One of our stops during our month-long trip to Vietnam was a little Thai village called Mai Chau. Here, I’m referring to the ethnic Thai minority, who are distinct from (albeit often confused with) Thai people from Thailand. These villages are famous for their stilt houses and rice fields, a picturesque combination.
When we arrived, we picked the stiltiest stilt house in town and our friendly hosts immediately started preparing dinner and our “beds” in the large communal room. After stuffing our faces, we stepped outside and I realized that I could see the milky way for the first time. It actually took me a while to realize. Maybe I was desensitized by seeing those old Apple desktop backgrounds. Yeah the real thing is better. And paired with rice paddies? Beautiful!
The cherry on top is the bright green spot in the middle of the frame; a firefly was signalling during my long exposure.
The beautiful scenery made the precarious ride (to say the least) to Mai Chau worth it. Sure, we died almost 10 times, but look at how pretty the sky is!
The next day, as we biked across rice fields, I had a successful me-speaking-Vietnamese story! I hung out and chatted with a woman weaving textiles on her loom for a good half hour. And then I had a not-so-successful story. I tried to order half of a fish, but instead received pork and two servings of chicken. TO BE FAIR THOUGH, the main local language in that community is Thai, not Vietnamese, so it makes those stories SUPER IMPRESSIVE, and NOT THAT EMBARRASSING, respectively.
Throughout our trip, while I was taking photos, Claudia was recording audio. She compiled them into little soundslides. Listen to the gurgling irrigation system of the rice paddies!
Thanks for reading! There's more coming :)
This was part 3 of my trip to Vietnam.