them coming back with their catch in bottles and bags:
We found a shy young woman sewing the traditional belts that everyone was wearing and we persuaded her to model one for us, as Nikhil had just bought it:
And then we spotted a couple stopping at the local garage, obviously on their way to or from a wedding but dressed up to the nines! She was carrying gifts to the happy couple as we saw when they got off the bike: a pigeon we think and maybe the umbrellas:
And wonder of wonders – the bride and groom pitched up on their scooter on their way from one house (maybe the bride’s?) to the other (maybe the groom’s?) to join their friends getting the bike fixed:
Not sure this was the moment to start discussing the patriarchy and feminism even though it was Women’s Day!
Magnificent. As if the whole place is putting on a show just for you!
Just another day in Vietnam 🤗
It did feel extraordinary – all these women dressed up and filling the cafes with flowers and glamour – M and I were definitely underdressed!
Yes, as Tash gets at with her describing it as a show, you wonderfully capture all these little human dramas, quotidian but fascinating. And the women who are not “shy” all seem used to posing, as though they grow up in beauty pageant culture.
We’ve seen some very chic young women, dressed up to the nines for a wedding, but they also seem very self possessed – no idea if beauty pageants figure in the culture – I doubt it given the role women played in the liberation wars …
Ditto! Ken and Tash said it for me. What a treat to see that Hmong wedding garb up close – and her balancing that enormous jangling hat on the back of a scooter! And how refreshing to see that Women’s Day can be at least partly about pure fun – and colour turned up to 11.
Completely agree about the colour – vibrant is an understatement! Emerald green, sunflower yellow, amazing range of pinks – fabulous!
Another fantastic portrait, Miriam – every wrinkle delineated and each one making the face look more characterful and open. Very taken with the idea of giving a pigeon as a wedding present.
But perhaps not a London pigeon? I think I’d rather have a duck. I like the umbrellas too.