Mai’s Travel Journal: Chapter 7 – Cao Bang

Written by Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai
Thursday, 19 October 2006

Thursday, 23 September 2004
3:30am
It had rained for almost an hour, and shown no signs of letting up. I kept debating whether I should go now or wait for the rain to stop, but then I had to go, because the buses run on a schedule.

I boarded the bus Ha Giang-Ha Noi bus at 4 am, planning to go to Tuyen Quang or Son duong, Thai Nguyen then transfer to Thai Nguyen commune to catch the connecting bus to Cao Bang.

4:45am
The bus was going well and all of a sudden got stuck in the mud. The more the driver tried to get the wheel out of the hole, the more tightly grip the road seems to hold. The whole bus had to wait for other assistances, after all attempts to free the bus failed. After 10 minutes, a truck appeared and was powerful enough to get the bus out of the hole and my trip was resumed.

I was anxious and worried about my connecting bus from Tuyen Quang to Thai Nguyen and whether it would arrive on time for me to catch the bus to Cao Bang. Everything was so messed up, reminding me immediately of the first day of my trip’s experience- when things get chaotic, there’s always opportunity to start again.

I even thought about staying on this bus back to Ha Noi again then catch a different bus route to Cao Bang- this would be truly starting from scratch again.

11:30am
“A day governed by the cycles of lucks and misfortunes”. I called this day like that because just as we pass the 3-way road junction of Son duong, the assistant driver saw a vehicle carrying Lang Son license plate, likely coming home from a business trip. The bus driver pulled up closer to the other vehicle and asked them to help me. Both vehicles stopped and I hurried out of the bus to the other vehicle- of course I had to give them my reasons but, they quickly agreed to help me. I can hitch a ride with them to another 3-way junction of Thai Nguyen, where I can catch the last bus to Cao Bang. It couldn’t be any better than that. I quickly said good byes to everyone on the bus and changed cars.

12:30pm
I arrived at Thai Nguyen 3 way junction with the assistance of Mr. Ban and Cong Bang. I really couldn’t express my gratitude any better than a “thank you and good bye”. My guardian charms actually works.

12:45pm
I caught the connecting bus to Cao Bang rather quickly. Luckily, there was still seats on the bus.

5:45pm
I arrived at Cao Bang Provincial League disheveled; my backpack is full of dirt, a wet raincoat and a wet pair of shoes. I’m sure I looked like an idiot but the people there, luckily, were quite understanding. They recommended me to visit Hoa An district, about 17 km from the Cao Bang commune’s centre.

Friday, 24 September 2004
9am
I’d just arrived at the bus station, and straight away was able to get a bus to Hoa An.

The Hoa An District Youth Party seemed very busy. I sat down, waiting to find out more about disadvantaged villages. I suggested to the vice-secretary that I go up to visit Duc Xuan village. Everyone who saw me was really surprised, and said, “going up to Duc Xuan is really hard work, you have to go by foot, are you sure?”. I laughed and said, “my fellow citizens can do it, I can do it too.”. But it was just talk, actually I was also really worried.

11am
Ms. Hoang Thi Diem, of the Hoa An District Party, and I left together. The two of us rode on a motorbike to Dai Tien village, leaving it with a local resident, then started our climb up the mountain to Duc Xuan. It was 11.30 am.

The path was worn out, with rocks for steps. At first the steps were wide and sure, and fairly easy, and I told myself, “I can do this fine, no problem”. The road joined up with a large road, there were rocks scattered about everywhere, the road was broken up and in pieces, and I felt something pierce the sole of my shoe. As you go along this road, you can look out over the mountain slopes to either side, or look at the steep slope below you; either way it doesn’t make you feel so good, especially the first time like it was for me.

As the two of us went along, we would stop and pick peaches and guavas to eat. On our second break, we met some primary school students on the way back from the Dai Tien primary school. The entire village has around 30 children, and close to 20 boys are studying at the school. Twice a day, once down the mountain and once up the mountain, the children go to school and return to their homes. A few are luckier; they have bicycles that they leave at the bottom of the mountain, which saves them from walking about two kilometers.

3 pm
The two of us arrived at the Xuan Duc Head-quarters. The students had just returned to their homes, and for most of them, it was time for their first meal of the day. Some of the students had to go to work straight away, helping out their families by working in the forest fields or fetching water. Today, the children had an additional responsibility, that of fetching or bundling fire-wood to fulfill tomorrow’s “small plan”

I went down to the village with two officials from the village, and Diem went down the mountain and home with some health officials. I would be here until tomorrow.

Xuan Duc is home to around 80 families, mainly H’mong, Nung and Thai people. There are no roads here, no water and no electricity. The main produce is corn. Just a few families are able to plant and harvest soy beans as well after the corn harvest, but just one harvest is the general rule. Water in the village comes from rain (in summer) or frost (in winter), or it’s brought up from down the mountain.

The road from the district to Duc Xuan has actually been passable since the 25th of December 2001, but after about a year, it was damaged by rockslides, and since then it’s been virtually unusable.

Xuan Duc’s road to Ko Rai village is small and narrow, but it’s still an easier road to travel to Lung Nhup on. Everyone said: “we’re afraid it’s too late to go to Lung Nhup now, if you fell it would be really dangerous”.

I looked at Mr Tu’s family, all gathered together. “Seven people and all the animals, with only that much corn, it’s hard to have enough to eat” – one of the neighbors said, when I asked him, “is there enough to eat?” He followed on, “we don’t have enough at my place, but only for some months, so sometimes we can still help out other families”. That’s what life is like here – anything left over is shared with other people.

Saturday, 25th September 2004
4 a.m.
I got up at the same time as Thu. Like Thu, other children have to get up at dawn to go to school, even earlier during wintertime. It was rainy. Their will to study stems from these challenges.

Last night, it rained heavily resulting in slippery roads. Today, they also had to carry a bunch of firewood or bamboo. When they reached the bottom of the mountain, some of them cycled to school carrying all the firewood for others. They happily shared difficulties with each other.

7 a.m.
I said goodbye to them at the school gate and went on with my journey to the headquarter.

8 a.m.
Arrived in the headquarter, I went to Be Trieu commune with Diem. My first image was of an open and hardworking old woman. She is Truong Thi Bach, 65-year-old Tay’s ethnic, a senior receptionist. She considers her work in Be Trieu commune as her own family work.
Then I went to visit the Chieu family – an experienced person in pig husbandry and planting. He sells three litters of pigs annually. He has been thinking of building biogas basin for nearly three years, but he doesn’t know how to do it. He said, “I watch every “professional development in agriculture and forestry” program on TV, but I still have troubles with technology”. Chieu used to be an official in Cao Bang province. Now he is retired.

11.30 a.m.
I sat in a small snack bar selling vegetables, dried fish, waiting for the bus to the headquarter. The seller seemed to do good business, as there were many buyers. Financial difficulties among families are shared through the roll of debts fulfilling with numbers and figures. This is quite normal.

Sunday, 26 September 2004
I arrived at the province Union, said hello to everyone, and was counting on returning to Hanoi straight away today, but I couldn’t make it. So, I had the opportunity to check out the village of Cao Bang some more.