Best Salespeople of Vietnam: The Black Hmong and Red Dao

If you have merchandise or goods to sell, you could do far worse than to get ladies from Vietnam's ethnic minority hilltribes to do the selling. They are by far the most persuasive and tenacious of salespeople one is likely to encounter anywhere. This lady from the Black Hmong in Sapa got me to part with VND 220,000 (about SGD 14) for this exquisitely stitched shirt, after a healthy round of bargaining (the starting price was something like USD 20). There were smiles around - she got the cash, and I got something to wear at the next concert, plus this cheerful photo!

This lady from the Red Dao was still selling her handicrafts in the freezing cold at 9 pm at night. The street leading to Sapa's Chao Long Hotel was misted over and damp, yet that did not deter her from approaching me to sell this lovely bag. She got VND 150,000 (just under SGD 10) for her sheer determination, and I got a new bag to carry my concert booklets and CDs.

It is not true that the Red Dao women are totally averse to having their photographs taken (which is thought to take away part of their souls). For a potential sale of postcards, trinkets and handicrafts, they are more than willing to be models for wannabe photo-journalists. Rule of thumb: When you buy from one lady, you must also buy from the other. Then both of them will be happy and leave you alone.

Their modus operandi: most of the ladies will wait outside your hotel, any tourist attraction or wherever your vehicle stops, and they will gently approach you with offers to look at their merchandise. Any show of interest will attract further ladies, and within minutes you will be swamped. To avoid them, just say "No, thank you" and they will quietly disperse. Anything else, you'll have an entourage following you wherever you go.

For our trek to Lao Chai. four Black Hmong ladies and an infant formed our entourage. They were very friendly, non-aggressive and mostly helpful, especially in the matter of crossing small streams and mud tracks. They ask questions like, "Where do you come from? How old are you? What do you do?" Their sales pitch only comes hours later, when they have returned to their village or when they spot other tribes people approaching. In an essence, they have claimed us as "their tourists" and vice versa, and it would be remiss not to buy something - anything - from them.

Many of the ladies work on their crafts wherever they choose to sit down, as this Red Dao lady has done outside of Ta Phin Cavern.

Taking a short break, before the sales pitch begins.

Do not think for a moment that these ladies are not connected to the 21st century world. Almost all of them have cellular phones! The Red Dao lady in the middle doubles up as a medicine cum herbal treatment lady, and the handphone was a gift from her grateful patients.

Finally, our ways must part. I do so by buying something from the Red Dao ladies - a sling bag or cushion covers, anything will do. Anyway, some of the items are just too lovely to resist. Fact: I ended up buying more sling bags than my wife!

With the Hilltribes of Northern Vietnam

The major attraction of travelling to Vietnam's far north is to visit the villages of its ethnic minority hilltribes. Our brief three-day holiday in Sapa afforded us three treks of varying lengths (between two two five hours) to visit the villages of the Black Hmong and Red Dao. We started with a short trek to Cat Cat Waterfall, and on the way passed by terraced hillsides, Cat Cat's handicraft village and its many children.

There's some fun to be had playing around in a voluminous rice-holding container, or hanging out at the village coffee shop.

Hmong boys have it tougher, as they labour in the fields or have to carry loads of firewood up and down the hillside. This group with empty baskets make a swift ascent hundreds of steps.

One of the most endearing sights in all humanity, 

the madonna and child.

Black Hmong cultural show held at the old hydro-electric power station overlooking Cat Cat Waterfall. From the left, a young man plays on tribal panpipes (producing only two tones for all his trouble), the ubiquitous bamboo walk and umbrella dance.

Hmong children at Lao Chai stand on a rock outside their home, witnessing the curious scene of tourists bargaining with Black Hmong saleswomen.

Now you know that all those beautiful handicrafts are not factory-made but painstakingly sewn and stitched by Black Hmong women, seen in the village of Lao Chai.

Girls playing the universal game of "pick up sticks" outside their primary school in Lao Chai, while another group chew on sugar cane. The littlest one is crying because she doesn't get any.

The trail to the village of Ta Phin. Red Dao women are particularly hard to shake off, and they followed us for the full four hours until their sale was made. A Hmong little boy, just out of infancy, takes his first steps while two Black Hmong girls walk to school.

Rediscovering the wheel in the village of Ma Cha.

A pensive Red Dao girl in the village of Ta Phin ponders on what living in modern Vietnam in the 21st century world holds for her.