When I awoke in Sapa a mist had descended. My guide, Su, suggested that if we headed down the mountain through the villages of Lao Chai and Ta Van, we might still catch glimpses over the mountains and terraced rice … Continue reading
Each Sunday, in the dusty streets of Bac Ha, thousands of local people from neighbouring villages come to market. People from the minority groups of the Flower H’mong, Tay, Black Dao, Nung, La Chi and Dhu La all come to … Continue reading
There is so much to love in Hoi An. Ancient merchant houses of Japanese and Chinese traders speckle the streetscape. Wooden boats meander down the Thu Bon River. Restaurants and cafes abound serving regional specialities. There are contemporary Vietnamese art … Continue reading
The next leg of my Vietnam adventure began as I embarked on a 16 hour train journey from Hanoi to Danang. I departed at 7pm on the Livitran overnight train in a four berth cabin. The repetitive clacker over the tracks … Continue reading
Hanoi surprised me. From the moment I stepped off the plane Hanoi smacked me in the face with its chaotic beauty. Everywhere I looked, everything I smelled, everything I heard was a juxtaposition of old and new, Vietnamese and French, … Continue reading
I’m into sandpits. Not only that, I love dirt, running free, swimming in the ocean and dancing in the rain. I try to hold onto as much as that childhood spark as I can. Sometimes, as adults, it’s not that … Continue reading
At long last it seems like Summer is just perched around the corner. The sun has started to warm the dirt sending vegetables to seed. I love the concept of Sun Dancing, a welcome to the coming Summer, a ritual … Continue reading
I’ve just come back from a beautiful weekend away, a teaching weekend with Minmia. Sharing stories and food with fifty women, staying in bunk beds, laughing, experiencing community and as Minmia would say basking in ‘women’s essences’.
With acute consciousness I left my camera at home so that there would be no boundary to my sensory experience and I am so glad that I did. On the one hand I want to be able to document and share what I am learning and experiencing and on the other I want to keep it for myself, as sharing might be too hard and I might need to explain my own connectedness to Nungeena tya (mother earth).
‘Hang on’, you say. ‘What’s all this hippie shit?’
I’m not going to share much, just a place to begin.
You can find out about Minmia and her beautiful book ‘Under the Quandong Tree’ here.
Michelle Stening Photography 